WRIGHT BROTHERS
Aeroplane Company
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1902, the year that Charley joined the Navy, two Dayton brothers made a breakthrough that
would open up a whole new form of transportation. Wilbur and Orville Wright designed,
built, and flew a glider at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, which for the first time allowed
its pilot complete control over the direction of flight. Other men had made
semi-successful gliders before, but this was the first with adequate controls for true
flying. The next year, the Wright Brothers added a gasoline engine to their glider design
and on December 17, 1903, made the first controlled and sustained flights, flying
852 feet in 59 seconds. In 1904 and 1905, they moved their aviation experiments to Huffman
Prairie (the present site of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) just outside of Dayton,
Ohio. Here, they built a second experimental aircraft, the Wright Flyer 2, and began to
perfect it. On September 20, 1904, they flew the first complete circle ever made in a
heavier-than-air craft. By November, they were flying more than a mile at a time. In the
late spring and early summer of 1905, they built a third machine, incorporating everything
they had learned from the first two. On September 8, 1905, the Wrights flew the first
figure-8, making both right- and left-hand turns in a single flight. By the end of
November, they could fly over 24 miles, remaining aloft for a half an hour at a time,
flying in any direction they wanted. The Wright Flyer 3 was the world's first practical
airplane.None of this was lost on Charley Furnas. Apparently he was one of the few Dayton area residents who noticed there was something extraordinary going on at Huffman Prairie, and made at least one trip on the Interurban to see for himself. On November 22, 1904, Wilbur Wright records in his diary that Charley was present for several short flights. He was probably home on leave from the Navy for Thanksgiving, and went out to watch the Wright experiments. |
 The 1905 Wright Flyer over Huffman Prairie. This was the airplane that Charley Furnas would eventually ride on. |