I had the pleasure this weekend of traveling in an airplane and even snagged a “First Class” seat on Southwest. See the proof:
Coincidentally, this weekend also marked the 120th anniversary of that first December 17, 1903 Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk. Hailing from Ohio – Wilbur and Orville Wright – flew the first manned, controlled, heavier-than-air flight taking off at 10:35 a.m. with Orville Wright on board as pilot. Called the Flyer, Orville flew for 12 seconds over 40 yards!
And while that is the salient point of the beginnings of air travel, doing a little research turned up some interesting Wright Brothers information.
Born in the age of horse-and-buggies, the brothers grew up with toy gliders, destined to study everything they could about aeronautics and designing the first human-piloted glider in 1902, gliding for 200 yards.
Successfully flying their first airplane in 1903 the patents were applied for and then the convincing began! No YouTube back in 1903---seeing was believing, which means those brothers spent years demonstrating their flying machines to the governments of not only the United States, but Britain, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
Five years after Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brother’s bid to furnish a flying machine to the U.S. War Department for $25,000 was accepted. Sadly, on September 17, 1908 during one of those demonstrations a propeller blade broke and the plane came crashing down. Orville was seriously injured and his passenger, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, died of a skull fracture.
In fact, the Wright brothers only flew together one time--May 25, 1910--so that if such a tragedy occurred they wouldn’t both risk their life. Never marrying, the brothers, a sister and their father lived together as the patents and the money eventually fell in their favor. Easily millionaires, they built Hawthorne Hill in Ohio named for all the hawthorn trees on the property. You can learn more about this home and how to tour it right here.
Sadly, the house was completed in 1914, but Wilbur developed typhoid fever and died May 30, 1912 at the age of 45 so never lived there. Orville, on the other hand, died of a heart attack at age 76 on January 30, 1948 having lived from the days of the buggy to the beginning of supersonic air travel! He expressed regret that his flying machines were now used to bomb people, but he likened it to fire: I regret all the terrible damage caused by fire, but I think it is good for the human race that someone discovered how to start fires and that we have learned how to put fire to thousands of important uses.
Whatever happened to that first flying machine at Kitty Hawk? After a long dispute with the Smithsonian the Flyer proudly sits at the Air and Space Museum.
You can follow a simple but really interesting timeline about the Wright brothers right here or read a more lengthy Wikipedia entry here.
Enjoy the quiet week ahead but get ready for a soggy Santa suit, it looks like. We’ll continue to watch the Christmas weekend forecast like a kitty hawk!
Frank
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