The Wrights first tested their catapult on September 7, 1904, and from the outset it was clear that this was the ticket that would get them back in the air. The Flyer 2 lifted cleanly off the carriage as it approached the end of the rail and began to fly. By September 15, the Wright were making flights up to half a mile long. More importantly, they began to make controlled turns in the air, something that they had never done in a powered machine.

On September 20, Orville flew the first complete circuit of the prairie, and for the first time, an airplane landed back where it had started. That day saw another first. Amos Root, the owner of a beekeeping supply house in Medina, Ohio, had heard that men were actually flying at Huffman Prairie, and he had traveled 175 miles to see the miracle for himself. He was on hand to see Orville's triumphant flight, and he later published the first eyewitness account of a sustained, controlled, powered flight in Gleanings in Bee Culture, a journal he published for his customers:

"When it turned that circle, and came near the starting-point, I was right in front of it; and I said then, and I believe still, it was...the grandest sight of my life. Imagine a locomotive that had left its track, and is climbing up in the air right toward you -- a locomotive without any wheels...but with white wings instead...spread 20 feet each way, coming right toward you with a tremendous flap of its propellers, and you have something like what I saw...I tell you, friends, the sensation that one feels is something hard to describe."

For all their success, however, the Wright's flying machine still had serious shortcomings. In between their long flights, there were many short hops that ended with the aircraft out of control. Accidents were a daily occurrence, some of them potentially serious. Dave Beard's wife often sent one of her children running across the field with a bottle of liniment to sooth Orville and Wilbur's bumps and bruises. Of special concern was the pitch control -- the Flyer 2 had a tendency to oscillate up and down. The Wrights tried placing weights on the aircraft to alter its center of gravity, but this was only marginally successful. Clearly, the machine would have to be redesigned yet again.

Click on a photo to enlarge it.

The 1904 Flyer 2 is catapulted into the air. The derrick and weight are on the extreme right of the photo.

The Flyer 2 gains altitude after a catapult launch.

The Flyer 2 flying above Huffman Prairie.

The Flyer 2 makes 4 complete circles of the flying field on November 9, 1904.