Confident that they knew how to construct a reliable flying machine, the brothers turned their attention to finding practical applications for it. They believed that airplanes eventually would be useful for recreation and transportation. But they realized that the first useful employment of airplanes would be in military capacities. So, they wrote to the U.S. War Department with a proposal to sell their aircraft.
Wilbur and Orville negotiated a contract with the War Department. They promised to develop a plane that could seat two people, fly 40 miles per hour, remain in the air for one hour, and carry enough fuel to travel 125 miles. The two parties agreed on a price of $25,000. The War Department offered a bonus if the plane exceeded the requirements.
In the summer of 1908, the brothers headed to Fort Myer, Virginia, with their Flyer. They completed nine flight trials successfully. On the 10th test flight, however, one of the propellers cracked and broke. The aircraft crashed and was wrecked. Orville was gravely injured and was hospitalized for seven weeks. Worse, his passenger, Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge, was killed in the first aircraft casualty.
The War Department agreed to postpone the trials until the following summer. In June 1909, the brothers returned to Virginia with yet another version of their Flyer. The U.S. Signal Corps, part of the U.S. Army, was eager for the Wright brothers to succeed. It knew that European countries, such as France and Germany, were building aerial fleets. The Signal Corps wanted the United States to develop modern aeronautical equipment for the nation’s defense.
This story is from the November/December 2023 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the November/December 2023 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Eye in the Sky
An interview with Joe Piotrowski
Airborne Animals
Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.
TAKING OFF
The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.
GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY
After their historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Dayton, Ohio. They spent the next few years making adjustments and building additional versions of their powered aircraft in their bicycle shop.
WHY KITTY HAWK?
The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.
Two Brothers From Ohio
Most people do not realize that the Wright brothers—Wilbur, born in 1867, and Orville, born in 1871—performed various scientific experiments before inventing their aircraft. For as long as anyone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, could remember, the Wright boys had worked on mechanical projects.
A Helping Hand
May 6, 1896. A group of people who had gathered beside the Potomac River, just south of the U.S. capital, grew quiet. Then, it erupted in cheers as a small, unmanned aircraft took to the skies and flew for more than half a mile. The flight came seven years before the Wright brothers’ first manned, powered flight. The inventor of the aircraft was Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley.
THE IDEA MEN
People dreamed of flying thousands of years before the Wright brothers found success near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These dreamers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, studied birds flying and imagined how humans might do the same—if only they had wings. Other men developed a more hands-on approach to the topic. Early inventors made wings of cloth, glue, and feathers and tied these creations to their arms in an attempt to imitate nature.
Da Vinci's 4 Designs
Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?
Silken Wings
Seven hundred years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with human flight, the Chinese had already mastered its secrets—with kites.
