Although the first flight took place at Kitty Hawk, the Wrights
themselves always said that they really learned to fly on Huffman
Prairie east of Dayton on the present site of Wright-Patterson Field.
Having proved that they could fly even if for a maximum of less than a
minute, they now set out to build a more practical and useful machine.
They reasoned that if they could fly 852 feet against a 20-mile wind as
they did in the fourth flight at Kitty Hawk, it should be possible to
build a plane which would fly much farther.
The plane in which the first flight was made was called the Kitty Hawk.
Construction of its immediate successor began in January, 1904. It was
much the same as the one flown at Kitty Hawk but there were a number of
changes and the construction was more sturdy throughout. This plane was
equipped with an entirely new engine. Because of a shortage of spruce in
Dayton they changed to white pine for spar construction, thinking it
would be equally good. However, the pine broke in actual use and the
wings had to be entirely rebuilt.
[Illustration: Wilbur Wright during the first demonstrations of the
plane in Europe.]
[Illustration: Wilbur at the controls during a flight in France.]
[Illustration: Orville and Wilbur Wright, modest men whose
achievements made history.]
[Illustration: Original patent issued to the Wrights.]
[Illustration: Katherine and Orville Wright aboard ship bound for
Europe.]
[Illustration: Orville Wright with Thomas A. Edison.]
[Illustration: Towing the plane from one field to another at Le
Mans, France.]
[Illustration: Upon their return from Europe in May 1908, the Wright
brothers and their sister, Katherine, were received at the White
House by President Taft.]
[Illustration: Orville Wright, members of his family and fellow
Daytonians at dedication of the Kitty Hawk monument.]
[Illustration: The pilot lay prone in early Wright planes.]
[Illustration: One of many cartoons depicting the honors which came
to the Wright brothers.]
[Illustration: Dayton newspaper reporting the Home-coming
Celebration in honor of the Wright brothers.]
[Illustration: Orville Wright with Colonel E. A. Deeds on a visit to
Wright Field.]
[Illustration: Orville Wright with Henry Ford as Dayton honored 35th
anniversary of flight.]
[Illustration: The Wright home and bicycle shop as they appear today
in Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan.]
During 1904 more than 100 flights had been made at Huffman Prairie. Of
those flights, a complete circle made for the first time on the 20th of
September and two flights of three miles each were the most notable. In
May of 1905 the Wrights made various improvements in the machine making
it much stronger at various points which had proved weak when landing in
1904 flights. The warping of the wings and operation of the tail rudder
were made independent of each other and the camber of the wings was
changed. The most important development was the addition of two
“blinkers” between the surfaces of the front elevator. The purpose of
the blinkers was to assist the rear rudder in making a turn. This device
was patented and proved quite important for it removed the danger of a
tail spin.
The Wright brothers considered their flights of 1905 of great
importance, and the 1905 plane proved through performance that it was a
greatly improved “flyer.” In a report to the Aero Club of America dated
March 12, 1906, they said this:
“The object of the 1905 experiments was to determine the cause and
discover remedies for several obscure and somewhat rare difficulties
which had been encountered in some of the 1904 flights and which it was
necessary to overcome before it would be safe to employ flyers for
practical purposes. Toward the middle of September, means of correcting
the obscure troubles were found and the flyer was at last brought under
satisfactory control. From this time forward almost every flight
established a new record.” The last flight was the longest of all,
lasting for 38 minutes and 3 seconds and covering 24⅕ miles. It ended
because of exhaustion of fuel. The gas tank, which held only about a
gallon, had, through oversight, not been full before the take-off.
[Illustration: One of the many flights made over Huffman Prairie,
just east of Dayton on present site of Wright-Patterson airfields.]
[Illustration: The Wright Memorial overlooking Huffman Prairie.]