Wright Activities Before and After 1903

The Wright Brothers had two earlier businesses before their aircraft business. Their first one was as writers, editors, publishers and printers. Their second one was as bicycle manufacturers and sellers of bicycles. This article is about their first business together — the printing business.

During their printing days, Wilbur and Orville wrote, edited and published 52 issues of a weekly newspaper, “The West Side News,” and 78 issues of a daily newspaper, “The Evening Item.” In addition they printed hundreds of job orders.

Orville started his printing career at the age of 15 in 1886. He and a neighborhood friend, Ed Sines, who owned a small printing outfit, printed their first newspaper, The Midget, for their school friends. They intended the paper to be a weekly, but it only lasted for one issue because Orville’s father Milton was upset at their effort.

The problem was that the young printers left the third page blank except for their company name, Sines and Wright. They were tiring because each page had to be printed separately and all type had to be set by hand. Milton lectured them: “They had not done themselves justice in slighting that third page.” Readers would “get the impression they were lazy and shiftless.”

Sines and Wright continued in the printing business. They originally started did their printing at Sines’ house, but business improved enough that they obtained a larger press and moved to a shed in the back of the Wright home on Hawthorne Street. On cold days they did their typesetting inside the house. They had enough business to hire a neighbor boy to help out for 15 cents a week.

The “Sines and Wright” business arrangement changed after a dispute over what to do with some popping corn they had been paid for a job. Orville wanted to buy more type. Sines wanted to eat the popcorn. They settled the dispute by Orville buying out Sines’ share and Sines agreed to continue working as an employee of Orville. This arrangement lasted for the duration of the Wrights’ printing business, which was sold in 1899.

Both brothers were exposed to the printing business at an early age. Their father was a bishop in the United Brethren in Christ church and a religious writer, editor and publisher.

In 1869 he was elected the editor of the church publication, “The Religious Telescope.” The position required him and the family to move to Dayton, Ohio where the church owned a large printing building in the heart of downtown Dayton.

Milton’s office was in the building and Orville and Wilbur visited him often and had free reign of the building. Orville especially was thrilled with the big steam powered printing presses.

Orville was interested in a bigger press to use. So in the spring of 1888 when he was 16, with the help of older brother Wilbur, he built a printing press out of a folding top of sister Katharine’s old baby buggy, a discarded tombstone for a press bed, firewood and other scrap parts from a junkyard. In a few weeks the press was printing 1,000 sheets an hour.

An experienced printer from Denver took a look at the press and reportedly said: “It works, but I don’t see how the heck it works.”

Orville improved his knowledge and skills in printing by working during two summers in a local printing establishment when he was 15 and 16 years of age. He dropped out of high school before his senior year so that he could devote full time to his printing business.

In March 1889, Orville, 17, began printing and publishing a weekly newspaper, the “West Side News.” It had three-columns on four pages. The subscription price was 40 cents a year or 10 cents for 10 weeks.

The “News” did well enough that in April Orville moved to a small office 1210 West Third Street. The paper expanded from three columns to four.

A significant event in the life of the business occurred at this time — Wilbur joined the business. The masthead showed Wilbur as editor and Orville as publisher.

Wilbur had Yale and a teaching career in mind after high school until an unfortunate accident changed his plans. While paying ice hockey during the winter of 1885 he was hit in the mouth with a hockey stick. The blow knocked out several teeth. The physical and mental impact on Wilbur overwhelmed him.

A number of serious side complications developed after the incident. He experienced heart palpitations and digestive problems. There was concern that permanent damage might result. The prescription was an extended period of rest.

By the close of 1886 his physical ailments seemed to have gone away, but he was left with depression that lasted for an extended period. His mental state wasn’t helped by the serious fatal illness of his mother who had developed tuberculosis and became an invalid before she died July 4, 1989. During her illness Wilbur devoted himself to nursing his mother.

The family continued to be concerned about Wilbur. Older brother Lorin, then living in Kansas, wrote to Katharine: “What does Will do? He ought to be doing something. Is he still cook and chambermaid?”

It is not clear what the conversation was between Wilbur and Orville, but Orville must have convinced Wilbur to come to work in the print shop. This event helped bring Wilbur out of his funk. It was some three years after Wilbur’s accident.

One of the first publications printed under Wilbur’s authorship was a short church tract entitled “Scenes in the Church Commission During the Last Day of Its Session.” It was printed in 1888 and was the earliest record of the imprint of WRIGHT BROS., JOB PRINTERS.

In April of 1890 the Wrights started a new daily newspaper named “The Evening Item.” This paper had five columns with more than half of the columns containing national and international news. It also carried the baseball scores of the American Association and the National League.

The July 17th and 26th editions of the “Item” carried articles about the activities of the famous German glider experimenter Otto Lilienthal. Lilienthal would later be one those experimenters that the Wrights would cite has having an influence on their own flying experiments. At the time I don’t think the Wrights were aware of the influence flying would have on their lives.

The publication of the “Item” ceased on July 30, 1890 after only four months of publication. The brothers found that they could make more money doing job printing. There were twelve newspapers in the Dayton and the competition was fierce.

In late 1890 they moved to the new Hoover Block at the corner of West Third and Williams St. The sign read, “Wright and Wright Job Printers.”

At this location they printed a black-oriented newspaper, “Dayton Tattler,” and other printing jobs for Paul Laurence Dunbar, the famous black poet. Dunbar and Orville were high school classmates and friends. Dunbar chalked on the wall of Wrights’ shop at this location:

“Orville Wright is out of sight

In the printing business.

No other mind is half so bright

As his’n is.”

The United Brethren Church split into two churches and Milton became a Bishop and publishing agent for the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution). Milton’s church had no printing facility so as a result Wright and Wright printed many of the church publications.

In 1892 the brothers were becoming increasingly interested in bicycles and established their first bicycle shop at 1005 West Third St. The shop provided sales and service.

They continued their printing business including several publications. One was an advertising publication named “Tid-Bits” that was printed for special occasions and holidays. Advertising from local merchants supported the publication, which included light-hearted reading.

They printed a magazine-style publication in 1894 named “Snap-Shots at Current Events.” The sixteen-page document contained many articles about bicycles, essays and jokes.

In February 1896 they shortened their publication to just “Snap-Shots” and moved to 22 South Williams St. They listed Wright Cycle Co. as publisher of the magazine. The printing business was on the second floor and the bicycle business was on the first floor. This is the first time that both businesses were co-located.

Several issues displayed large advertisements of the Wright Cycle Co. In April they ceased publishing “Snap-Shots.” It was at this location that they first began to talk seriously about the possibility that man might fly.

In 1897 they moved both the bicycle and printing businesses to 1127 West Third St. This is the building in which the gliders and Wright Flyer were conceived and built.

The printing operation was on the second floor. The financial assets of both businesses were co-mingled.

Much of the printing business by now had been delegated to Ed Sines as the brothers shifted their attention to bicycles. In 1899 Sines reinjured a bad knee and could no longer handle the printing job. It was a convenient time for the Wrights to sell the business to “Stevens and Stevens” who ran a printing business close by.

Orville never did lose interest in printing. In 1930 he designed and built a printing press for the Miami Wood Specialty Co.

Reference: Wright and Wright Printers: The Other Career of Wilbur and Orville by Charlotte K. and August E. Brunsman, 1988.

The historic Wright brothers’ factory buildings in Dayton are in jeopardy. The buildings are the first American facility specifically designed and built for the manufacture of airplanes from 1910-1916. In these buildings, The Wrights helped to transform the airplane from a curious wonder into a serious method of transportation.

The Delphi Corp. now owns the buildings and has continuously used them for the manufacture of airplane and automotive parts. Delphi entered bankruptcy reorganization on Oct. 8, 2005. There are five Delphi plants in Dayton employing 4,200 employees.

The Delphi plant where the Wright buildings are located is the former General Motors Inland complex located on West Third Street several miles further west of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park site on West Third street.

Delphi desires to reject its union contracts and terminate post-retirement health-care plans and life insurance for hourly employees.

The Delphi complex covers 67.3 acres. The original Wright Company factory buildings occupy approximately one acre.

The first Wright factory building, building no. 1, was completed in November 1910. It was equipped with the most modern machinery available and capable of producing two airplanes a month. Building no. 2 was built a few months later raising the production capability to four airplanes a month, a capacity greater than any other airplane factory in the world in that time period.

The Model B was the first airplane built at the Wright factories and the first to be mass-produced. Many aviation advancements and improvements were introduced. The Model B was followed by the Models R, EX, C, D, E, F, CH, G, H and HS.

The two factory buildings are single-story rectangular commercial brick. They retain much of their original architectural integrity, including gabled roofs with eyebrow parapets. During the Wrights tenure, building no. 1 contained a double-door entry. There was an office located in front of building no. 1. I have been told that the office is still used.

In 1915, Orville Wright sold The Wright Co. to a group of eastern investors and accepted payment for services as a consulting engineer during the new owners first year of operation. In 1916 The Wright Co. merged with the Glenn Martin Co. to form the Wright-Martin Aircraft Co. and the factory buildings were sold. The General Motors Corporation-Inland Div. owned the buildings during much of that time.

One good thing that Delphi and the previous owners have done is to maintain the factory buildings in good condition. This has not always been the case with other historic Wright buildings. Orville’s laboratory on West Third St. was torn down to make room for a gasoline station.

The downside of the GM/Delphi ownership is that they have had insufficient appreciation of the historic significance of the Wright buildings. Visitors are not permitted. Even during the Centennial Celebration in 1903 Delphi would not allow a picture to be taken of the exterior of the buildings.

I, a former General Motors employee, experienced this myself during the Centennial celebration in 1903. The Wright buildings are located just inside the Third street entrance to the complex. I pulled up the gate and asked the guard if I could take a picture. He said no. I asked him to check with his boss. The answer from his boss was still no. I returned on Sunday when no one was there and took pictures through the closed chain link gate.

The National Park Service has conducted a thorough Assessment of the issues and alternatives involved incorporating The Wright Company factory as a unit of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio. As I am writing this, the draft NPS Assessment is being widely circulated for public review and comment.

Here is an excerpt: “If The Wright Company factory buildings (site) were to be added to the park, rehabilitating factory buildings 1 and 2 to their 1910-1911 exterior and interior appearance would offer a unique opportunity to discuss the techniques and practices that the Wright brothers employed for the construction of the nation’s first mass-produced airplanes in surroundings that appear much as they did during the period of significance.”

“The park’s interpretive focus would be on how The Wright Company factory played a role in the birth of the American industry through the early development of the age of flight. Possible exhibits include replica Wright brothers’ aircraft, machinery, and interpretation of the social and economic impacts of the world’s first airplane factory. After rehabilitation, the buildings could accommodate the display of up to six aircraft.”

The are two major obstacles confronting the National Park Service. The first is finding a willing owner to either sell or cooperate in developing the Wright brothers’ factory site as a historic park.

The second is finances. The assessment estimates that it would require $8.8 – 13.2 million in development cost if the National Park Service were to develop and manage the site. This figure includes the cost of interpretive exhibits and media, including machinery, replica aircraft, and aircraft components, estimated at $3.1 – 4.0 million.

The obstacles are great but may be overcome. There is no question that it would be a tragedy not to save this historic gem for the American people.

The National Park Service, if requested by the owner, is willing to provide technical assistance for nomination of the site as a National Historic Landmark. Maybe that is where to start.

Update, 2008: Wright Factories Buildings Closer to Joining National Park. A House committee recently approved a bill that would add The Wright Company Factory buildings to the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. U.S. Rep. Mike Turner and Amanda Wright-Lane, great-grandniece of the Wright brothers, testified in support of S 3286 and HR 4199 bills. The buildings are currently owned by Delphi Corp.

Reference: The Wright Co. Factory Boundary Assessment and Environmental Assessment. Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Dayton, Ohio. The National Park Service. January 2006.

The best scientists of the day tried to solve the riddle of powered flight and failed. Yet, two brothers without formal high school diplomas found the answer. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, referred to them as ” doers with dreams.” An examination of their boyhood environment provides some clues as to why they were successful.

Their father, Milton, was a bishop in the United Brethren Church. He was a man of strong fundamental Christian values and an iron will to follow them. Born in a log cabin in Rush County, Indiana in 1828 in a religious household, he knew from a young age that the church would be his career.

At the age of eighteen an itinerant preacher introduced him to the United Brethren Church. He experienced a religious conversion and felt salvation. The church doctrine emphasized the importance of a moral life, temperance and abolition of slavery. The church was a protestant sect that was popular in the rural areas of the Midwest in the 1890s.

Milton preached his first sermon on his twenty-second birthday in 1850. He was earning his living by working on the farm and teaching in local schools to supplement his income.

In 1850 he entered Hartsville College, a small Indiana school run by the United Brethren Church, and was ordained a minister in 1856. He also became certified to teach penmanship, grammar, reading , writing, arithmetic and geography.

Milton was a strong supporter of women’s rights. He gave encouragement and support to daughter Katharine who attended and graduated from America’s first coed college, Oberlin College in Ohio. He had selected and recommended Oberlin to Katharine. At the time only 2% of girls attended college. In later years Milton and Orville marched in a women’s suffrage parade in downtown Dayton.

Milton met his future wife, Susan Koener, at Hartsville College. She trained as a teacher studying literature, mathematics, Latin and Greek. Two years younger than Milton, she was scholarly and shy.

She was born in Hillsboro, a town located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Her family later migrated to Indiana. Her father was a wagon maker and wheelwright. Susan, growing up, spent much time in her father’s shop where she became adept in using tools. It would be Susan, not Milton that would help the children in their early construction projects. Milton was an intellectual and amateur scientist, but he was not good with his hands.

Milton’s career grew in influence. He was elected and reelected bishop and became editor of the church publications. The latter assignment necessitated his move to Dayton.

After their marriage in 1859, Susan spent the next 25 years moving the family, as Milton’s church duties required frequent moves to new locations in Indiana, Iowa and Ohio.

Susan considered it was her fulltime duty to raise these children into healthy, strong adults with moral fiber, and model citizens.

Milton inculcated in his children strength of character, firmness of purpose and self-confidence in their pursuits. He taught them that with hard work they could accomplish anything.

Orville and Wilbur lived a moral lifestyle. They never flew on Sundays and abstained from the use of liquor, beer and tobacco. They maintained a strict dress code even while working in the barren sands of Kitty Hawk – wearing white shirts, stiff collars, and vests along with suit and coat.

Milton placed a very high value on the concept of family and maintained a loving environment among family members. He believed that a tightly unified family was the best defense against the pressures of an essentially wicked world which was not to be trusted.

Bishop Milton became involved in serious controversies that produced crisis within the church. The controversies involved what Milton viewed as changes in traditional doctrines. The schism continued for sixteen years and ultimately split the church. Wilbur, while in high school helped his father in his battles by writing and distributing position papers.

The brothers learned from their father’s devotion to correct principles, justice and course of action regardless of opposition and obstacles.

Their father’s philosophy would ring true in Orville and Wilbur’s later battles with Glen Curtiss and other infringers of their patent on their airplane and with the Smithsonian Institution’s claim that Langley was the first to construct an airplane that was capable of flying.

The close bond between the brothers, their self confidence and their secrecy with regard to their experiments and their mistrust of outsiders were also extensions of their father’s philosophy.

Milton and Susan encouraged openness and curiosity and a willingness to pursue scientific inquiry and speculation.

Both brothers, from an early age, were fascinated with mechanical devices. Orville, particularly, enjoyed taking things apart to see how they worked and then reassembling them. This was mechanical aptitude was most likely inherited from their mother who could make or repair almost anything.

Milton encouraged the boy’s scientific interests even while traveling. His duties as a bishop in the church required him to be absent from home much of the time.

One day he returned from one of his numerous trips with a toy helicopter designed by Alphonse Penaud of France. It fascinated the boys who were ages eleven and seven at the time. The rotating twin propellers would fly as high as 25 feet in the air when released from two tightened rubber bands.

The brothers tried to build their own helicopter of a larger design, but weren’t successful. It wouldn’t be until they were older that they figured out why. (The size of a helicopter of only twice as large would require eight times the power to fly). Later in life they cited the toy helicopter as inspiring their initial interest in flying.

Milton would carry on with other educational activities while traveling. He would give his sons geography lessons by describing in great detail the places he visited. He would encourage the children to write him using good grammar and he would critique their efforts.

Both parents believed in formal and informal education and encouraged their children to pursue intellectual interests outside of school. They believed that children needed time to investigate whatever aroused their curiosity and encouraged the boys to skip school on occasion for that purpose.

Their home was filled with books – history, novels, encyclopedias, scientific papers and religious. There was even a religious book by the agnostic, Robert Ingersoll, because Milton believed in learning from studying a diversity of viewpoints.

The children were taught to read at an early age using McGuffey readers. Both Wilbur and Orville acquired excellent reading skills before they went to school. They both enjoyed could read scientific articles in their father’s encyclopedia at an early age.

Orville was home schooled prior to the second grade. When he entered the second grade he told his second grade teacher he wanted to move on to the 3rd reader. She told him to read a particular passage out of the 2nd reader to demonstrate his proficiency. Orville turned the book upside down and read the passage. He passed the test.

Milton didn’t always agree with how reading was being taught in the classroom. One day he went to school to complain that the teacher should stop telling kids to guess at words.

Neither brother received a high school diploma. In 1900 the average American adult had just 5 years of formal education.

Wilbur did not receive his high school diploma in Richmond because his family move to Dayton, Ohio, just before commencement.

The fact that Wilbur did not graduate was discovered more than 80 years later when, in an attempt to award Wilbur Wright the Outstanding Alumni award, a requirement was to have graduated. In 1993, the Richmond Community Schools rectified matters by approving an 1884-style diploma for him, making him the high school’s most famous graduate.

Orville didn’t attend his senior year of high school to devote full time to his printing business.

At the turn of the century a high school diploma was not considered that important. Only 8% of 14-17 year-olds attended high school as most formal education ended with elementary school.

The influence of their parents had a powerful influence on their later achievements. Wilbur, the reflective visionary, and Orville, the impulsive mechanic/engineer, had different but complementary talents that were critical to inventing powered flight. Orville once told a friend, “In a different kind of environment our curiosity might have been nipped long before it could have borne fruit.”

Following Wilbur’s success at Les Hunaudiere and Camp d’Auvours near Le Mans, he moved his flying activities to the elite resort town of Pau on January 14, 1909. The weather was warmer and the flying field was much better. His major task was to train three Frenchmen to fly the airplane now that he had satisfied the airplane’s performance requirements for the French syndicate who planned to build Wright airplanes in France. He was not in Pau to set any flying records although he wowed everybody who saw him fly in Pau.

He was provided a level unfenced field almost a mile square known as Pont Long located eight miles south of Pau with a fine view of the Pyrenees Mountains. The virtual absence of trees allowed Wilbur the luxury to fly large circuits of three to four miles and not stray too far from his hangar-shed.

The shed at Pont Long was much better that the two he had at Le Mans. It was large enough that he didn’t have to dissemble the Flyer’s tail frame and front rudder every time it entered or left the shed. His living quarters were much nicer and he had his meals provided by a French chef selected by the mayor. He also had a special telephone line to Pau where Orville and Katharine were staying in a fancy hotel.

Wilbur for the first time wore a good-looking black leather motorcyclist’s jacket for flying in cold weather. It was the first leather aviation jacket.

His three student pilots were balloonist Paul Tissandier, Captain Paul Lucas-Girardville and Count Charles de Lambert. Tissandier would later be the first to fly around the Eiffel Tower.

This is how the New York Herald described his first flight at Pau on February 3, 1909:

“A constant stream of automobiles bound for the flying field was reported everywhere after one o’clock this afternoon,.. as Mr. Wilbur Wright’s preparations came to an end today and it was believed that he would make his first flight.

Early comers, however, saw nothing to indicate that a flight was being prepared, the only change being a derrick for weights in position and a long metal rail over which Mr. Wright was continually walking, testing and examining the joints. A wind from the west began to blow, a strange event in Pau, and clouds began to gather.

Several people had left when, without notice, the doors of the aeroplane shed opened slowly and a weird structure, the Wright aeroplane, came out. Its motor is a new one, made in Paris on Mr. Wright’s design. Mr. Wilbur Wright examined it with loving care, Mr. Orville Wright assisting. Miss Wright was in the crowd, looking hardly at all nervous.

Suddenly the propellers began to whirl round at a great rate. After another careful examination the Wrights announced that the motor was working well. The engine was stopped and the structure was wheeled out in front of the spectators to the starting rail. It took some time to get the machine properly balanced and to hoist the counterweight, which is about three hundred pounds heavier than that used in America.

Again the curious propeller whizzed round, and Mr. Wilbur Wright took his seat, but descended to oil another bearing. It had been thought that Mr. Paul Tissandier would go up with the aviator, but he stayed on the ground directing the men. Dr. Speakman, official timekeeper of the Aero Club took his stand by the derrick, a stopwatch in hand.

Are you ready?

Up to this there had been quite a loud hum of conversation from the people assembled, but now a hush fell on the assembly, a pause almost of dread.

Let’s go!

The weights fell, and with whirling propellers the fairylike machine tore along the rail to the end by the turn of one lever, and at twelve minutes past four it soared into the air, turning and wheeling up and down as graceful as an albatross, showing the perfect command which the aviator had over every movement and every part of the machine. It had an undulating movement of its own.

Activated by these wonderful levers, the aeroplane glided down to the ground, skimmed over it, then went up forty meters, down again, and so on. As it turned and the movement of the wings prevented the sound of the motor from being heard. All thought the machine had stopped, and an “Oh!” was heard from the whole crowd, which was fascinated by the maneuver, but there was no pause, as the aviator, wheeling on a frightfully acute angle, again circled.

And in this way he seemed to describe a couple of circles and something like a figure eight, and for a second or two the machine seemed to rest motorless against the white line of the Pyrenees. The scene was very beautiful.

Then Mr. Wright came to the ground just beside the starting point, having been in the air just under six minutes.

Mr. Wright traveled at an estimated speed of sixty-five kilometers an hour. He received a great ovation on coming down, and at twelve minutes to five again left the ground. This time he attained a far higher elevation, but there was no height balloons and no measures of length, it is difficult to give an accurate estimate.

He went away to the northwest, turned with consummate ease and came over the heads of the crowd, soaring away to the east over the crowd of automobilists, then back again toward the Aero Park and over it at a tremendous elevation, the machine looking like a thing of life.

Then, to show his power, Mr. Wright made several circles with an extremely small radius, the aeroplane heeling over to an angle of forty-five degrees, after which it descended, coming down as gently as any bird. He spent more than five minutes in the air.

The Mayor congratulated Miss Wright gracefully on the marvelous skill of her brother, and the universal expression was one of wonder at the immense reserve of power Mr. Wright possesses. He never seemed to exert himself. It was the most marvelous performance ever seen at Pau.”

New students who were being trained to fly first flew as a passenger. The student first learned to manipulate the horizontal front rudder (elevator) in straight-line flight. Then he was allowed to manipulate the warping and rudder control stick located between the two seats. Wilbur would sit with his hands on his knees ready to react to any mistakes.

Wilbur explained the operation of the lever located between the seats to a journalist:

“You see by moving this lever forward, you warp the right wing downward into a greater angle of incidence and lessen the angle of the opposite wing. That throws a greater resistance on this side, and he pointed to the end of the right wing. It tends to turn the machine, but when I move this lever forward, see, the rear rudder (vertical tail) moves to the left and counters any turning effect. The wings are warped with a fore and aft movement, and with the same hand the top of this lever can be bent to the right or left and the rear rudder turned to steer in a corresponding direction. When desired, by bending over this lever to the right or left, the rudder can be worked independently of the wing warping.”

Student pilots were designed either right-handed or left-handed pilots. The pilots trained by Wilbur (or Orville) sat on the right and learned to manipulate the wing warping rudder lever, located between the two seats, with their left hand. These were called left-handed pilots.

When a left-handed pilot trained another pilot, the student sat in the seat at the left and learned to manipulate the lever with his right hand and was therefore known as a right-handed pilot.

Orville once attempted to fly a Wright machine as a left-handed pilot, that is sitting in the seat at the right and manipulating the wing warping-rudder stick with his left hand. He said, “that was the wildest flight of my life. I never again attempted to pilot using the let-hand controls.”

Wilbur missed his family and convinced Orville and Katharine to visit him in France. They joined Wilbur in Pau after first spending two days in Paris. They almost didn’t make it to Pau because they were involved in a serious train wreck thirty miles outside of Pau. The express train they were on collided with a slow local train. Two passengers were killed and many injured. Fortunately Orville and Katharine both escaped with no injuries.

Many famous people came to watch Wilbur fly at Pau. One of these was King Alfonso XIII of Spain. He was greatly interested in the Flyer and asked all kinds of questions of Wilbur. He didn’t fly, although he greatly wanted to, because his wife and senior advisors told him not to.

Katharine later heard about it and commented that King Alfonso was a “good husband” for keeping his promise to his wife that he would not fly.

That didn’t stop Katharine from flying. Just as night was beginning to fall on February 15, she flew with Wilbur for seven minutes and four seconds. That was the first flight she had ever been on. On March 17 she flew again for 12 minutes 22 seconds. This time it was in front of King Edward VII on one of the two flights that he observed. He vigorously waved his hat and cheered as they flew by the stands. He proclaimed that she was the “ideal American.”

Katharine made a big impression on everyone and some of what they wrote about her was exaggerated. Such as, she helped her brothers financially and solved difficult mathematical problems for them. She exclaimed, “I did no pioneer work in connection with the invention of the airplane.”

Wilbur was also subjected to false statements. He was named co-respondent in a divorce suit filed by a lieutenant in the French Army. It turned out that a newspaper reporter substituted Wilbur’s name for the real person in order to get publicity.

The day before Wilbur made his final flight at Pont-Long, Tissandier and de Lambert each made solo flights of more than 20 minutes each. These flights served to silence the skeptics who claimed that you had to have acrobatic ability to fly the Wright machine.

Wilbur made his last flight at Pont-Long on March 20 and then headed for Rome where he had accepted an offer of $10,000 from the Aeronautical Society of Rome for a Flyer and the training of a pilot to fly it.

He made sixty-four flights during his stay at Pau. Some of his flights were recorded on movie film; the first films ever made of Wilbur flying.

The airfield site at Pont Long is still used today as the airport for Pau.

Wilbur gave the four-year old Flyer he flew at Pau to Lazare Weiller and members of the French syndicate. He had a new machine shipped from Dayton that he forwarded on to his next stop in Rome.