New Yorkers planned an elaborate welcoming ceremony. The United States Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Aero Club of America all wanted to award them medals when they landed. Governor James M. Cox of Ohio protested to President Taft that the medals should be presented in Dayton (with the governor in attendance, of course.) Taft invited officials from Ohio and New York to debate the matter in the White House. However, the Wright Brothers settled the debate before it began. Still out at sea, they cabled their intention to get back to Dayton as quickly as possible to begin work on a new military Flyer.

The city of Dayton, meanwhile, geared up for a blow-out in mid-June, oblivious to the Wright Brother's need to build another aircraft. "The Dayton presentation has been made the excuse for an elaborate carnival and advertisement of the city under the guise of being an honor to us," Wilbur wrote to Octave Chanute. "As it was done against our known wishes, we are not as appreciative as we might be."

Nor was that their only interruption. Upon arrival in Dayton Ohio on May 13, 1909, they were met by a crowd of 10,000 people and whisked away to an all-day party. President Taft requested their presence in Washington, DC, and several days later they were in the East Room of the White House listening to speeches and accepting medals.

Nevertheless, they did get some work done. At their bicycle shop on 1127 W. Third Street, they tested engines and propellers. In a makeshift workshop that they installed in the carriage barn behind their brother Lorin's house, they made the parts of the airframe. Slowly, the first American military aircraft took shape.

On June 17, 1909, the Wilbur and Orville gave in to the inevitable and joined in a two-day long city-wide celebration in their honor. Octave Chanute advised them to buck up and take it like men. "I know that the reception of honors becomes oppressive to modest men," he wrote, "but in this case you have brought the trouble on yourselves by completing the solution to a world-old problem, accomplished with great ingenuity and patience at much risk of personal injury to yourselves."