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[Illustration: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR · March 3, 1849]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Stewart L. Udall, _Secretary_
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Conrad L. Wirth, _Director_
_HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NUMBER THIRTY-FOUR_
This publication is one of a series of handbooks describing the
historical and archeological areas in the National Park System
administered by the National Park Service of the United States
Department of the Interior. It is printed by the Government Printing
Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents,
Washington, D.C., 20402. Price 30 cents.
WRIGHT BROTHERS
NATIONAL MEMORIAL
NORTH CAROLINA
by Omega G. East
[Illustration: Hangar and flyer]
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES NO. 34
Washington, D.C., 1961
(Reprint 1963)
_The National Park System, of which Wright Brothers National Memorial
is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and
historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and inspiration
of its people._
[Illustration: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE · DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR]
The National Park Service gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Dr.
Marvin W. McFarland, who reviewed the manuscript and gave many valuable
suggestions. We are grateful also for the excellent contemporary
photographs made available by the Library of Congress. All photographs
used in this book, except those otherwise credited, were furnished by
the Library of Congress.
_Contents_
_Page_
The Wright Brothers of Dayton, Ohio 1
Young Business Partners 3
Pioneers of Flight 5
Problems of Flight 9
First Experiments, 1899 10
Why Kitty Hawk? 13
Glider Experiments, 1900 14
Glider Experiments, 1901 19
Wind-Tunnel Tests, 1901 27
Glider Experiments, 1902 28
The Motor and the Propellers 33
The Powered Machine, 1903 36
December 17, 1903: The Day Man First Flew 44
After the First Flight 53
The Original Airplane Exhibited 60
The National Memorial 60
Guide to the Area 60
Administration 63
Glossary 63
Suggestions for Further Reading 64
[Illustration: Modern aircraft over the Wright memorial shaft depict
a half century of aviation history. _Courtesy, North Carolina
Department of Conservation and Development, Raleigh, N.C._]
[Illustration: Propeller]
Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills are American place names that will live
in history. Here Wilbur and Orville Wright, two unassuming brothers with
a passion for advancing aeronautical knowledge, and the willingness to
undertake a scientific adventure, made the world's first successful
flight of a man-carrying, power-driven, heavier-than-air machine.
December 17, 1903, was the day man first flew in this machine. It was a
cold and windy day when Orville Wright climbed aboard their plane at
10:35 a.m. His first power-driven flight of 120 feet lasted just 12
seconds when he flew over a wind-swept stretch of level sand now
preserved at Wright Brothers National Memorial. From those moments the
science of aeronautics has borne the impress of the Wrights'
achievements.
[Illustration: Wilbur Wright, about 1880.]
[Illustration: Orville Wright, about 1880.]
_The Wright Brothers of Dayton, Ohio_
The two young men who were to be the first to fly were born in the
midwest shortly after the Civil War. Wilbur Wright was born on a farm
near Millville, 8 miles east of New Castle, Ind., April 16, 1867. Four
years younger, Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio, August 19, 1871.
They were the sons of Rev. Milton Wright, a minister, and later bishop,
of the United Brethren Church, and Susan Koerner Wright. Both parents
had been teachers. When his sons were small, Bishop Wright was editor of
the church's publications. Mrs. Wright had "a streak of her father's
mechanical ability," and she had a reputation in the family for being
able "to mend anything." Bishop and Mrs. Wright also had two older sons,
Reuchlin and Lorin, and a younger daughter, Katharine.
In the Wright home, children were encouraged to pursue intellectual
interests and to investigate whatever aroused their curiosity. Wilbur
and Orville displayed mechanical aptitude, the gift of original
thinking, and a pioneering urge. Sharing a common interest in mechanical
devices, the boys made kites and toy helicopters, built a lathe and a
printing press that worked. Wilbur wrote of their close associations:
From the time we were little children my brother Orville and myself
lived together, played together, worked together and, in fact, thought
together. We usually owned all our toys in common, talked over our
thoughts and aspirations so that nearly everything that was done in
our lives has been the result of conversations, suggestions and
discussions between us.
Mrs. Wright died in 1889. It was that year that the brothers assembled
their printing press from old parts found in junk yards and barns and
began to publish a successful neighborhood weekly newspaper. Although
each brother attended high school the full time required for a diploma,
neither of them formally graduated from high school or attended college.
Their two older brothers married and established homes of their own, but
Wilbur and Orville remained bachelors. After completing their schooling
they continued to live with their father and schoolteacher sister in a
modest framehouse in Dayton.
[Illustration: The Wright home, 7 Hawthorne Street, Dayton, about
1897, three years before the first Kitty Hawk experiments. The house
where Orville was born in 1871, and where Wilbur died in 1912.]
[Illustration: This successful neighborhood weekly was published by
Orville Wright on a printing press assembled from old parts found in
junkyards and barns. Wilbur Wright was editor. _Courtesy,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C._]
West Side News.
Vol. 1 DAYTON, OHIO, MAY 25, 1889 No. 12
_West Side News._