Wright Brothers flights of 1909

:"It was an interesting trip, and at times rather exciting."::-Wilbur Wright to his father Bishop Wright

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, invented the modern aeroplane. Responsible for the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight on 17 December 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they made a number of other flights that played an important part in the history of aviation. This entry details the somewhat less well-known, but altogether still important flights of late September and early October 1909.

After news of their successes in flight had grown, Wilbur was approached by the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Committee, a New York group whose purpose was to celebrate 300 years of history, including Henry Hudson discovering Manhattan and Robert Fulton testing the steam engine. The committee wanted the Wrights to demonstrate flights over the water around New York City. Orville was in Germany, so Wilbur would do the flights alone.

The flights

Another acclaimed aviator, Glenn Curtiss had agreed to participate. He had recently set the world speed record, and the Wrights had just filed suit against him for patent infringement of their control systems. In fact, the public's anticipation was fueled by news of the patent disputes. These flights, to the audience of nearly a million, would be a showdown between the two flyers.

They were both scheduled to make a series of flights. On 29 September, 1909, Wilbur made a famous flight on the Wright Model A Flyer around the Statue of Liberty. To the amazement of the crowd, there was a red canoe attached to the bottom of the aeroplane's skis during this flight. This was due to the risk of going over water. Wilbur reasoned that if there were any problems, he would use the canoe to float himself to safety. Later on, Orville put this canoe in Hawthorn Hill, his house in Oakwood, Ohio, as it reminded him of his and his brother's flights. This first airborne canoe was more recently moved to Carillon Historical Park in Ohio and exhibited in a room adjacent to the Wright Flyer III in Wright Hall.

On September 29, Wilbur took off at 9:15 AM. This flight was in weather Curtiss had been unable to fly in. When Curtiss admitted defeat to the weather, Wilbur is supposed to have said to him, 'It looks pretty good. I think I will take a little spin in a few minutes.' He flew for about two miles, which took a little longer than seven minutes.

Later that day, Wilbur took off again, at 10:18. He flew over a large ocean-liner, the RMS Lusitania, and directly towards the Statue of Liberty. Many in the crowd thought that he would crash into the statue, but Wilbur rolled the plane away from it. This caused a sensation in the press, and became legendary, despite the flight lasting less than five minutes.

Curtiss was unable to fly and had to go to St. Louis due to a prior agreement. He was supposed to have flown along the Hudson turn around and land at Governors Island.

On Monday, 4 October, Wilbur took off at 9:53 AM. He flew along the Hudson River and around Manhattan. He completed a 42-mile flight and landed at Governor's Island. This was the exact flight that Curtiss had been unable to undertake, and Wilbur did finish it, and rather quickly.

This series of flights marked Wilbur's last flying before a public audience. An engine problem prevented him from doing any more in the series of flights after October 5, and he stopped. But it marked the beginning of a few new ideas. Not only were the public now interested in aviation, so were the military. Some think that when Wilbur flew over the Hudson it marked the beginning of aerial combat by showing the power and possibility of the aeroplane.

The flight around the Statue of Liberty was duplicated on May 26, 2003 by the Dayton 'Wright B Flyer, Inc.' group, with a replica of the Wright airplane as a part of the celebrations of the anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight.