WRIGHT BROTHERS Aeroplane Company

1899 to 1903

1899

The Wright brothers experiment with twisting wings, trying to deform the front edges. They can’t come up with a device light enough or strong enough to control a glider in flight.

May 30 — Wilbur Wright writes the Smithsonian asking for published materials on aeronautics. He is answered by Richard Rathbun, who sends four pamphlets and a list of other publications.

Edward Huffaker quits work with Langley and goes back to Tennessee.

July — Wilbur Wright sells a woman a bicycle inner tube, then nervously twists the box that it came in while she talks to him. He notices that when he twists one end of the small rectangular box in one direction, the other end twists in the opposite direction. In his mind’s eye, he sees the twisting wings of a biplane.

July — The Wright brothers build a biplane kite with a wingspan of 5 feet and a wing warping system. When tested by Wilbur, it works just as planned. Unable to contain his enthusiasm, he pedals miles out into the country side to find Orville, who is on a camping trip with friends. Immediately the brothers begin planning a man-carrying version.

September 30 — Percy Pilcher dies in a crash of his Hawk, just as he is preparing to test a powered airplane.

November 27 — Wilbur Wright writes the United States Weather Bureau and inquires about locations with high winds. The weather bureau sends him The Monthly Weather Review and wind charts, and Wilbur learns of Kitty Hawk.

Click on an image to enlarge it.

To see an animated demonstration of Wilbur's inner tube box experiment, click the image above.

Wilbur's drawing of his 1899 kite.

Flying a replica of the 1899 kite.

The patent drawing of Pilcher's powered plane. By the time he built it, the design had evolved to a triplane.

1900

Throughout the spring and summer — The Wrights plan and build parts for their first glider.

May 13 — Wilbur Wright writes Octave Chanute and asks for advice.

August 3 — Wilbur Wright writes to Kitty Hawk, asking for information on weather and lodging.

August 16 — Joseph Dosher, the chief of the Kitty Hawk weather station, responds to Wilbur’s letter. Dosher also refers Wilbur’s letter to William Tate, the postmaster. Tate also writes Wilbur, providing more details about Kitty Hawk

September 13 — Wilbur Wright arrives in Kitty Hawk, stays with the Tates, and begins to assemble a glider.

September 28 — Orville Wright arrives with camping gear, food, and a mandolin. He also brings a camera, the first ever seen in Kitty Hawk. The brother stay in a 12-foot by 22-foot tent, about a mile from the Tates. They assemble a biplane glider with movable front elevator — they have located the elevator at the front not only to provide control, but to serve the same function as Lilienthal’s rebound bow. They begin to test the glider as a kite. Orville begins a humorous correspondence with his sister Katharine, whom he is very close to. Wilbur will not let Orville fly until he’s sure the glider is safe.

October 10 — The Wrights experience their first crash. They rebuild the glider, and once again test it like a kite.

The Wrights send 10-year-old Tom Tate, William’s nephew up on the glider as they fly it like a kite. Later on, just before they leave to go back home, Wilbur makes about a dozen free flights.

October 23 — The Wrights break camp and head for Dayton. Puzzled by failure of glider to produce calculated lift, but encouraged by success of wing warping and elevator control.

The Wright brothers' camp at Kitty Hawk in 1900. Wilbur is "washing" a pan in the sand.

The Wright brothers flew their first glider mostly as a kite.

The Wrights flew their 1900 glider on just two occasions with a pilot aboard. The first was a tethered flight, the second was a series of short free flights. The above picture is a reenactment of a free flight.

1901

Octave Chanute praises and publicizes the work of the Wrights

Ferdinand Ferber, France, learns of the Wright brothers work from Octave Chanute. He begins to correspond with the brothers.

Wilbur Wright publishes a technical paper on gliding in a British and German journal.

The Wrights, encouraged by their initial success, plan their second glider.

Octave Chanute asks the Wrights to work with Edward Huffaker and George Spratt (of Pennsylvania) to test one of Chanute’s gliders in Kitty Hawk.

June — The Wrights hire Charlie Taylor to run their bicycle shop in their absence.

July 10 — Wrights arrived at Kitty Hawk, establish camp at Kill Devil Hills four miles to south, build a shed to serve as a hangar. They are plagued by mosquitoes and Edward Huffaker. Orville writes to Katharine that he can’t decide which is worse, the mosquitoes or Huffaker.

July 27 — The Wright’s glider is tested with Huffaker and Spratt helping. It doesn’t fly as well as their first glider, showing a pronounced tendency to nose up or nose down. The Wrights identify the problem as the wing curvature and begin to rebuild the glider with a shallower camber on the wings.

August 4 — Octave Chanute arrives at the Wright’s camp.

August 8 — The Wright's rebuilt glider is tested, and it performs almost as well as the first. Orville makes his first flights.

August 9 — When Wilbur Wright attempts a turn, the glider behaves oddly. The increased drag on the "high" wing (the wing generating the most lift) causes the glider to yaw in the opposite direction of the turn. The Wrights are perplexed.

Mid-August — Chanute, Huffaker, and Spratt depart the Wright camp

August 20 — The Wrights, discouraged, break camp. Wilbur comments to Orville that it could 1000 more years before flying is possible. Later, Wilbur remembers his dark mood, "We doubted that we would ever resume our experiments...At this time, I made the prediction that men would sometime fly, but it would not be in our lifetime."

September 18 — At Chanute’s request, Wilbur Wright delivers a paper to the Western Society of Engineers in Chicago, Illinois. Wilbur suggests to the group that the Lilienthal data on lift and wing shapes is wrong.

The Wrights build a wind tunnel to conduct their own research on wing surfaces.

Orville and Dan Tate prepare to launch Wilbur aboard the 1901 Wright Glider.

Wilbur flying the 1901 glider.

Wilbur and the 1901 glider after a hard landing.

Reliving the kiting experiments with the 1901 Wright glider.

Reenacting a 1901 glider flight. Notice the similarity to the launch photo above.

1902

The Wrights plan their third glider.

Ferdinand Ferber, France, begins experimenting with gliders based on the Wright design.

August 28 — The Wrights arrive in Kitty Hawk, begin repairs on their shed and build an extension.

September 8 — The Wrights begin to assemble their new glider. It has a fixed tail that the brothers hope will overcome the drag that caused the 1901 glider to yaw in the opposite direction of the intended turn.

September 19 — The Wrights begin testing the glider. It is much improved, but when making a slow turn, the fixed tail causes the turn to become tighter and tighter. The glider spins in on one wing in a frightening maneuver the brothers dub "well-digging."

September 23 — Orville Wright crashes and nearly destroys the glider.

September 29 — Wrights resume tests with repaired glider.

September 30— George Spratt and Lorin Wright arrive at camp for a visit.

October 2 — Orville Wright suggests converting fixed tail to a movable rubber to fix the well-digging problem. Wilbur agrees and they do so. They connect the rudder control to the wing warping system.

October 5 — Octave Chanute and Augustus Herring arrive at the Wright camp.

October 8 — The Wright's modified glider work perfectly, with no tendency to spin.

October 17 — Augustus Herring leaves Kitty Hawk and visits Samuel Langley in Virginia, looking for work. He tells Langley of the Wright’s success.

October 19 — Samuel Langley cables the Wrights, requesting information on their "special curved surfaces" and asking to come to Kitty Hawk. The Wrights decline.

October 28 — The Wrights break camp, already planning a powered aircraft.

Winter — The Wrights inquire at automobile companies for a suitable gasoline engine for their aircraft, but cannot find one that meets their needs.

Winter — Charley Taylor begins building an aircraft engine for the Wrights.

December — Samuel Langley asks Octave Chanute to help him get a foot in the door with the Wrights. Chanute can’t get them to talk to Langley.

Ferber's 1902 glider was based on the Wrights' 1901 design.

The 1902 Wright Glider initially had a fixed tail. It was only a partial solution to the turning problem.

After some experimentation the Wrights converted the fixed tail to a movable rudder. This, together with wing warping and the elevator, gave the glider roll, pitch, and yaw control.

The Wright airplane engine was designed for simplicity so the Wright's mechanic. Charlie Taylor, could build it with the limited metalworking equipment they had on hand.

1903

Ferdinand Ferber, France, builds a copy of a Wright glider and attaches a motor to it. He attempts to fly it tethered to a crane. He fails.

Winter — The Wrights begin to design their aircraft propellers. The calculations are complex and confusing, and there are many heated arguments.

April — The Wrights complete their first set of propellers.

April — Octave Chanute lectures the Aero Club of France on the gliding experiments of the Wright brothers.

September 25 — The Wrights return to Kitty Hawk.

September 28 — Wrights practice flying with the 1902 glider and build a new hanger for the Flyer.

October 7 — Samuel Langley tests his man-carrying Aerodrome on the Potomac, with Charles Manly, a co designer, at the controls. The machine snags on its launch mechanism and plunges into the river.

October 23 — George Spratt visits the Wright’s camp.

November 4 — When the Wrights test their assembled Flyer for the first time, it damages both propeller shafts. George Spratt takes the shafts back to Dayton with instructions for Charlie Taylor to rebuild them.

November 5 — Octave Chanute visits the Wright camp.

November 8 — Samuel Langley asks the War Department for more money to rebuild and test his Aerodrome again. He gets it.

November 20 — Wrights receive the new propeller shafts, but find the drive sprockets are too loose.

November 21 — The Wrights elect to use bicycle tire cement to glue the sprockets to the shafts. The cement works.

November 28 — After the Wrights make several tests, one of the new propeller shafts crack. Orville takes it back to Dayton.

December 8 — Samuel Langley tests his Aerodrome again. And again it fails. Charles Manly is almost drowned in the crash.

December 11 — Orville Wright returns to Kitty Hawk from Dayton with new shafts made of spring steel.

December 14 — The Wrights try to fly their machine with Wilbur at the controls. But he overcontrols the elevator, the machine shoots up 15 feet, stalls, and plows into the sand 105 feet from the point of takeoff. Neither Wilbur or Orville consider this a true flight since the airplane started on a downhill run.

December 17 — At 10:35 am, Orville Wright makes the first powered flight in a fully controllable aircraft capable of sustaining itself in the air. The flight lasts just 12 seconds and stretches only 120 feet. In the next few hours, Wilbur and Orville make four flights, the longest 852 feet. After the fourth flight, a gust of wind rolls the aircraft over and smashes it. Wrights send a telegram to their father, Bishop Milton Wright, informing him of their success. The Bishop proudly informs the newspapers and shows the telegram to his sons' boyhood friend, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Ferber attempts to fly a motorized copy of the 1901 Wright Glider while tethered to a crank. It didn't work.

The Wrights were the first to realize that propellers were wings that spun in a circle. Consequently, they could be designed using much of the same data they had gathered from their wind tunnel.

While the Wright brothers were constructing the powered Flyer at their camp in 1903, they continued to make practice glides with the 1902 glider. The modified the rudder so that it would behave more like the Flyer in flight.

The Langley Great Aerodrome slides into the Potomac River "like a handful of wet cement" according to one newspaper account.

The Wright Flyer 1 just before the December 14th attempt to fly.

The Flyer 852 feet from its starting point after the fourth flight on December 17, 1903.

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