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Both Wilbur and Orville did well at school, but neither went to university. Wilbur’s plans to attend Yale College and become a clergyman like his father were dashed when he lost most of his teeth in an accident while playing ice hockey. It was only years afterwards when he was fitted with artificial teeth that his confidence to speak in public resumed. After the accident, Wilbur spent several years at home caring for his dying mother.

In March 1889, Wilbur and Orville started producing a newspaper in Dayton. Seventeen-year old Orville was the publisher and 21-year old Wilbur was editor. Soon they were publishing other newspapers as well. However, in 1892, they became fascinated with a more mechanical interest—the bicycle.

The present-day style of bicycle was rapidly replacing their penny-farthing bicycle during the 1890s. While continuing their publishing, Wilbur and Orville opened a shop selling bicycles. Their active minds constantly sought ways to be more efficient. This prompted Orville to invent a calculating machine in 1895 to make their bookkeeping easier. The next year they decided to design and manufacture their own bicycles rather than merely sell those manufactured by others.

Their mechanical abilities ensured their success, but the manufacture and sale of bicycles was somewhat seasonal. This left Wilbur and Orville some time during the cold months each year to pursue another interest.

Wilbur and Orville’s interest in flying had begun when their father had given them a helicopter like toy, and had continued through years of making, flying and selling kites. However, in 1899, they decided to seriously study aeronautics. Neither of them had officially completed high school, but they were certainly educated and scientific in their approach. Extensive personal study made them experts on the existing information relating to aeronautics.

The first step towards powered flight was to construct a glider which would lift a man’s weight and which could be maneuvered in flight. To test the glider, strong head winds were needed. The most suitable weather conditions were found at the sand hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, during summer and early autumn. For the next four years, the Wright brothers spent most of the summer and autumn experimenting at Kitty Hawk, and the remainder of the year in Dayton studying and planning. Although they still owned their cycle business, they now employed someone to operate it on their behalf, for their ‘hobby’ was occupying most of their time.

The glider which Wilbur and Orville built in 1900 successfully supported a man’s weight but was difficult to control. Several years earlier, Wilbur had realized that the Creator’s ‘flying machine’—the bird—had excellent maneuverability. Wilbur sought to unlock the bird’s flying secrets. By spending many hours with binoculars studying birds in the wilderness near Dayton, Wilbur found that birds maneuver by changing the shape of their wings. The Wright brothers designed a system of pulleys and cables to change the shape of the glider’s wings in a similar way. By doing this, they achieved maneuverability during their 1901 experiments.

But the brothers were disappointed with the lift they had achieved. They had designed the curve of the glider’s wings using published tables of information. But something was wrong. Wilbur wrote: ‘Having set out with absolute faith in the existing scientific data, we were driven to doubt one thing after another till, finally, after two years of experiments, we cast it aside, and decided to rely entirely on our own investigations.’

Wilbur and Orville’s ingenuity now shone through. They set up a wind tunnel in their bicycle shop and experimented with different shaped curved surfaces. Their research produced the first reliable tables of the effect of air pressure on various shaped curved surfaces. The usefulness of their new tables was verified during their 1902 gliding experiments in which they achieved better lift than before, and solved the problem of balance in flight.

The brothers were now ready for the final step—the addition of a light-weight engine. However, no suitable engine was available, and they could not find an engineering company prepared to take them seriously and build what they requested. So they designed and built their own engine. Their experience with bicycles was put to use in designing a system of chains and gears to operate the propellers. Wilbur and Orville also built the propellers themselves, designing them according to their own data on air pressure.

First powered flight

Delayed by mishaps, minor mechanical problems and severe storms, the Wright brothers continued their 1903 experiments as the bitterly cold winter set in. Despite the harsh conditions, the tone of their letters to their sister Kate reflected their continuing cheerfulness. As always, they steadfastly observed their principle of not working on Sundays even though they often had to wait several days for suitable wind conditions to return.

Finally, on Thursday, 17 December, 1903, Wilbur and Orville achieved their goal—the world’s first powered flight. Orville flew the Wright Flyer a distance of about 37 meters (120 feet), staying aloft for 12 seconds. Later the same day, Wilbur flew about 260 meters (852 feet) in a flight lasting 59 seconds.

Most other aircraft experimenters at that time had large crowds watching their trials. In contrast, Wilbur and Orville had quietly gone about their work without fanfare. This now proved to be a disadvantage. The media and the public had not witnessed Wilbur and Orville’s achievements and were not willing to believe them. A few newspapers did carry the story but wildly distorted the facts, greatly upsetting the brothers. This lack of recognition did not dampen the brothers’ enthusiasm for their work—they merely condoned experimentation to produce further improvements. This was done near their home town, Dayton, for the strong head winds of Kitty Hawk were no longer needed once the engine had been fitted to the aircraft.

It was not until Wilbur flew before a crowd in France in 1908 that the Wright brothers’ achievements were finally recognized. Unfortunately, that same year they were reminded of the dangers of their work when Orville was injured in a crash which killed his passenger.

At the end of 1909, Wilbur and Orville set up the Wright Co. to manufacture and sell aeroplanes. However, their difficulties were not over. A number of lawsuits took place relating to infringements of patents. Some people still did not accept that the Wright brothers were the first to fly a powered aircraft. Their claims were eventually accepted, but it took many years. Wilbur did not live to see these problems resolved. He died of typhoid fever in Dayton on 30 May, 1912, aged 45 years. Orville lived on for many years, and died from a heart attack in Dayton on 30 January, 1948, aged 76. Neither had married.

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