The Wright Brothers

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The Wright Brothers Page 36

by David McCullough


  denounciations of possibility of, 69, 70

  early ridicule of, 33–35

  early work on, 33–35

  equilibrium in, 38, 48

  Wilbur’s first test of, 39

  “wing warping” in, 39

  Flint, Charles, 134, 135, 136, 192, 195

  Flint & Company, 134, 136, 143, 144, 145–46, 147

  Flyer, 89–90, 93, 94, 95, 97–98, 103–4, 126

  engine of, 86–88, 92, 98

  first flights of, 102–8

  press accounts of flight of, 109–10

  propellers for, 88–90, 92

  rudder of, 79, 90

  Wilbur as first operator of, 102–3

  wing-warping system of, 63–64, 90

  wooden track for, 99, 102

  wrecking of, 106

  Flyer (dog), 176

  Flyer II:

  British interest in buying of, 122

  engine of, 111

  first flight of, 113–14

  first successful turn by, 116

  lack of media interest in, 121–22

  lack of public interest in, 116–17

  Orville’s crash in, 115, 119

  Root’s account of flight of, 119–21

  starting apparatus for, 115–16

  Flyer III, 124–27, 128–29, 132, 133, 134, 147, 153, 156, 177

  design of, 125

  engine of, 135

  as first practical airplane, 124

  Le Mans flights of, 169–76

  press response to demonstration of, 171–72

  sale to French of, 129, 131–32, 142–43, 149, 153

  shipping damage to, 162–63

  two operators carried by, 156

  Wilbur’s repairs of, 162–63

  Flyer magazine, 215

  Flying, 67

  Fordyce, Arnold, 129, 131–32, 142, 204, 212

  Fort Myer, Va., 178, 181, 182, 195, 229, 234–39

  Orville’s crash at, 191–92, 193–95

  Orville’s test flights at, 182–86, 189, 190–91

  Fournier, Jules, 132

  Fourth National Bank, 113

  Fouts, W. C., 127–28

  France, 90–91, 155

  sale of Flyer III to, 129, 131–32, 142–43, 149, 153

  Wilbur’s popularity in, 203–6

  Franklin, Benjamin, 203

  Freemasonry, 11, 72

  Fulton, Robert, 241

  Furnas, Charlie, 156, 158, 182, 191, 198

  gannets, 53

  Gasnier, René, 171

  Germany, 134, 149, 244

  Gleanings in Bee Culture, 117, 118, 121

  glider-kite, 37–38

  gliders, 28–29, 33, 42, 44, 47–48, 55, 56–57, 91–92

  Governors Island, 241–42, 243

  “Grande Semaine d’Aviation de la Champagne, La” (air race), 239

  Grand Hôtel Gassion, 212–13

  Grant’s Tomb, 245

  Great Aerodrome, 93, 96–97

  Green, Darius (char.), 34–35, 100, 109, 119

  Greenfield Village, 261

  Griscom, Lloyd, 223

  Grumbach, Carrie Kayler, 40, 57, 107, 111, 201, 211, 218, 257, 261

  Gundlach Korona V, 105

  Hale, Frank, 127

  Hamberger, Frank, 31, 127

  Hare, James, 158

  Harper’s Weekly, 244

  Hartsville, Ind., 11

  Haskell, Henry J., 258

  Haugh, Oliver Crook, 14–15

  hawks, 52

  hen hawks, 52

  Henry IV, King of France, 212

  Herring, Augustus, 79, 240

  Herring-Curtiss Company, 240

  Hill, James J., 223

  hobble skirt, 204

  Hôtel de Crillon, 248

  Hôtel du Dauphin, 163, 164, 178, 194

  Hôtel Meurice, 137–38, 141, 147

  Howells, William Dean, 12, 20

  Hudson, Henry, 241

  Hudson River, 244–45

  Huffaker, Edward, 59–60, 62, 63, 77

  Huffman, Torrence, 113, 127

  Huffman Prairie, 112, 126, 133, 197, 217, 252–53, 261

  Amos Root at, 117–22

  first flights at, 113–15

  interurban trolley line to, 112

  human flight, see flight, controlled

  Hunaudières horse racetrack, 161, 166, 168, 177, 182

  hydroplane, 258

  Illustration, L’, 160, 174–75

  “Il Vole” (“He Flies”), 176

  Indianapolis Chain Company, 90

  Ingersoll, Robert, 17–18

  “In the Good Old Summer Time,” 85

  Invalides, Les, 139

  Issy-les-Moulineaux, 152

  Jemappes, 149

  Johns Hopkins University, 69

  John the Baptist (Leonardo da Vinci), 140

  Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (German liner), 211

  Kansas City Bridge, 56

  Kansas City Star, 258

  Katharine Wright Park, 261

  Kayler, Carrie, see Grumbach, Carrie Kayler

  Keiter, Millard, 72–74, 75

  Kill Devil Hills, 55, 58, 76, 78, 80, 155, 261

  hangar at, 60

  Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station, 156

  kites, 39

  Kitty Hawk, N.C., 40–41, 43, 44, 55, 74, 94–95, 102, 111–12, 157–58, 197

  arrival of Wilbur at, 43–45

  birds at, 51–52

  Chanute at, 62–63

  diet at, 51, 54

  hangar built at, 58, 60

  isolation of, 46

  mosquitoes at, 58–59, 95

  1908 test flights at, 155–59

  Orville’s arrival in, 48–49

  photographs of, 65

  poverty of, 46–47

  size of, 45–46

  start of experiments at, 49–50

  storm damage at, 95–96

  winds at, 40–41, 49, 51, 53

  Wright brothers in second expedition to, 58–63

  Wright brothers in third expedition to, 74–81

  Wright camp at, 50–51, 58, 60, 76, 155–56

  Wright Memorial at, 261

  “Kodak” box camera, 35

  Kronprinzessin Cecilie (German liner), 224

  Kumler, Dan, 116

  Lahm, Frank, 185, 238

  Langley, Samuel Pierpont, 33, 35, 80, 92, 93–94, 96–97, 99–101, 108, 115, 123, 240, 259

  Langley Medal, 249

  Lefebvre, Eugène, 249

  Le Mans, 160–62, 167–68, 169–78, 188–89, 193, 203–4, 210, 222, 224, 240

  demonstration flights at, 169–76

  Wilbur’s crash at, 175–76

  Wright monument at, 261

  Leonardo da Vinci, 140

  Life, 38

  Life-Saving Service, 43

  Life-Saving Station, 102, 103, 156

  lift, 38, 39, 52, 61, 69–70, 125

  Lilienthal, Otto, 28–29, 33, 35, 37, 38, 42, 56, 61, 67, 68, 147

  Lincoln, Abraham, 12

  Lindbergh, Charles, 260

  Lodge, Henry Cabot, 110–11

  London, 224

  London Daily Mail, 149, 157, 166–67, 171, 172, 173, 174, 214, 215

  London Daily Mirror, 213

  Louvre, 140–41, 148

  Lucas-Girardville, Paul N., 217

  Lusitania, 241, 243

  McClure’s Magazine, 29, 69

  Machine No. 3, 74, 75–81

  McKinley, William, assassination of, 66

  Manly, Charles, 93, 96–97, 99–101

  Marconi, Guglielmo, 242

  Marey, Etienne-Jules, 29–30

  Margherita, Queen of Italy, 205

  Matin, Le, 171, 172

  Maxim, Hiram, 33, 69

  Melville, George, 70

  Meredith, Perry, 136

  Michelin, André, 212

  Michelin Cup, 210, 212

  Millville, Ind., 11

  Mitchell, Tom, 228

  Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci), 140
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  Moore, Johnny, 103–4

  Moore, Thomas, 188

  Morgan, J. P., 223

  mosquitoes, 58–59, 95

  Motor Car Journal, 163

  Mouillard, Louis Pierre, 36–37, 51–52

  Mount Rushmore, 185

  Myerbeer Hotel, 212

  “Mythical Whitehead Flight, The” (O. Wright), 260

  Nags Head, N.C., 43

  Napoleon Bonaparte, 139

  National Cash Register Company, 12–13, 230

  Nevin, Robert, 122–23

  Newcomb, Simon, 69, 70

  Newton, Byron, 157, 158

  New York, N.Y., 139

  Wilbur’s flights in, 241–47

  New York (state), 86

  New York American Weekly, 157

  New York Evening Sun, 243–44

  New York Herald, 157, 176, 185–86

  New York Sun, 240

  New York Times, 93, 110, 157, 182, 189, 215, 221–22, 233, 238, 252

  New York World, 157, 208–9, 214

  North American Review, 70

  Northcliffe, Alfred Harmsworth, Lord, 214, 218

  Notre Dame, 139–40

  No. XI, 237

  Oakwood, Ohio, 256

  Oberlin College, 9, 22, 93, 257

  Ohio, 12

  Wright brothers in return to, 63

  Old Constitution Church, 72–74

  On Soaring Flight (Huffaker), 59

  Otis Company, 35

  Outer Banks, N.C., 43

  Panama Canal, 86

  Pan-American Exposition, 66

  Panthéon, 139

  Paris, 137–53, 159–60, 208–9, 210, 222, 247

  de Lambert’s flight over, 247–48

  Paris Herald, 132, 141, 151, 157, 158, 171, 194, 204, 213, 215

  Park Avenue Hotel, 242

  Patent Office, U.S., 34, 35

  patents, 133, 147

  Wright brothers’ issues with, 249–50, 252, 255

  Patrie, La, 143

  Pau, 209, 212–17, 218, 222, 224

  Pénaud, Alphonse, 32, 151

  Perry, Israel, 44, 45

  Pettigrew, J. Bell, 30

  Peyrey, François, 161–62, 175

  Philadelphia (steamer), 147

  Philadelphia Inquirer, 86

  photography, 29

  pitch, 38, 44, 102, 136

  Place Vendôme, Egyptian obelisk in, 139

  Poiret, Paul, 204

  Pont-Long, 213, 214, 217, 219

  Potomac River, 33, 93, 99, 182

  Potsdam, Germany, 244

  propellers, 88–90, 92

  Pulitzer, Joseph, 214

  Quantico, Va., 93

  ragtime, 85

  Rathbun, Richard, 32

  Régnier, Henri, 132

  Reichel, Franz, 174

  Reims, 222, 238, 239, 240–41

  Religious Telescope, The, 11

  Rhinow Mountains, 28

  Richmond, Ind., 11

  Ritz Hotel, 224

  Roanoke Island, 157

  Roebling wire, 90

  roll, 38, 44, 46, 136

  Rome, 222–23

  Roosevelt, Theodore, 66, 86, 110, 122, 189, 192

  Root, Amos Ives, 109, 117–21

  rudder, 79, 90

  Ruhl, Arthur, 157–58

  Ruse, Cord, 31

  St. Clair (bicycle), 25

  St. Cloud, 141, 146

  Saint Dorothy, 18

  Salley, D. Bruce, 157

  San Francisco Chronicle, 34

  Santos-Dumont, Alberto, 132, 133–34, 152, 168, 206, 240

  Scientific American, 67, 121–22, 133, 246–47

  Selfridge, Thomas, 190–92, 193, 194, 198, 199

  death of, 192

  Senate, U.S., 234

  sewing machines, 35, 36

  Signal Corps Aeronautical Board, 190, 197

  Silliman, Harriet, 38

  Simms Station, 112, 115

  Singer, Isaac Merritt, 35

  Singer Building, 245

  Smithsonian Institution, 32–33, 36, 80, 93, 99, 101, 236, 249, 259–60

  Annual Report of, 67

  Wilbur’s letter to, 27, 32, 36

  soaring, 91–92

  “Some Aeronautical Experiments” (W. Wright speech), 67–68

  Spitler, Levi, 27

  Spratt, George Alexander, 60, 61, 63, 77, 78, 79, 80, 98

  Squier, George, 183, 192

  Statue of Liberty, 243–44

  Steele High School, 9, 196

  Taft, Charlie, 234

  Taft, William Howard, 221, 229–30

  Wrights’ letter to, 123

  Tate, Addie, 46, 47, 56, 58

  Tate, Dan, 60, 95, 98, 156

  Tate, Tommy, 54

  Tate, William J., 41, 45–46, 48, 50, 54, 55, 56, 58, 60, 81, 156

  Taylor, Charles, 57–58, 70, 71, 74, 89, 93, 94, 97, 98, 111, 112, 113, 116, 119, 124, 144, 149, 151, 153, 182, 184, 191, 192, 198, 201, 229, 234, 236, 240, 241, 244, 246

  engine built by, 86–88

  and Katharine Wright, 75

  Technical World, 157

  Tempelhof Field, 241

  Times-Herald (Waco, Texas), 221

  Tissandier, Paul, 217, 239

  Tocqueville, Alexis de, 203

  Tour d’Argent, 148

  Trowbridge, J. T., 34–35

  Tunison, Frank, 109

  turkey vultures (buzzards), 51–52

  typhoid fever, 27–28, 176, 256

  United Brethren Church in Christ, 10–11, 20, 72

  United Press, 215

  U.S. Air Services, 260

  Van Cleve (bicycle), 25

  Van Dyck, Anthony, 140

  Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, 223–24

  Victoria, Queen of England, 220

  Virginian-Pilot, 110, 156

  Voisin, Charles, 152

  Voisin, Gabriel, 152

  Voisin Frères, 152

  vultures, 37

  Walcott, Charles D., 259

  War Department, U.S., 93, 111, 123, 153, 238

  War Office, British, 124

  Washington, D.C., 178, 181–82

  ceremony for Wright brothers in, 229–30

  Katharine’s trip to, 195–97, 198–200

  Washington Herald, 234, 235, 241

  Washington Post, 34, 100, 110, 141, 182, 191, 203, 235

  water poisoning, 27

  Weather Bureau, U.S., 40, 41, 43

  Webbert, Charles, 127, 133

  Wells, H. G., 186

  Wenham, Francis Herbert, 69

  Werthner, William, 112, 114

  Western Society of Engineers, 66–68, 91–92

  Western University of Pennsylvania, 33

  West Side News, 18–20

  Wharton, Edith, 132, 248

  White, Henry, 141, 195

  Whitehead, Gustave, 260

  Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 43

  wind, 40–41, 49, 51, 53

  “Winds of Fate” (Wilcox), 43

  wind tunnel, 69–70, 81

  wings, 92

  wing warping, 39, 240, 249, 250

  system of, 62–63, 90

  women’s rights, 11

  Woodland Cemetery, 257

  World War I, 260

  World War II, 260–61

  Wright, Catherine (grandmother), 10

  Wright, Dan (grandfather), 10

  Wright, Horace, 9

  Wright, Ivonette, 9, 25

  Wright, Katharine, 6, 8, 9, 14, 21, 22, 23, 27, 38, 40, 42, 45, 49, 50, 54–55, 57, 58, 63, 65, 66, 74–75, 86, 89, 93, 107, 109, 113, 127, 128, 132, 136, 148, 151, 152, 159, 176, 181, 182, 186–88, 192–93, 203, 211, 219, 229, 236, 239, 251, 256, 257–58, 259

  and Charlie Taylor, 75

  compensation accumulated by, 224

  Dayton return of, 227–29

  death of, 258

  and Edward VII, 220

  European tour of, 209–25

  first flight of, 217–18

  French lessons taken by, 214–15

/>   Great Homecoming and, 232

  marriage of, 258

  nickname of, 9

  Orville’s letters to, 76

  in Paris, 222, 247, 248

  at Pau, 212–16

  personality of, 9

  public recognition of, 216

  reading of, 17

  in Rome, 222–23

  train crash and, 212

  Washington trip of, 195–97, 198–200

  and Wilbur’s Paris trip, 144–46

  Wright, Leontine, 9

  Wright, Lorin, 9–10, 15, 23, 25, 78, 79, 80, 107, 113, 127, 176, 200, 227, 228, 259

  as press agent, 109

  Wright, Milton (father), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10–11, 13, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 75, 88, 92–93, 107, 113, 114, 127, 128–29, 132, 139, 148, 188, 192, 193, 195, 198, 201, 210, 211, 218–19, 228, 229, 235, 236, 251, 252, 256, 257

  advice of, 13–14

  birth of, 10

  church troubles of, 72–74

  death of, 257

  diary of, 227

  flight by, 253

  genealogy as interest of, 17

  Great Homecoming speech of, 232

  letters by, 13–14, 18

  as lover of books, 17–18

  on Root, 121

  traveling of, 11, 13

  Wilbur as favorite child of, 14

  worrying as habit of, 27

  Wright, Milton (nephew), 9, 113, 176, 181

  Wright, Netta, 9, 227

  Wright, Orville, 11, 16, 18, 20, 25, 26, 30, 35, 40, 51, 53, 61, 65, 74, 86, 89, 95–96, 97, 102, 110, 112, 162–63, 190–91, 209, 219, 220, 240, 256, 257–58

  aeronautics studied by, 32–33, 38

  Archdeacon’s scorn of, 168

  in Berlin, 241

  bicycle company of, see Wright Cycle Company

  bicycling of, 21–22

  on Blériot’s Channel flight, 238

  in building of first aircraft, 39

  compensation accumulated by, 224

  crashes of, 78, 115, 119, 191–92, 193–95, 197

  cross-country speed trial of, 238

  Dayton return of, 227–29

  death of, 261–62

  diary records of, 77, 85, 97

  endurance record set by, 238

  European trip of, 225

  first glider built by, 42, 44, 49–50

  Flint meeting of, 134

  Flyer II crash of, 115, 119

  in Flyer III, 125–27

  Flyer of, see Flyer

  flying resumed by, 229

  at Fort Myer, 234–39

  Fort Myer crash of, 191–92, 193–95

  Fort Myer test flights by, 182–86, 189, 190–91

  glider-kite built by, 37–38

  Great Homecoming and, 230–33

  height record set by, 244

  home rebuilt by, 21, 23

  honorary degrees of, 261

  hospital stay of, 195–96, 198–200

  Huffman Prairie flights of, 252–53

  initial return to Dayton of, 56–57

  injuries of, 192, 195–96, 211

  as inseparable from brother, 6–7

  and Katharine’s marriage, 258

  at Kitty Hawk, 157–59

  Kitty Hawk arrival of, 48–49

  Legion of Honor awarded to, 211

  letters to Katharine by, 76

 

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