The Bishop's Boys (87 page)

10. For a detailed treatment of the 1896 trials, see Octave Chanute, “Recent Experiments in Gliding Flight,”
The Aeronautical Annual
(Boston, 1897), 30–53; Octave Chanute, “Evolution of the Two-Surface Flying Machine,”
Aeronautics
(October 1908), 9–10; and Octave Chanute, “Experiments in Flying,”
McClure’s
(June 1900).

1. Milton Wright to Katharine Wright, August 31, 1896, box 4, Wright Papers, LC.

2. Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953, cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 1, p. 103.

3. Milton Wright, Diary, October 21, 1896, box 9, file 6, Wright Brothers Collection, WSU.

4. Orville Wright, Deposition, in McFarland, ed.,
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 3.

5. Wilbur Wright, “Brief and Digest of the Evidence for Complainant on Final Hearing,” The Wright Co. vs. Herring-Curtiss Co. and Glenn H. Curtiss in Equity No. 400, pp. 4–25; copy in Wright State University Archives.

6. Wilbur Wright to the Smithsonian Institution, May 30, 1899, in McFarland, ed.,
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 4–5.

7. Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, September 23, 1900, in Fred C. Kelly, ed.,
Miracle at Kitty Hawk: The Letters of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1951), pp. 30–31; Katharine Wright to Milton Wright, September 26, 1900, in ibid., pp. 31–32.

8. Milton Wright to the Editor of
Who’s Who
, October 4, 1908, quoted in Ivonette Wright Miller, ed.,
Wright Reminiscences
(Dayton, Ohio: Privately printed, 1978), pp. 68–69.

9. Milton Wright to Wilbur Wright, August 2, 1908, box 6, Wright Papers, LC.

10. Milton Wright to Katharine Wright, March 22, 1909, box 6, Wright Papers, LC.

11. Milton Wright, Diary, May 30, 1912, WSU.

12. Milton Wright to the Editor of
Who’s Who
, October 4, 1908, in Miller, ed.,
Wright Reminiscences
, p. 69.

13. Wilbur Wright, “Brief and Digest …”

14. Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” p. 5.

15. James Means, “Wheeling and Flying,”
The Aeronautical Annual
, 2 (Boston, 1896), p. 25.

16. Fred C. Kelly,
The Wright Brothers
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1975), p. 183.

1. Orville Wright, Deposition, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953, cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 1, p. 7.

2. Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” in ibid., vol. 1, p. 103; see also Wilbur Wright, “Brief and Digest of the Evidence for Complainant on Final Hearing,” The Wright Co. vs. Herring-Curtiss Co. and Glenn H. Curtiss in Equity No. 400, pp. 4–25; copy in Wright State University Archives.

3. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, May 13, 1900, in
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 16–17.

4. Wilbur Wright, “Brief and Digest …”

5. Ibid.

6. Orville Wright, Deposition, in
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 8–9.

7. Author’s conversation with Mrs. Elizabeth Rehling, daughter of Agnes Os-born, May 20, 1986. My thanks go to Mrs. Rehling for her many kindnesses, and to Harold and Ivonette Miller for introducing me to her.

8. Orville Wright, Deposition, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 11.

9. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, May 13, 1900, in
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 16–17.

10. Orville Wright, Deposition, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 12.

11. I have not provided detailed footnotes for the lengthy discussion that follows of the calculations required in designing the 1901 Wright glider. For background, readers should consult McFarland, ed.,
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 575–577.
Harry Coombs with Martin Caidin,
Kill Devil Hill: Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979), pp. 361–375, provides a good account of the mathematics of airplane design. I am enormously indebted to Dr. Howard Wolko of the Aeronautics Department, National Air and Space Museum, for his own understanding of the process—and much else besides.

1. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, May 13, 1900, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953, cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 1, pp. 15–19.

2. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, May 17, 1900, in ibid., pp. 19–21.

3. Wilbur Wright to Instrument Division, U.S. Weather Bureau, November 21, 1899; Wilbur Wright to Chief, U.S. Weather Bureau, December 9, 1899, in ibid., p. 2.

4.
Monthly Weather Review
(September 1899), 440–441.

5. Joseph J. Dosher to Wilbur Wright, August 18, 1900, in Fred C. Kelly, ed.,
Miracle at Kitty Hawk: The Letters of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1951), p. 25.

6. William Tate to Wilbur Wright, August 18, 1900, in ibid.

7. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, August 10, 1900, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 22.

8. Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, September 3, 1900, in Kelly, ed.,
Miracle
, pp. 25–26.

9. Katharine Wright to Milton Wright, September 5, 1900, in Kelly, ed.,
Miracle
, p. 27.

10. Wilbur Wright, Fragmentary Memo, Notebook A [1900–01], in
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 23–25.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, September 23, 1900, in ibid., pp. 25–27.

14. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau Daily Journal—Kitty Hawk, N.C., 1900, Record Group 27, National Archives. Determination of the day of first flight was worked out by comparing Dosher’s record book with Orville’s letters cited above.

15. John R. McMahon,
The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1930). The reconstruction of the first manned flight draws heavily on the author’s experience in flying a replica 1902 Wright glider constructed by Mr. Rick Young, of Petersburg, Va. The author’s debt to Rick Young and his wife Sue is the sort that can never be repaid.

16. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, October 14, 1900, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 28.

17. Ibid., p. 28.

18. Ibid., p. 29.

19. Ibid., p. 30.

20. Ibid.

21. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, October 18, 1900, in ibid., p. 37.

22. Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, November 23, 1903, in ibid., p. 383, note 6.

23. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, July 28, 1901, in ibid., p. 73.

24. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, October 14, 1900, in ibid., p. 32.

25. Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, September 23, 1900, in ibid., p. 25.

26. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, October 14, 1900, in ibid., p. 32.

27. Ibid.

28. Ibid.

29. Robert Frost, “A Trip to Currituck, Elizabeth City, and Kitty Hawk (1894),”
North Carolina Folklore
(May 1968), vol. 16, no. 1, 3–9.

30. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, October 14, 1900, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 32.

31. Ibid., p. 33.

32. Ibid., p. 33.

33. William Tate, “I Was Host to the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk,”
U.S. Air Services
(December 1943), 29–30.

34. Wilbur Wright, Notebook A [1900–01], in
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 23–25.

35. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, October 18, 1900, in ibid., pp. 34–37.

36. Ibid., p. 38.

1. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, November 29, 1900, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953 cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 1, p. 47.

2. Octave Chanute to Paul Renard, November 22, 1908, in ibid., vol. 2, p. 940. See also Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, January 20, 1910, and Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, January 23, 1910, ibid., pp. 979–980. The Wrights came to regard Chanute as being too imprecise for their taste, and guilty of “guessing.” See, for example, Milton Wright, manuscript notes, January 7, 1916, box 8, file 8, Wright Papers, WSU; John R. McMahon,
The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1930), p. 10; Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, December 1, 1900, in
Papers
, vol. 1, pp. 46–47; Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, December 2, 1900, in ibid., p. 49; and Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, December 3, 1900, in ibid., p. 49.

3. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, November 23, 1900, in ibid., p. 44.

4. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, November 26, 1900, in ibid., p. 45.

5. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, May 12, 1901, in ibid., p. 54.

6. Orville Wright, Deposition of January 13, 1920, in
Montgomery
v.
U.S
., in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 547.

7. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, June 19, 1901, in ibid., vol. 1, p. 55.

8. Charles Taylor, “My Story of the Wright Brothers,”
Collier’s
(Dec. 25, 1948), vol. 122, no. 26, 27, 68, and 70.

9. For biographical information on Edward Chalmers Huffaker, see Tom D. Crouch,
A Dream of Wings: Americans and the Airplane, 1875–1905
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1981), passim.

10. For biographical information on George Spratt, see William Trimble,
High Frontier: A History of Aeronautics in Pennsylvania
(Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982).

11. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, June 29, 1901, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 56.

12. Ibid.

13. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, July 1, 1901, in ibid., p. 64.

14. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, July 3, 1901, in ibid.

15. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, July 4, 1901, in ibid.

16. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, July 26, 1901, in ibid., p. 70.

17. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, July 28, 1901, in ibid., p. 72.

18. Ibid., p. 73.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid., p. 74.

21. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, July 26, 1901, in ibid., p. 70.

22. Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” in ibid., p. 109.

23. Orville Wright to Katharine Wright, July 28, 1901, in ibid., pp. 71–74.

24. Wilbur Wright Diary A, 1900–1901, pp. 22–23, in ibid., p. 77.

25. Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, July 18, 1901, in ibid., pp. 68–69.

26. Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,” in ibid., p. 111.

27. Wilbur Wright, “Brief and Digest of the Evidence for the Complainant on Final Hearing,” The Wright Co. vs. Herring-Curtiss Co. and Glenn H. Curtiss in Equity No. 400, pp. 4–25. Original transcript, National Archives.

28. Chanute-Huffaker Diary, July 23, 1901, pp. 165–166, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 81.

29. Wilbur Wright to George Spratt, September 21, 1901, in ibid., p. 118.

30. Wilbur Wright, “Brief and Digest….”

31. Fred C. Kelly,
The Wright Brothers: A Biography Authorized by Orville Wright
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1956), p. 167.

1. Katharine Wright to Milton Wright, August 26, 1901, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953 cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 1, p. 84.

2. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, August 29, 1901, in ibid., p. 85.

3. Wilbur Wright, “Brief and Digest of the Evidence for the Complainant on Final Hearing,” The Wright Company vs. Herring-Curtiss, Co., and Glenn H. Curtiss in Equity No. 400, pp. 4–25; copy in Wright State University Archives.

4. The material on the Keiter affair is based primarily on assorted news clippings in boxes 96–98, Wright Papers, LC, and on Keiter Affair Documents, in file 6–7, box 8, Wright Brothers Collection, WSU. All quotes are drawn from “Church in Turmoil,” [Chicago]
Sunday Chronicle
(Aug. 24, 1902).

5. Katharine Wright to Milton Wright, September 3, 1901, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 91.

6. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, September 5, 1901, in ibid., p. 93.

7. Katharine Wright to Milton Wright, September 25, 1901, in ibid., p. 99.

8. Wilbur Wright, “Some Aeronautical Experiments,”
Journal of the Western Society of Engineers
(December 1901), in ibid., p. 100.

9. Wilbur Wright to George Spratt, September 21, 1901, in ibid., p. 118.

10. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, September 13, 1901, in ibid., p. 98.

11. Wilbur and Orville Wright, “The Wright Brothers Aeroplane,”
The Century
(September 1908).

12. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, September 26, 1901, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 121.

13. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, November 2, 1901, in ibid., p. 145.

14. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, October 6, 1901, in ibid., p. 124.

15. A few examples of the paper records survive in the collection of the Franklin Institute.

16. The description of the difficulties in reassembling the balances is based on the author’s experience.

17. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, November 18, 1901, in
Papers
, vol. 1, p. 156. The most complete and accurate treatment of the range of Wright wind-tunnel tests is to be found in Appendix II, ibid., pp. 547–593.

18. Ivonette Wright Miller, “Character Study,” in Miller, ed.,
Wright Reminiscences
(Dayton, Ohio: Privately printed, 1978), p. 60.

1. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, December 19, 1901, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953. cited hereafter as
Papers
.), vol. 1, p. 183.

2. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, December 23, 1901, in ibid., p. 184.

3. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, January 19, 1902, in ibid.

4. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, May 5, 1902, in ibid., p. 232.

5. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, February 11, 1902, in ibid., p. 215.

6. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, February 7, 1902, in ibid., p. 213.

7. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, May 5, 1902, in ibid., p. 232.

8. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, February 7, 1902, in ibid., p. 213.

9. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, February 13, 1902, in ibid., p. 215.