Publication: Air Power History
Publication Date: 22-DEC-02
Format: Online - approximately 8333 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
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Article Excerpt
On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully flew for the first time a powered and controlled, heavier-than-air machine--an airplane. Over the next two years, the brothers would refine their design and, unlike all other would-be airplane inventors, fly the aircraft under complete, although tenuous, control in all three axes--roll, pitch, and yaw. (1) Recognizing its potential as a military instrument, they decided to offer the machine first to the U.S. Army once they felt confident of its capabilities. (2) In January 1905, Wilbur Wright consulted with his congressman, Robert M. Nevin, and on his advice wrote a letter briefly describing the machine. Nevin had intended to give the letter to Secretary of War William H. Taft, but it was mistakenly forwarded directly to the U.S. Army Board of Ordnance and Fortification. The board viewed the letter as just another appeal for money to build some theoretical flying machine and stated that as soon as the Wrights could demonstrate a practical machine, i t would be willing to hear their proposal. (3) In October, the brothers wrote another letter, this time directly to Secretary Taft, who forwarded it to the Board of Ordnance and Fortification. Receiving a second rejection almost identical to the first, the Wrights requested the performance that the board would expect of a flying machine. The board answered that it would have to see such a machine in operation, effectively closing for the next eighteen months the U.S. government as a market, since the Wrights interpreted the response as a lack of interest. (4)
Fortunately, the Wright flyer came to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, who directed Taft to look into the matter. On May 11, 1907, the Board of Ordnance and Fortification wrote the Wrights, enclosing correspondence with Congressman Herbert Parsons and asking the Wrights to get in touch. (5) In several letters to the board in May and June, the Wright brothers offered for $100,000 a flying machine capable of carrying two people over a distance of 200 kilometers at a speed of fifty kilometers per hour. When they could not guarantee exclusive sale at that price, the board, which did not have the money anyway, dropped the matter until October. (6)
Wilbur and Orville Wright spent the summer of 1907 in Europe laying the groundwork for a European Wright Company to manufacture and sell their flying machines. (7) While in France, they became acquainted with U.S. Army Lt. Frank P. Lahm. Detailed to the Cavalry School at Samur, France, he was recuperating from typhoid at a rest home in St. Germain, when his father visited him, bringing along Wilbur and Orville. This visit initiated a close and lasting friendship between Lieutenant Lahm and the Wrights. (8) Shortly afterwards, the lieutenant received orders assigning him to the Aeronautical Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. In October, he wrote to the Chief Signal Officer, Brig. Gen. James Allen, urging him to reconsider acquisition of the Wright flying machine. He argued that the flyer had considerable military value and being an American invention should be first purchased by the U.S. Army. He pointed out that the Wright brothers did not expect payment of any sort until they fulfilled a mutually agreed upon program of purchase. (9) Subsequently, the Board of Ordnance and Fortification invited the Wrights to meet with Army officials. Just before Thanksgiving, Wilbur made a presentation to General Allen and representatives of the Ordnance Department. He then attended the December board meeting, where he explained the capabilities of the Wright flyer and offered it to the Army for $25,000. (10)
Based on this meeting, the Signal Corps wrote a proposed specification. The Wrights commented on it in a December 18 letter to General Allen, and on December 23 the Signal Corps issued Specification No. 486, seeking bids for a heavier-than-air flying machine. The specification began with guidance on proposal submission. The first requirement stated that the flyer must be easily taken apart, transported by an Army wagon, then reassembled within an hour. The requirements establishing flight capabilities were obviously based on the Wrights' contribution. The machine had to carry two people, up to 350 pounds combined weight, and sufficient fuel for a 125 mile flight. Speed was set at forty miles per hour with a bonus for each additional mile per hour and a penalty for lesser speed. During trials, the machine would undergo an endurance test flight of at least an hour. It had to be able to land safely on an unprepared field and to descend safely in case of motor failure while in flight. It had to be simple enough i n construction and operation to permit an intelligent man to become proficient in its use within a reasonable time. The successful bidder would have to train two individuals in handling and operating the machine. Finally, to discourage ill-considered bids, each bidder had to provide a certified check equaling 10 percent of the bid. Delivery and trials were to be made at Fort Myer, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. (11)
The Wright brothers submitted their bid, along with the required bond, after receiving assurances from the Signal Corps that in case of failure to meet the specifications, only that part of the bond covering damage done to the government by such failure would be forfeit. (12) They signed a formal contract on February 10, 1908, and immediately began to build a machine that was a modified version of the 1905 flyer to meet the Army's requirements. (They also built a second plane that Wilbur took to France.) In the spring, they returned to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, for the first time since December 1903, to test the new machine and sharpen their rusty flying skills. There, on May 14, 1908, Wilbur carried the first passenger, an employee named Charles Furnas, on a flight. (13)
Meantime, Orville traveled to Washington to inspect the drill field at Fort Myer. He found the small area barely adequate for flying. But Lieutenant Lahm was there, having been detailed to assist in the trials, that included selection of the first Army dirigible. Lahm assured Orville that he would have eight or ten soldiers as ground crew. Orville went on to Dayton to work on the Army airplane. (14) He delivered it to Fort Myer on August 20, to meet the contracted time of delivery. Since Wilbur was in France demonstrating a second machine, Orville was responsible for completing the Army trials successfully. He began flying on September 3, and quickly set several world endurance records. On the 9th, Orville carried up Lieutenant Lahm, the first U.S. soldier to fly as a passenger in an airplane, on a flight of almost six and a half minutes. Three days later, Orville gave Maj. George O. Squier, acting Chief Signal Officer, a flight lasting over nine minutes. (15)
Tragedy struck with the third Army passenger, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, whom Orville carried aloft for a final preliminary flight on September 17. The lieutenant had been working with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell's Aerial Experiment Association and helped design an airplane that he piloted for a short distance in May 1908. Thus, he was the most technically experienced Army officer concerning airplanes. But, Orville was suspicious of Seifridge, fearing that he might carry proprietary information back to the association. Orville and Seifridge had been in the air less than four minutes when a crack in a blade of one of the propellers caused it to foul a rudder control wire. The pilot lost control of the flyer, and it...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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