Year: 1913

January 13. At Simms Station Orville conducts test of his automatic stabilizer with plane rudder.

February 10. Orville, accompanied by Katharine, leaves Dayton en route to Europe on business relating to a patent suit in Germany.

This as his last trip to Europe.

February 12. Orville and Katharine sail for Europe aboard Mauretania, arriving in London on February 17, where they are met by Griffith Brewer and Alexander Ogilvie.

February 18. Orville and Katharine attend Aero Show at Olympia, Kensington, London.

February 19-20. Orville and Katharine are overnight guests of Alexander Ogilvie at Sheppey, England.

February 21. British Wright Company, Ltd. Formed, with Orville serving as chairman of the board of directors. Orville attends meeting of the directors.

February 22. Orville and Katharine leave London for Berlin, arriving there on February 23, and go to Leipzig on February 26 to attend German Wright patent trial before German Supreme Court.

February 26. U.S. Ambassador Myron T. Herrick gives luncheon in Paris attended by numerous members of the Aéro-Club de France and by the members of the Wilbur Wright Le Mans Memorial Committee in charge of arrangements for the erection of a memorial to Wilbur at Camp d'Auvours, near Le Mans, where he made his first public fights in 1908. A message of tribute from President Taft is read.

German Supreme Court renders decision favorable to the Wrights, granting protection to their use of wing warping in connection with a rudder.

February 27. Judge John R. Hazel, of U.S. district court in Buffalo, grants Wright brothers' petition for order restraining Glenn H. Curtiss and other from manufacture and sale of alleged infringing machines.

February 28. Orville holds consultation with Dr. V. Schneider on German Flugmaschine Wright.

March 1. Orville goes to Dresden to Harlan-Werke to discuss licensing of Wright airplanes.

March 9. Orville and Katharine sail for the U.S. aboard George Washington after their European trip, arriving in New York on March 17 and in Dayton on March 19.

March 13. French patent decision rendered in favor of Wrights.

March 25-27. Disastrous Miami River flood causes considerable damage to the Wright family home and property, including damage to their collection of glass plate photographic negatives and to early business and aviation records.

April. Henry County (Ind.,) Historical resolution recommending that a tablet be placed on wall of building where Wilbur was born.

May 1-3. Orville experiments with his Model CH, the first Wright Hydroplane, on the Miami River.

May 21. Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture inaugurated by the Royal Aeronautical Society, London, honoring the life and work of Wilbur Wright.

May 26. Queen City Aero Club of Cincinnati elects Orville honorary member.

U.S. Patent Office examiner in chief affirms decision of August 7, 1912, in interference suit brought August 12, 1910, by Erastus E. Winkley against Wright Company.

June 5. Orville flies up Miami River with three passengers in Wright airplane equipped with wooden pontoons.

June 14. Orville flies hydroplane on Miami River.

June 18. Orville accepts appointment to serve on the Subcommittees on Aircraft Factories and Hydromechanics in Relation to Aeronautics, Langley Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. Capt. Holden C. Richardson served as chairmen.

July. New incidence indicator designed by Orville is marketed by Wright Company.

July 1. Wight model CH seaplane announced.

July 8. Orville goes to New York to attend Wright Company Executive Committee business meeting, returning to Dayton on July 11.

July 9. Board of managers of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia elects Orville as nonresident member.

July 10. Orville appoints Grove C. Loening as an engineer with the Wright Company, effective July 14.

Loening remains with Wright Company for one year, resigning effective July 15, 1914.

September-November. Orville conducts experiments with new automatic control and completes its development.

September 20. Orville Wright flies in a single-propeller machine for the first time.

September 30. Wright model G aeroboat announced.

October. British Wright Company enters suit for L25,000 against the British government for infringement of the Wright patent.

October 14. Wrights granted patent No. 1,075,533 for a device for maintaining automatic stability of an aircraft. The patent application as originally filed February 10, 1908.

December 17. Orville attends dinner in his honor given by Aero Club of America in New York and is presented with "Wright Memorial Book" which had been compiled by the Aero Club of America "to commemorate the discovery by Wilbur and Orville of the correct principles of maintaining equilibrium in the air."

The edition was limited to three copies, the first to be presented to Orville, the second to be preserved in Aero Club of America archives, and the third to be given to the Smithsonian Institution.

Material in the volume relates to the presentation of Aero Club of America gold medals to the Wright brothers by President Taft on June 10, 1909, including resolution of Congress, photographs of the medals, President Taft's speech of presentation, messages from the governors of 10 states, 13 scientific institutions, and numerous editorials and cartoons marking the occasion.

Reichsflugverin, E. V. in Berlin (formerly Verin Deutscher Flugtechniker), in meeting attended by numerous aviator, engineers, and scientists, observes 10^th anniversary of 1903 flight, paying homage to Orville, an honorary member of the Society.

December 18. Orville meets Thomas A. Edison for the first time when he is a guest of the Edison family at Llewellyn Park, Orange, N.J. He later inspects the Edison Laboratories.

Orville attends dinner marking 10^th anniversary of 1903 flight given in his honor in New York by the Aeronautical Society, at which a set of engrossed resolutions and a bronze figure by Auguste Moreau are presented to him.

December 19. Léon Bollée, in his will, bequeaths first engine used by Wilbur in his 1908 flights at Le Mans, France, to the Le Mans Museum.

December 31. Orville demonstrates his automatic stabilizer in 17 flights at Simms Station at Dayton, Ohio, before committee of the Aero Club of America. The committee members are Dr. L.E. Custer, dentist, Dr. John C. Eberhardt, optometrist, both from Dayton, and Grover C. Loening, aeronautical engineer, of New York. In the last and conclusive demonstration Orville makes seven successive turns with his hands completely removed from the controls of the airplane.