Orville and Wilbur issued aviator’s licenses Nos.
4 and 5 by Aero Club of America in accordance with Federation Aeronautique
Internationale Rules.
January Ground broken for construction of Wright Company
factor in Dayton.
January 3. Preliminary injunction granted to the Wright
Company by Judge John R. Hazel for the Federal Circuit Court in Buffalo,
N.Y., restraining Herring-Curtiss Company and Glenn H. Curtiss from manufacturing,
selling, or using the Curtiss airplane for exhibition purposes.
January 4. On application of the Wright Company, Louis
Paulhan, French aviator, is served with injunction restraining him from
using several flying machines, claimed to infringe the Wright patents,
which were imported into the United Stats for exhibition purpose.
Wilbur and Orville submitted affidavits in this case
on January 5 –6.
Wilbur submitted additional affidavits on January
22, February 5, March 15 – 16, and on March 23. He traveled to New York
to attend the trial on January 30, returning to Dayton on February 7.
January 8. Wilbur and Orville leave Dayton to attend
meeting of Ohio Society of New York on January 10, returning to Dayton
on January 14.
January 10. Wrights honored at dinner in New York
given by Ohio Society of New York, the topic if the evening being “Ohio
in Aviation.” Other honored guests are Vice President James M. Sherman
and Governor of New Jersey John F. Fort.
In a rare political statement Wilbur predicts that
an Ohioan will be the next President.
In interview Orville and Wilbur answer attacks made
on them for seeking injunctions against foreign and domestic aviators,
stating that the patent laws of the United States are too lax in that
they force a patentee to take legal steps to protect his patent infringement,
instead of having the government take this action.
January 11. Editors of Funk & Wagnalls Standard
Dictionary write to Wright brothers regarding aeronautical definitions.
Orville revises many outdated definitions previously used and is designated
department editor for “Aviation and Aeronautics” for the 1913 edition
of the dictionary. He continues in this capacity for numerous subsequent
editions.
January 12. Orville and Wilbur attend dinner in Boston
honoring Octave Chanute.
Remarks by Wilbur on this occasion and by Chanute
in an interview reported in the New York World of January 17 threatened
to cause a rift in their longstanding relationship.
January 17. Wilbur sends telegram to Roy Knabenshue
in Los Angeles inviting him to come to Dayton to discuss the management
of exhibition flying business to be organized by Wrights. Knabenshue was
subsequently placed in charge of the Wright Exhibition Company organized
in March.
January 24. Wrights attend dinner in Dayton honoring
Comdr. Robert E. Peary.
February 8. Wilbur and Orville to Washington to receive
Smithsonian Institution medals
Orville returns to Dayton on February 11. Wilbur
continues on a trip to the South in search of a site for training aviators
during the winter months, returning to Dayton on February 25.
February 10. The first Langley Medal, designed by
J. C. Chaplain, awarded “for especially meritorious investigation in connection
with the science of aerodromics and its application to aviation,” presented
to the Wright brothers by Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller on behalf of
the Smithsonian Institution. Addresses are delivered on the occasion by
Alexander Graham Bell and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Wilbur responds for
the brothers. They are later entertained at a luncheon at the home of
Dr. Bell.
February 17. Judge Learned Hand issues temporary injunction
to Wright Company in suit against Louis Paulhan for his use of a Farman
flying machine, which, it was claimed, infringed the Wright patent, requiring
the defendant to file a bond for $25,000 for one month’s flights and affirming
earlier decision rendered by Judge John R. Hazel on January 3.
Wilbur reports that he has chosen Montgomery, Ala.,
as site for training aviators.
This was later the location of Maxwell Air Force Base.
February 19. Wilbur arrives in New York to push patent
suits against aviators infringing the Wright patents.
February 23. Ligue Nationale Aerienne in Paris awards
its Aviator Diploma to Wilbur and Orville.
March. Wrights are extensively involved in The
Wright Company v. The Herring-Curtiss Company and Glenn H. Curtiss patent
suit.
Wilbur and Orville submit depositions in Dayton on
march 7. Wilbur goes to New York on March 7 and submits affidavit March
12. He then goes to Buffalo and march 18 and submits affidavit on March
19, returning to Dayton on March 20.
Wright Exhibition company formed, with
Roy Knabenshue as manager.
The company continues in operation until November
1911. The fliers are paid by the Wright Company.
Miss Mabel Beck engaged to secretary to Roy Knabenshue.
Because of her special competence, Wilbur later selects her to work with
him in connection with Wright patent suits. Following his death she became
Orville’s secretary, continuing in this position until his death.
March 7. Smithsonian Institution, in letter to Wilbur,
invites Wrights to deposit one of their machines in the National Museum.
German-built Wright airplane shown in Riga, Larvia,
at exhibit organized by Riga student aeronautical group.
March 19. Wright airplane, intended for use in the
Wright brothers’ training camp just outside the city of Montgomery, Ala.,
arrives, accompanied by Charles E. Taylor and students Walter R. Brookins
and J. W. Davis.
March 24. Orville, accompanied by Spencer Crane, arrives
in Montgomery, Ala., from Dayton to undertake training of civilian fliers.
In interview in Baltimore, Md., Wilbur states that
he favors cross-country reliability flight in preference so speed contest.
March 26. Replying to Dr. Walcott’s letter on March
7, Wilbur states that the brothers, in accordance with the preferences
of the National Museum, could provide a model showing the general construction
of one of their machines, the original 1903 Wright machine, or a model
showing the general design of this machine.
March 26 – May 5. Orville conducts flight training
school in Montgomery for five students who were to engage in exhibition
flying for the Wright Company.
March 28. Walter R. Brookins, first civilian student
of the Wrights, makes first flight with Orville at Montgomery, Ala.,
Brookins completed his flight training on May 3.
Wilbur completes negotiations for purchase of 17-acre
tract which Wrights named Hawthorn Hill, in the Dayton suburb of Oakwood.
Plans for a house are started.
April 6. Orville, awaiting parts for his engine, damaged
on April 2, visits State Capitol, in Montgomery, and meets Alabama governor
Braxton B. Corner and other state officials. He is shown spot on which
Jefferson Davis stood when he was inaugurated President of the confederacy.
April 8. Wright Company and the Aero Club of America
conclude agreement by which the latter agrees to sanction meets only through
proper arrangements with the Wrights.
This agreement was publicly announced to members of
the Aero Club of America and to its affiliated clubs in a communication
dated April 21
April 9. Orville returns to Dayton from Montgomery
to obtain parts for his damaged machine.
April 11. Dr. Walcott, replying to Wilbur’s letter
of March 26, sets forth objects illustrating the Wright inventions which
are desirable for the national Museum exhibits. Wrights interpret the
letter to mean that the Smithsonian Institution did not want an exhibit
that would emphasize the fact of their having flown a successful, man-carrying
machine in 1903 and make no reply.
April 21. Aero Club of America announces in special
bulletin to its membership the details of the Wright-Aero Club agreement
of April 8.
May – June 8. Orville and the Wright Exhibition company
fliers make numerous flights at Simms Station in preparation for the air
show at Indianapolis, June 13 – 18.
May 5. Wright training camp completed in Dayton. Wright
company starts school, with Orville in charge of instruction.
This school was in operation from 1910 to 1916.
May 7. Wilbur, in letter to the editor of Aircraft,
responds to statements made by Israel Ludlow and Clement Ader in the may
1910 issue of the magazine concerning his affidavit in the Paulhan infringement
suit. He claims Ludlow misrepresented the facts in claiming that Ader
flew a thousand feet.
May 19. Wright company and Aero Club of St. Louis
enter into contract whereby Wright Company licenses aviation meet to be
held in St. Louis, October 8 – 18, 1910, and agrees to provide five or
more aircraft and pilots, under the general direction of Roy Knabenshue.
May 21. Wilbur makes flight of one minute 29 seconds
at Simms Station, his last as a pilot in the United States.
May 25. Orville takes his father, 82 years old, for
his first airplane ride, a flight of six minutes 55 seconds, reaching
an altitude of 350 feet.
Flight made by Wilbur and Orville together, Orville
piloting, the only occasion when two brothers were in the air at the same
time.
May 30. Orville and Wilbur and Wright exhibition fliers
Frank Coffyn, Ralph Johnstone, and Walter Brookins visit Indianapolis
Motor Speedway in preparation for air show to be held in June.
June 10. Wright airplanes sent to Indianapolis.
June 11. Wilbur goes to Indianapolis to attend air
meet. Orville joins him for opening of meet, and they return to Dayton
on June 19.
June 13 – 18. First show of Wright company exhibition
team, Indianapolis, Ind., in which Brookins is star and sets new records.
June 14. Circuit Court of Appeals reveres decision
of Judge John R. Hazel on January 3 and directs that injunction granted
Wright Company be dismissed and requirement for bond be canceled.
June 19. Wilbur goes to New York, seeking modification
of June 14 decision of U.S. Appellate Court, asking that Herring-Curtiss
Company and Glenn H. Curtiss be required to give bond.
June 22. Wrights receive honorary doctor of laws degrees
from Oberlin College.
June 29. First Wright Model B airplane completed.
July 8 – 16. Wright Company fliers Walter Brookins,
Ralph Johnstone, Frank Coffyn, and Duval La Chapelle make 17 flights in
Toronto in fulfillment of contract with International Aviation Association.
July 16. Scientific American publishes letter
from Wilbur sent from Dayton on July 1, in which he disputes statement
on June 25 editorial that “Curtiss was using hinged winged tips in his
earlier machines, with which he made public flights antedating the open
flights of the Wrights.”
July 21. Wright Company and Aero and Motor Club of
Asbury Park, N.J., enter into contract providing that Wright airplanes
appear at aviation meet to be held at Asbury Park, August 10 – 13, 15
– 20. Wright Company fliers Walter Brookins, Ralph Johnstone, Arch Hoxey,
Frank Coffyn, and Duval La Chapelle were to be present. Wright Company
was to receive $20,0000 of the gross receipts.
Wrights install and conduct experiments with wheels
on their machine for the first time at Simms Station, Dayton.
July 24 – August. Griffith Brewer, British balloonist,
member of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain first Englishman to
fly with Wilbur at Le mans on October 8, 1908, and close friend of the
Wrights, is guest at Wright home in Dayton, the first of many annual visits.
Visits were made in 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914,
1918 and continued year by year until interrupted by World war II, approximately
30 visits altogether.
August 10. First public appearance of a Wright airplane
with wheels under the skids made at air meet at Asbury Park.
Experimental trials with wheels had been carried out
by the Wrights as early as July 21.
August 11. Wilbur arrives in Asbury Park to witness
flights by Wright Company exhibition fliers and seeks to determine cause
of accident on August 10, the opening day of the air meet, in which Walter
Brookins was injured.
August 12. Commissioner of patents declared interference
in action against Wilbur and Orville brought by Erastus E. Winkley, an
inventor, who developed an automatic control for sewing machines and conceived
the idea that this control could be applied to regulating airplane wings
and claimed its disclosure at an earlier date than that of Wrights.
August 15. Wright airplane of new design without front
elevators arrives at Asbury Park to replace plane damaged on August 10.
This airplane was flown for the first time on August
19.
August 19. Wright Exhibition Company fliers Ralph
Johnstone and Arch Hoxsey carry out moonlight flights at Asbury Park,
first public night flights on record.
September 21. Wilbur and Orville, together with Clifford
B. Harmon, president, National Council, Aero Club of America, are honored
at banquet at Dayton Club given by Dayton Aeroplane Club and Dayton Aero
Club.
September 22. Orville flies from Simms Station to
Dayton, circles city and returns, the first flight over the cit o f Dayton.
Flight is part of an Aviation Day program held during exposition week
in Dayton.
September 23 Katharine flies with Orville at Simms
Station, Dayton at an altitude of a thousand feet.
September 29. Wilbur, in a special car attached to
an Illinois Central train, follows Walter Brookins, who flies Wright biplane
from Washington Park, in Chicago, to the fair grounds in Springfield,
Ill., a distance of 192 1/2 miles, establishing a new American cross-country
flying record. The flight is sponsored by the Chicago Record-Herald.
Stops are made at Gilman, 75 miles, and at Mt. Pulaski, 136 miles.
October 5. Dayton Aeroplane Club appoints committee
to develop plans for the erection of a memorial in Dayton to its honorary
members, Wilbur and Orville.
October 12. Wright Mode R airplane, called the “Baby
Grand,” completed and ready for testing.
October 22. Orville completes and tests new eight-cylinder,
developed for use in the Wright Model R, attaining speed of 77 to 78 miles
an hour.
October 22 – 30. Wright airplanes participate in International
Aviation Tournament at Belmont Park, N.Y.
October 23. Orville, in Baby Grand, attains speed
of between 70 and 80 miles an hour.
October 29. Baby Grand, piloted by Walter Brookins,
is wrecked in preliminary test in preparation for International Aviation
Cup.
October 31. Wilbur and Orville are guests at luncheon
given by Alexander Ogilvie at Delmonico’s in New York for fliers who had
participated in the Belmont Park aviation meet, after declining an invitation
by Aero Club of America to a banquet at plaza Hotel.
November. Wright factory in Dayton completed.
In its early period of operation, this factory produced
about two airplanes a month. To meet the demands of business a duplicate
factor building was erected in 1911.
November 1. With Cornelius Vanderbilt, Wright Company
director, as passenger, Orville flies at Belmont Park, reaching an altitude
of 200 feet and circling the course six or seven times.
This was the first flight for Vanderbilt.
November 3. Orville reports week financially successful.
Wrights receive $20,000 for participating in Belmont Park meeting and
win $15,000 in prizes. Wright company votes Orville and Wilbur $10,000
and declares dividend of $80,000.
November 5. Wilbur goes to Baltimore to attend aviation
meet scheduled to open November 2. Meet postponed on account of high winds.
November 7. Orville and Katharine witness departure
of Phil O. Parmalee, Wright Company pilot, in Wright airplane carrying
10 bolts of silk, consigned to the Morehouse-Martens Company, from Dayton
to Columbus, first use of a plane to carry commercial freight.
November 13. Orville leaves Dayton for Europe on business
related to the Wright companies in France and Germany, sailing from New
York on November 15 on the Kronprinzessin Cecilie, arriving in
Berlin on November 23.
November 17. Wright Exhibition Company flier Ralph
Johnstone killed in crash at Overland Park, Denver. Wilbur, in New York,
accompanies widow to her home in Kansas City, Mo., and attends Johnstone’s
funeral there.
November 24. Orville writes Wilbur from Berlin on
this date and again on November 27, reporting that the German Wright Company
is being managed inefficiently and despairs that the company will ever
be financially successful. The report on the French Wright Company equally
unfavorable.
November 25. Wilbur attends funeral of Octave Chanute
in Chicago. Chanute had died on November 23, age 79.
November 29. Wrights file bill of complaint in U.S.
Circuit Court, Southern District of New York, in suit for $29,000 for
infringement and accounting against Claude Grahame-White by reason of
defendant’s use of Farman and Bleriot flying machines in the United States.
These machines are alleged to infringe the Wright
patent.
December 6. Wright Company institutes suit against
the Aero Corporation, Ltd., for $15,000 claimed due as bonus for participation
of Wright machines in Belmont Park aviation meet.
This suit was dismissed by Justice Daniel F. Cohalan
of the New York Supreme Court, January 19, 1912, on grounds that the Wrights
had insufficient cause for action.
December 17. In letter to editor of Aero, Wilbur
replies to editorial in November 26th issue, which he claimed
distorted his views, and states that the Wrights believed in “all kinds
of flying which demonstrate the merits of the machine.”
December 26. Frank H. Russell, manager of the Wright
Company, reports that the company has granted Ralph Johnstone’s widow,
who was returning to Berlin, and annuity of 300 marks per month for a
period of 15 years.
December 29. Orville arrives in Dayton following European
trip.
December 31. Wright Exhibition Company flier Arch
Hoxsey killed in Los Angeles. Wright Company bear cost of funeral expenses
and contributes money to his mother, Mrs. M. C. Hoxsey.
December 31 – January 7, 1911. Wright ‘Roadster” and
Wright standard Model B exhibited at New York Aero Show, a part of the
automobile, show.
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