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Wilbur & Orville Wright WILBUR & ORVILLE WRIGHT A Rei ssue of A Chronol ogy Commemorati ng the Hundredth Anni versary of the A Reissue of A Chronology Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the BIRTH OF ORVILLE WRIGHT • AUGUST 19, 1871 By Arthur George Renstrom WILBUR & ORVILLE WRIGHT Birth of Orville Wright • August 19, 1871 A Joint Publication of the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Monographs in Aerospace History Number 32 NASA Publication SP-2003-4532 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of External Relations NASA History Office NASA Headquarters Washington, DC 20546 NASA SP-2003-4532 WILBUR & ORVILLE WRIGHT A Reissue of A Chronology Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the BIRTH OF ORVILLE WRIGHT • AUGUST 19, 1871 By Arthur George Renstrom A Joint Publication of the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Monographs in Aerospace History, Number 32 September 2003 NASA Publication SP-2003-4532 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of External Relations NASA History Office NASA Headquarters Washington, DC 20546 On the cover: The classic photograph of the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. Orville Wright is on the airplane; older brother Wilbur looks on from the sidelines. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Renstrom, Arthur George, 1905–1991 Wilbur & Orville Wright: a chronology: commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Orville Wright, August 19, 1871/ compiled by Arthur G. Renstrom. p. cm.—(monographs in aerospace history; no.) (NASA history series) (NASA SP; 2003-4532) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Wright, Orville, 1871–1948.—Chronology. 2. Wright, Wilbur, 1867–1912—Chronology. 3. Aeronautics—United States— History—Chronology. I. Title. II. Series. III. Series: NASA history series IV. NASA SP; 4532. TL540.W7R46 2003 629.13’0092’273—dc21 [B] 2003051363 A Chronology • iii Foreword During the year 2003, hundreds of events will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wright brothers’ historic first flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The centennial year will witness exhibitions, lectures, television documentaries, films, air shows, flight recreations of Wright aircraft, the issuing of postage stamps and medals, the publication of dozens of new books and articles, and numerous other com­ memorative activities. One of these events, although not likely to make the evening news, is among the most important of all in terms of a lasting contribution to the observance of this ultimate aviation milestone: the reprinting of Arthur G. Renstrom’s Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Chronology Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Orville Wright, August 19, 1871. Since its appearance in 1975, Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Chronology has become indispensable to students and authors concerned with the life and work of the famous brothers. No doubt every book on the subject published in the last quarter century, including three of my own, was written with this treasure close at hand. This volume is far more than a simple compilation of dates and facts. Renstrom was a master reference librarian and bibliographer with a passion for aviation and the Wright brothers. He brought his considerable research skills to bear on the topic, and the result is a richly detailed, ever-informative, often entertaining walk through the lives and achievements of these two extraordinary individuals. Renstrom was not content to offer a date with a one-line tidbit. His entries are brim­ ming with information. This is a highly readable reference work that, believe or not, can be enjoyably read from cover to cover. The proj­ ect was clearly a labor of love by a talented professional. During most of the last twenty years, I have been privileged to be the curator of the 1903 Wright Flyer at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. The position brings a steady stream of inquiries about the Wright airplane and the end­ lessly fascinating brothers who created it. I do not know how I would have done this job without Renstrom’s superb volume on my bookshelf. It is the first place I go to check anything on the Wright brothers, and I typically find what I am looking for in its pages. Arthur Renstrom also published two other classic reference works on the Wright brothers: Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Bibliography Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Wilbur Wright, April 16, 1867, in 1968 (an updated revi­ sion was published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 2002) and Wilbur & Orville Wright, Pictorial Materials: A Documentary Guide in 1982, completing a series of research tools for which there are few peers on any subject. He was also part of the team that produced the landmark two-volume compilation of the Wrights’ letters, notebooks, and diaries in 1953, The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, edited by Marvin W. McFarland. Renstrom’s contribution to the documentation and preservation of the Wright story is a lasting legacy that will serve researchers, students, and general enthusiasts for generations to come. In this busy, high-profile anniversary year, the reprinting of a nearly thirty-year-old reference book may seem a mundane and quiet contribution to the celebration surrounding the Wright brothers’ world-changing achievement, but it is perhaps one of the most important. The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission and NASA are to be commended for their foresight. Peter L. Jakab Chairman, Aeronautics Division National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution July 4, 2003 iv • Wilbur & Orville Wright Preface Since 1949, when the Wright papers were given to the by them in 1902, when the Wrights were conducting gliding Library of Congress by the Orville Wright estate, the Library has experiments at Kitty Hawk, the scrapbooks were maintained in paid tribute to the Wright brothers on several occasions. later years largely by Mabel Beck, secretary to Orville for many To celebrate the 50th anniversary of powered flight, a two- years, who also faithfully presided over the voluminous files and volume edition of The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, helped preserve the valuable documents for future historians. Including the Chanute-Wright Letters and Other Papers of Octave Additions to the scrapbooks ceased on February 29, 1948, short­ Chanute (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1953) was ly after Orville’s death on January 30 of that year. A related source published under the sponsorship of Oberlin College. The was the Library’s Hart O. Berg collection, including 14 scrap­ Wrights’ letters, diaries, notebooks, and other records of their books of newspaper clippings on the Wrights. scientific and technical work in inventing and perfecting the air­ Supplementing the main chronology is a flight log, in which plane were edited at that time by Marvin W. McFarland of the an attempt has been made to record the flights of Wilbur and Library’s Aeronautics Division. Orville from 1900, when their first gliding experiments were A subsequent anniversary was observed by the Library with carried out at Kitty Hawk, through 1918, when Orville made the publication of Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Bibliography his last flight as a pilot at Dayton on May 13, flying a Wright Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Wilbur 1911 model aircraft. A total of 21 detailed flight logs are presented. Wright, April 16, 1867 (Washington: Library of Congress, 1968), So far as is known, no previous attempts have been made to listing more than 2,000 printed and audiovisual research materi­ record the Wright flights systematically. Wright documents have als on the Wright brothers. served as primary sources for 12 series of flights: 1900, Orville’s Commemorating the 100th anniversary in 1971 of the birth letter from Kitty Hawk to Katharine Wright, dated October 14; of Orville Wright, the Library here presents a chronology and 1901, Wilbur Wright’s Diary A; 1902, Orville Wright’s Diary B flight log through which the fortunes of the Wright brothers and and Orville Wright’s Notebook C; 1903, Orville Wright’s Diary their flying machines may be traced: their early trials, with little D; 1904, Wilbur Wright’s Diary E, 1904–1905; 1905, Wilbur of the encouragement of public notices; the growing interest in Wright’s Diary F; 1908, Wilbur Wright’s Diary T (Kitty Hawk) their work by the time they exhibited their airplane and tech­ and Signal Corps “Log of Wright Aeroplane” (Fort Myer, Va.); nique for the Army in 1908; their demonstration flights abroad 1909, Signal Corps “Log of Wright Aeroplane” (Fort Myer, Va.) in 1908 and 1909, which brought them public acclaim and and Orville Wright’s Diary X (Tempelhof Field, Berlin); 1910, meetings with kings; their triumphant return to the United Orville Wright’s Diary Y; and 1911, Orville Wright’s Diary V. States, with the presentation of medals by the President and a The Wright brothers’ scrapbooks and contemporary memorable two-day homecoming celebration in Dayton; the accounts in American and European newspapers and in aviation period of public exhibition flying; Wilbur’s unexpected death and technical journals were the primary sources for the remaining from typhoid fever; the protracted Wright patent litigation with Wright flight logs. No diaries or notebooks were maintained by Glenn H. Curtiss; the sale of the Wright Company in 1915; the Wilbur in France in 1908 recording his flights at the subsequent retirement of Orville from public life, his lengthy Hunaudières Race Course and Camp d’Auvours at Le Mans, or controversy with the Smithsonian Institution, and awards to in 1909 at Pont-Long, at Pau, and at Centocelle Flying Field, him of numerous medals and honorary degrees; and finally, the Rome. Nor did he keep detailed records of his flights at continuing tribute tendered the Wrights in anniversary celebrations Governors Island, N.Y., and at College Park, Md., in 1909.
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