Wright Planes

Ohio History

Airplane Motor

Here is a real motor from one of the Wrights' early airplanes. One of the major problems was getting a motor light enough, yet with enough power to keep the plane in the air. It was pretty amazing! Of course we all know these hours of experimentation culminated in the successful 59-second flight at Kitty Hawk in December 1903. But that was not the first plane built. Check out the model of the 1900 glider in the lower picture below. The wing system worked but it was too large to lift off or control. By contrast, the upper glider, built two years later, featured both a forward elevator and a rudder to allow the pilot complete control of the craft. It paved the way for the motor-powered flights at Kitty Hawk the next year.

1902 & 1900 Planes

The thrill of the first flight at Kitty Hawk was slighty dampened by the ensuing crash and complete wreck of the plane. When the brothers returned home, they practically had to start from scratch. Then they'd test the plane, go back and make adjustments, test again. Making repeated trips from Dayton, Ohio to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina soon became long, tiresome, and expensive. Especially when a cow pasture eight miles from home would do the job. So the Wrights began to test fly planes at a large and secluded field called Huffman Prairie, just outside Dayton. It worked alright, as long as they avoided the barbed wire and trees. In two years they had perfected their planes for the market.

I have in fact visited Huffman Prairie (it doesn't look much different from other fields) but sadly I have no pictures. Well, that is where the story ended at the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center. Stay with me a moment while we 'cycle' back to the Wright brothers' early days . . . and the bicycle shop.