Wright Cycle Co. Flying machine department · Dayton, Ohio
December update: it flies.
To Bishop Milton Wright and Katharine Wright
From Wilbur and Orville, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
TL;DR
Four flights, no catapult, home for Christmas.
The whole month in one telegram. Two corrections in red pencil.
To Bishop M. Wright, 7 Hawthorn St., Dayton, Ohio
SUCCESSFOURFLIGHTSTHURSDAYMORNINGALLAGAINSTTWENTYONEMILEWINDSTARTEDFROMLEVELWITHENGINEPOWERALONEAVERAGESPEEDTHROUGHAIRTHIRTYONEMILESLONGEST5759SECONDSINFORMPRESSHOMECHRISTMAS
OREVELLEOrville WRIGHT
The asks
Three asks this month, none of them money.
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01For Father
Inform press.
Take the telegram to the Dayton papers tonight. Insist on 59 seconds.
Due Tonight
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02For Anyone
Find us a field near Dayton.
Large, flat, close to the streetcar, tolerant cows. Kitty Hawk is a long way to ship a flying machine.
Due By spring
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03For Katharine
Keep the shop paying.
Bicycle profits are the entire balance sheet. No new money needed.
Due Ongoing
Key metrics
From a 3-second stall to almost a minute.
59 sec
Longest flight · Wilbur · Flight four
Flight log · Kill Devil Hills
Every flight beat the last. Flight four went seven times farther.
Flight 4 · Wilbur
852ft59sec
About ten feet up, pitching like a porpoise, for most of a minute.
Highlights
What worked: we threw out the tables and measured.
0.0054 0.0033
Every lift prediction built on it: about 60 percent too high.
- Fall 1901
Built our own wind tunnel
A six-foot box in the shop. Dozens of model wings, 38 tested in detail.
- 1902
Glided until it was boring
More than a thousand glides at Kitty Hawk in about five weeks.
- 1903
Got an engine nobody would sell us
Charlie Taylor built it in six weeks: aluminum block, 12 hp, 180 lb.
Lowlights
The Flyer is a total loss. The data isn't.
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The Flyer is wrecked.
After flight four a gust flipped it end over end. Ribs, uprights and engine mounts broken. It will not fly again.
Total loss -
John Daniels tumbled with it.
He was holding a wing when it tumbled. Bruised, not broken. Possibly aviation's first injury.
Recovering -
December 14: a three-second stall.
Wilbur won the coin toss, pulled up too hard, and dug in. Minor repairs, two days lost.
Fixed
Burn and runway · 1900 to 1903
Three gliders and a Flyer for under $1,000.
- Outside capital
- $0
- Funded by
- Bicycle sales
- Runway
- As long as Dayton rides
Wright brothers Private · bicycle profits
Under $1,000Under $250
Langley Aerodrome Mostly public money
About $70,000$70,000 / 0
About 70x the money. 0 flights.
Competition
Our best-funded competitor launched twice this quarter. Both times into the Potomac.
9 days from their second crash to our first flight
What's next · 1904
Next period: stay up long enough to turn around.
- 1900First glider
- 1901Glider two, wind tunnel
- 19021,000+ glides
- 1903Powered flight You are here
- 1904Turns
- 01
Fly from a field near home
No more shipping the workshop to the Outer Banks.
- 02
Build Flyer II
Heavier, stronger, more power. Replace the wreck.
- 03
Turn, then fly a full circle
Land where we took off.
- 04
Get the patent through
Filed March 23, 1903. Granted, eventually.
Thanks
Thank you. Inform press.
Wilbur and Orville Home Christmas
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Charlie Taylor
Built the engine in six weeks and kept the shop open.
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Kill Devil Hills lifesavers
John Daniels, Adam Etheridge, Will Dough: crew, witnesses, photographer.
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W. C. Brinkley and Johnny Moore
Witnesses four and five. Johnny was a teenager and saw history.
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Father and Katharine
For reading to the bottom. Set two places.