In 1908 Orville Wright began trial flights at Fort Meyer preliminary to
the tests required by the government contracts. A record flight was made
in June. The morning was still and beautiful; the leaves hung motionless
on the great plane trees of Washington as Orville Wright and August
Post, Secretary of the Aero Club of America left the city about six
o'clock and proceeded by way of Georgetown to Fort Meyer where trial
flights were to be made with the biplane. It was taken from its shed and
placed on the starting rail. The weights were lifted into position, the
engine started, the propellers set in rapid motion and all was in
readiness for starting. Only a few persons were in sight, including a
squad of soldiers who were cleaning the guns of a field battery. Mr.
Wright took his place on the machine. At a signal the weights were
released, it was drawn forward, and rising gracefully at the end of the
rail gradually ascended in a circuitous course upward. Mr. Post kept
time and marked circuits on the back of an envelope. Round and round
went the machine, rising higher and higher. After a little the
spectators realized that a record flight was in progress. Ten--twenty
minutes passed. Higher and higher circled the aeroplane. Now it has been
aloft on wing for half an hour! The spectators stand rigid and look
upward. Mr. Taylor, chief mechanic, in almost breathless interest
exclaims, "Don't make a motion. If you do he'll come down."
In the city, word had reached the newspaper reporters that Mr. Wright
had gone out for a flight. "Does he intend to fly today?" came the
question over the telephone. "Yes, he is in the air now and has been
flying for more than half an hour," was the answer.
Then came the rush for fuller details and the results of the
record-making trial were flashed over the country and cabled under the
seas to distant lands. Senators, congressmen, departmental officials and
representatives of every walk of life in the national capital were a
little later on their way to witness another exhibition of the wonderful
flying machine. Mr. Wright in the afternoon made another world's record,
remaining in the air an hour and seven minutes. In the evening with
Lieutenant Lahm at his side he performed without accident the greatest
two-man flight ever made. These achievements awed and thrilled the great
throng of spectators who greeted the triumphant conclusion of each with
tumultuous cheers. The problem of the centuries had been solved. The
"impossible" had been accomplished! The dream of the visionaries had
become a reality!