The Wright Brothers

  “Now, if you and Orville don’t”: Katharine to Wilbur, August 30, 1908, ibid.

  It was a space smaller even: Orville to Bishop Wright, September 7, 1908, ibid.

  After several days of trouble: Washington Post, September 1, 1908.

  the first full-scale public performance of a Wright plane: New York Times, September 4, 1908.

  Not until late in the afternoon of September 3: New York Times, September 4, 1908; Washington Evening Star, September 4, 1908; Dayton Journal, September 4, 1908.

  “For the first time since his arrival”: New York Times, September 4, 1908.

  “That man’s nerves”: Washington Post, September 18, 1908.

  At last, at about six o’clock: New York Times, September 4, 1908.

  “frenzy of enthusiasm”: Ibid.

  “It shows I need a great deal of practice”: Ibid.

  By his estimate he had flown: Atlanta Constitution, September 4, 1908.

  The day after, Friday, September 4: New York Times, September 5, 1908; Paris Daily Mail, September 5, 1908.

  thought the flight “splendid”: New York Times, September 5, 1908.

  “seemed to respond perfectly”: Ibid.

  Orville provided one sensational performance: Dayton Journal, September 9, 1908.

  Early the morning of Wednesday, September 9: Ibid.; Washington Times, September 9, 1908.

  “At 5:15”: Dayton Journal, September 9, 1909.

  The next day, September 10: Paris Herald, September 11, 1908.

  Worried that Orville might be losing count: Ibid., September 12, 1908; Dayton Herald, September 12, 1908.

  with a pot of white paint: New York Times, September 11, 1908.

  One of those watching that day: Crouch, Wings, Prologue.

  “the coolest man around”: Dayton Journal, September 10, 1908.

  Indeed, seeing Lieutenant Frank Lahm: Paris Herald, September 11, 1908.

  “Good for you, my boy!”: New York Times, September 12, 1908.

  “Pretty good,” Orville said: Dayton Herald, September 12, 1908.

  “Everyone here is very enthusiastic”: Orville to Wilbur, September 13, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “No place is safe”: Wells, The War in the Air, 123.

  “Orv telegraphed after he made his long flight”: Katharine to Wilbur, September 13, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Do you suppose we could scratch up the cash?”: Katharine to Orville, September 12, 1908, ibid.

  “Enjoy fame ere its decadence”: Bishop Wright to Wilbur, September 9, 1908, ibid.

  “He wants to go alright”: Katharine to Wilbur, September 13, 1908, ibid.

  “The newspapers for several days”: Wilbur to Orville, September 13, 1908, ibid.

  He was having motor troubles: Ibid.

  To Katharine he reported: Wilbur to Katharine, September 13, 1908, ibid.

  “The excitement and the worry”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, September 13, 1908, ibid.

  he carried on his correspondence sitting in his shed: Wilbur to Katharine, September 15, 1908, ibid.

  another few days to “quiet down”: Orville to Katharine, September 15, 1908, ibid.

  Rumors in Washington and in an article in the New York Times: Dayton Herald, September 15, 1908; New York Times, September 15, 1908.

  “given to the espousal of the unusual”: New York Times, ibid.

  Two years before he had startled the country: Dayton Herald, September 15, 1908.

  “Of course, if the President asks me”: New York Times, September 15, 1908.

  On Thursday, September 17: Paris Herald, September 18, 1908; New York Journal, September 18, 1908; Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908; Washington Post, September 18, 1908.

  Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge was a twenty-six-year-old: Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908; Washington Post, September 18, 1908.

  “I don’t trust him an inch”: Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 375.

  “Selfridge is endeavoring”: Orville to Bishop Wright, September 7, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  Selfridge also weighed 175 pounds: Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908.

  Selfridge removed his coat and campaign hat: Ibid.; Washington Post, September 18, 1908.

  “It was noticed that Lieutenant Selfridge was apparently”: Ibid.

  passing over the “aerial garage”: Ibid.

  “That’s a piece of the propeller”: Ibid.

  “Quick as a flash, the machine turned down”: Orville to Wilbur, November 14, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 937.

  “Oh! Oh!”: Ibid.

  “like a bird shot dead in full flight”: New York Times, September 18, 1908.

  Orville and the lieutenant lay pinned: Washington Post, September 18, 1908.

  “If they won’t stand back, ride them down”: Roseberry, Glenn Curtiss: Pioneer of Flight, 128.

  Several army surgeons: Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908.

  A reporter wrote of having seen Charlie Taylor: Washington Post, September 18, 1908.

  Not until well after dark: Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908.

  “If Mr. Wright should never again”: Ibid.

  “I am afflicted with the pain you feel”: Bishop Wright to Orville, September 20, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  It was eight o’clock at Camp d’Auvours: Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908; New York Times, September 18, 1908.

  Wilbur postponed all flights: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, September 22, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Now you understand why”: New York Times, September 18, 1908; Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908.

  Left alone, he sat with head in hands: Washington Post, September 19, 1908.

  Others present saw him struggle: Washington Evening Star, September 18, 1908.

  He felt very bad about “this business”: Paris Herald, September 19, 1908.

  “I do not mean that Orville was incompetent”: Wilbur to Katharine, September 20, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 926.

  It is sad that Orville is hurt: Bishop Wright to Wilbur, September 19, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “the bull by the horns”: Wilbur to Orville, September 23, 1908, ibid.

  Among the enormous crowd: Paris Herald, September 22, 1908.

  “I found Orville looking pretty badly”: Katharine to Lorin Wright, September 19, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “in a sort of cradle”: Katharine to Wilbur, September 24, 1908, ibid.

  “When I went in his chin quivered”: Ibid.

  “The thousand proud”: Katharine to Lorin Wright, September 19, 1908, ibid.

  At first she lived with a couple named Shearer: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 21, 1908, ibid.

  To get to the hospital from their home: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 1, 1908, ibid.

  “Last night was a rather bad time”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 21, 1908, ibid.

  “Tonight I am staying all night”: Ibid.

  “Will had his nerve with him”: Ibid.

  “Orville thinks that the propeller”: Ibid.

  “the only time anything has broken”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, September 22, 1908, ibid.

  On September 23, Alexander Graham Bell: Octave Chanute to Katharine Wright, September 29, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 929, footnote 1.

  “very cheeky”: Bishop Wright to Katharine, October 3, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  The doctors and the day nurse were “splendid”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 1, 1908, ibid.

  “Brother has been suffering so much”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, September 24, 1908, ibid.

  it was she who represented Orville at the funeral ceremony: New York Times, September 26, 1908.

&n
bsp; “Your sister has been devotion itself”: Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, October 7, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 930.

  Most important by far: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 2, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Have lost eighty-two and a half dollars”: Katharine to Wilbur, October 2, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  his temperature jumped to 101 degrees: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 4, 1908, ibid.

  “I took Bollée (240 pounds)”: Wilbur to Orville, October 4, 1908, ibid.

  “We are both fairly wild to get home”: Katharine to Wilbur, October 19, 1908, ibid.

  “I think I will have to stay”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 17, 1908, ibid.

  Orville continued having his “ups and downs”: Katharine to Wilbur, October 19, 1908, ibid.

  So she began cooking for him: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 19, 1908, ibid.

  “too tired to talk!”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, October 22, 1908, ibid.

  Three days before he was to leave: New York Times, October 31, 1908, November 1, 1908.

  But on October 31, after five weeks: Bishop Wright to Wilbur, November 2, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  A good-sized crowd stood waiting: Dayton News, November 2, 1908; Dayton Journal, November 2, 1908.

  “Many had come there to cheer”: Dayton Journal, November 2, 1908.

  Brother Lorin had come to the station: Ibid.

  Orville’s mind was “good as ever”: Milton Wright, Diaries, 1857–1917, 684.

  “tired to death”: Katharine to Wilbur, November 13, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “a good deal of attention”: Ibid.

  A local surgeon who looked him over: Ibid.

  Charlie Taylor was pushing him in the wheelchair: Ibid.

  “I have an awful accumulation of work”: McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 939.

  10. A Time Like No Other

  “Every time we make a move”: Katharine to Lorin Wright, January 24, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  Wilbur’s days at Le Mans: See Paris Herald, September 22, 1908, September 26, 1908; La Vie Au Grand Air, Summer 1908.

  “individuality”: Washington Post, October 10, 1908.

  “Every day there is a crowd”: Kelly, ed., Miracle at Kitty Hawk, 323.

  To avoid the embarrassment of having her long skirts: Dayton Journal, November 1, 1908.

  “Mr. Wright, with both hands grasping the levers”: Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 382.

  “Queen Margherita of Italy was in the crowd”: Wilbur to Orville, October 9, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “M. Wright appeared a bit too rough”: See Peyrey, Premiers Les Hommes-Oiseaux.

  “How I long for Kitty Hawk!”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, November 10, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 935.

  In his honor the Aéro-Club de France: New York Times, November 6, 1908.

  “I will have quite a collection”: Wilbur to Reuchlin Wright, October 26, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “They are really almost the only ones”: Wilbur to Reuchlin Wright, October 26, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  The Aéro-Club de France’s banquet took place: New York Times, November 6, 1908; Paris Herald, November 6, 1908; L’Aérophile, November 6, 1908.

  menus at each of their places: Wright Family Scrapbooks, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “hearty speech of congratulation”: New York Times, November 6, 1908.

  “For myself and my brother”: Wilbur Wright to Aéro Club de France, November 5, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 934.

  “He knows the little chores”: L’Aérophile, November 15, 1908.

  “I know that you love ‘Old Steele’ ”: Wilbur to Katharine, December 7, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Brother and I are coming over”: Katharine to Wilbur, December 10, 1908, ibid.

  “It is quite a wonderful toy”: Chicago Tribune, January 10, 1909.

  On the day of the event, December 31: Renstrom, Wilbur and Orville Wright, 20.

  “But I could not afford to lose the Michelin Prize”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, January 1, 1909, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 948.

  “He informed me that the government had decided”: Ibid.

  On January 5, 1909, in New York: Katharine to Bishop Wright, January 5, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC; New York Herald, January 6, 1909.

  “a sort of family reunion”: New York Herald, January 6, 1909.

  In their absence, Bishop Wright would be looked after: Katharine to Bishop Wright, January 8, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  Except for one rough day at sea: Ibid.

  “pleasant company”: Ibid.

  “in silk hat and evening clothes”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, January 13, 1909, ibid.

  large bouquet of American Beauty roses: Ibid.

  the three Wrights sat up talking: Ibid.

  The following day the brothers met for lunch: Ibid.

  “a pretty woman and very stylish”: Ibid.

  Orville asked her also to tell: Ibid.

  En route, at about seven A.M., the train crashed: Katharine to Bishop Wright, January 17, 1909, ibid.

  “not even scratched”: Ibid.

  Grand Hôtel Gassion: Ibid.

  “I never saw anything”: Ibid.

  Wilbur would not be staying at the hotel: Katharine to Bishop Wright, January 20, 1909; Wilbur to Bishop Wright, March 1, 1909, ibid.

  The chef did not last long: Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 1, 1909, ibid.

  “simply gone mad about aviation”: Paris Herald, January 19, 1909.

  “the whole show”: Katharine to Lorin Wright, January 24, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Every time we make a move”: Ibid.

  At a luncheon at their hotel, their host: Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 8, 1909, ibid.

  “We all liked them very much”: Ibid.

  “rousing good time”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 11, 1909, ibid.

  Arthur Balfour, former prime minister of England: Paris Herald, February 12, 1909.

  “I’m so glad that young man”: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 253.

  One of those helping her with her French: Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 22, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  On those days when there was no sun: Katharine to Bishop Wright, January 20, 1909; Katharine to Lorin Wright, January 24, 1909, ibid.

  French army lieutenant had charged Wilbur in a divorce case: Dayton Herald, January 8, 1909; Lorin Wright to Katharine and Orville, January 10, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC; Wilbur to Lorin Wright, January 24, 1909, Wright Family Papers, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

  “Well, if I talked”: H. Massac, Flying, March 6, 1909.

  “The masters of the aeroplane”: “The American Girl Whom All Europe Is Watching,” World Magazine, no date, Wright Family Scrapbooks, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Who was it who gave them new hope”: Ibid.

  “Like most American girls”: Dayton Journal, April 13, 1909.

  all Pau was “AGOG”: Paris Herald, February 3, 1909.

  Virtually every day but Sunday: Ibid., February 4, 1909.

  “If we have to alter”: Motor News, June 8, 1912.

  devoted to training the Comte de Lambert: Ibid., February 19, 1909; Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 1, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Southern sunny France is a delusion”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 16, 1909, ibid.

  She was most happily surprised: Paris Herald, February 16, 1909; Washington Post, February 16, 1909; Cincinnati
Enquirer, March 14, 1909; ibid.

  “I don’t know exactly how a bird feels”: Dayton Daily News, May 13, 1909.

  “Oh, I dare say that can be arranged”: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 252.

  “I understand a great deal now”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 22, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “A year in France and not understand”: Bishop Wright to Katharine, February 19, 1909, ibid.

  “not entirely himself”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, March 1, 1909, ibid.

  “not a bit lonely”: Bishop Wright to Katharine, February 22, 1909, ibid.

  He had begun work on an autobiography: Ibid.

  “place of pilgrimage”: Paris Herald, February 23, 1909.

  Afterward, as his entourage: Ibid.; Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 22, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “I have seen what you can do”: Paris Herald, February 21, 1909.

  Wilbur at once consented: Ibid.

  “It was great”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, February 25, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  Not long after that she would take off: Ibid., February 28, 1909.

  “too much excitement”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, March 14, 1909, ibid.

  “royal weather”: Paris Herald, March 19, 1909.

  a small bunch of shamrock: Ibid.

  He was taken first to see the Flyer: Ibid.

  “bated breath”: World Magazine, no date, Wright Family Scrapbook, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  “Most of us can remember when the automobile”: Waco, Texas, Times-Herald, April 25, 1909.

  “Scores of inventors”: New York Times, April 25, 1909.

  A few days later the three Wrights went to Le Mans: Katharine to Bishop Wright, March 28, 1909, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.

  she was the only woman ever invited: Katharine to Bishop Wright, April 2, 1909, ibid.

  “You ought to seen it”: Katharine to Wilbur, April 3, 1909, ibid.

  “They drank a champagne in your honor!”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, April 2, 1909, ibid.

  Katharine and Orville left for Rome: Katharine to Bishop Wright, April 11, 1909, ibid.

  Hart Berg had found rooms: Ibid.

  “I was homesick for the first time”: Ibid.

  “very anxious to come home”: Katharine to Bishop Wright, April 14, 1909, ibid.