The Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers

There is no one more important to the contribution of aviation than Wilbur and Orville Wright. The so-named “fathers of flight” that corrected Smeden’s lift tables, innovated necessary airplane parts, and courageously pilot tested all of their new ideas. What made these young brothers capable of the incredible things they did and how did their fantastic lives become devoted to one common goal?

From the beginning Wilbur and Orville Wright had different lives than most children in their time. Raised by two very educated parents, Milton and Susan Wright, they lived in a very open-minded household. Surprisingly, Susan was a college graduate from Hartville College and even their sister, Katharine ended up being a college graduate.

Wilbur always intended to attend Yale, but one day he got hit in the mouth playing Shinny and the accident would change his life forever. He found himself then nursing his sick mother who was suffering from tuberculosis, until she died in 1889. That same year, Orville begin his own weekly newspaper, The West Side News. He quickly enlisted his brother Wilbur to become the editor of the paper and they changed it to The Evening Item, which folded just a few months later. They then became partners in a bicycle repair shop and manufacturing company and eventually in 1896, their interest in aviation began.

Between 1896 and 1900 Wilbur gathered information by writing to the Smithsonian and came up with the innovative wing warping idea. In 1900 he wrote to Octave Chanute. Then came their first trip to Kitty Hawk, a remote dune covered patch of sand the weather service recommended. They are disappointed when they realize that a bigger glider is needed. In 1901 they take a second trip to Kitty Hawk with a bigger glider only to realize it is still not big enough. They start to give up when Wilbur is invited to give a lecture at a college and is very well received.

Now re-motivated, they start looking for an explanation and find that the problem lies with Smeden’s lift tables. They change the K-variable from .005 to .0033 and start building another glider. The third trip to Kitty Hawk, in 1902, proves this glider successful and they make a thousand gliding flights on that trip. Wilbur declares, “We’ve done it!” They go home and work on their turning problem. They come up with the idea of wing welding, which connects the wings to the rudder. They also build a light weight engine for the plane.

In 1904 they take a fourth trip down to Kitty Hawk. On December 17th, Orville pilots the first successful flight in history.