Soon afterward they returned to Fort Meyer to continue their work
preparatory to the final tests. They had entered into a contract with
the United States Government which was to pay $25,000 for a machine
which would carry two men one hour in a circuitous course and perform a
cross-country flight of ten miles at the rate of forty miles an hour. On
the day of the final tests the people of Washington came forth in
greater crowds than ever before. Officialdom, including representatives
of foreign embassies, army officers, newspaper correspondents and
civilians, were present to witness the crucial test. Among the
spectators was Miss Katherine Wright, the scholarly sister of the two
brothers, who had followed with deep and sympathetic interest every step
in the progress of her brothers up to this hour.
At a signal, Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Lahm again at his side
started on his time-test flight. Upward in spiral course they rose. At
length the hour limit was passed and a mighty cheer from the multitude
announced the result. Still the machine with its two passengers remained
aloft. Nine minutes more passed. The world's record made by Wilbur
Wright was broken.
Wilbur, who was present, announced the result by waving a handkerchief
and calling aloud, "Give him a cheer, boys." Soon after this the machine
gently descended, having been in the air an hour, twelve minutes and
forty seconds, the longest two passenger flight that had been made to
that date.
Orville Wright was soon overwhelmed with congratulations. Coming forward
President Taft said:
"I am glad to congratulate you on your achievement. You came down as
gracefully and as much like a bird as you went up. I hope your passenger
behaved himself and did not talk to the motorman. It was a wonderful
performance. I would not have missed it."
The President then shook hands with Wilbur, saying, "Your brother has
broken your record."
"Yes," replied Wilbur, with a smile, "but it's all in the family."
On August 30 came the speed trial over a course from Ft. Meyer to
Alexandria five miles distant. This at that time was considered the most
difficult test of all. The course was over a broken and uneven country,
valleys, ravines, hills, forests and open fields alternating. Lieutenant
Benjamin D. Foulois was chosen to accompany Orville Wright on this
perilous trip. The machine arose and circled between the two flags that
marked the starting line, and amid cheers of the spectators started on
its flight toward the two captive balloons that marked the limit of the
course. Smaller and smaller it grew in the distance as it was swayed
slightly out of its path by the wind. It at length turned the goal on
the hill at Alexandria. On the return it was borne downward until it
disappeared. Would it rise again or would it be swept down by a
treacherous current and wrecked in the valley? After a moment's suspense
it again appeared in clearer outline over the treetops. Nearer and
nearer it came until in the midst of waving handkerchiefs and thunderous
cheers, it softly alighted near its starting place. The daring aviator
was heartily congratulated again by the President and other eminent men
who thronged about him. His sister told him that the glad news had
already been telegraphed to his aged father in Dayton. The machine had
successfully met all requirements and had made in the cross-country
flight 42.6 miles an hour, entitling the brothers in addition to the
$25,000 to a bonus of $5,000, making in all $30,000. Wonderful as was
this record at the time, succeeding flights with improved machines now
make it seem trivial and commonplace.
Later in the year 1909 Orville Wright went back to Europe where he
achieved distinction in a number of nights while Wilbur remained at home
to participate in the Hudson-Fulton celebration and thrill his
countrymen by encircling in a flight the statue of liberty and returning
to his starting point on Governor's Island.
It is not necessary to follow further the aeronautic achievements of the
Wright brothers. While they were the first to construct a successful
aeroplane, inventors in America and abroad quickly followed them and
machines of various forms and construction but based on the same
principle were soon making record flights in many lands. The
simultaneous development of the aeroplane in the United States and
Europe is explained by the fact that the progress of the experiments of
the Wright Brothers was promptly reported and eagerly noted on the other
side of the Atlantic. Octave Chanute immediately after his visit to
Kitty Hawk made a trip abroad and gave a detailed account of what the
Wright brothers had accomplished. This account with drawings was
published and European inventors had this information on which to work.
In 1909 Louis Bleriot, a French aviator, who had sprung into prominence
the preceding year, crossed the English Channel in his beautiful
birdlike monoplane. In 1910 George Chauz, flying upward 7,000 feet,
crossed the Alps amid the treacherous and frozen winds of the
snow-capped peaks only to meet a tragic death as he neared the goal in
sunny Italy. Equally daring and dangerous was the trip of the brilliant
American aviator Glenn Curtis in his biplane from Albany to New York
City, followed a few days later by the notable achievement of Charles K.
Hamilton who in a machine of the same make flew from New York City to
Philadelphia at the average speed of fifty and one-half miles an hour.
Aviation meets and record breaking flights in this country and Europe
now followed in such rapid succession that the long list would only
weary the reader. In this rapid and spectacular progress that gave man
dominion over the air and the power to surpass the eagle's flight it is
interesting to note how well the Wrights kept in the forefront of the
era that they ushered in. Frequent changes have greatly improved the
efficiency of their machine. In 1910 it made the greatest altitude
flight, reaching a height of 11,476 feet. In 1911 C. P. Rodgers, in
successive stages, flew in one of their biplanes from New York City to
Long Branch, California, a distance of 4,029 miles, the longest flight
ever made.