The Wright stuff

One of the most amazing things about the Wright Brothers was that, though not twins, they seemed to share their genius equally. As David McCullough tells their story in his 2015 book The Wright Brothers, they were dependent upon each other, yet virtually interchangeable in researching the science of flight (most of what others had written on the subject proved useless to them), building the first self-powered airplane and then actually flying it. Each could do what the other did just as well, and although they had their arguments, they most often were of the same mind and never displayed a hint of jealously about the other, even when Orville had to stay behind to recover from injuries in a crash while Wilbur won wide international acclaim during a long visit to France.

Genius is the correct word. There was no luck involved, no dependence upon the work of others as some claimed at the time. While those others were building planes that couldn't fly, sometimes killing themselves in the process, the Wright Brothers carefully researched how flight might be possible. How did birds fly? How did kites work? How did gliders work? How might a heavier-than-air craft be powered? How might it be made to turn and then land safely? Using gliders and a wind tunnel, then finding a place, Kitty Hawk, where the winds were favorable and the sand insured a safe landing, the brothers did the research before they put their lives on the line.

While other would-be aviators invited crowds to observe their disastrous flights, the Wrights worked with few witnesses. Even when they were successful and would have appreciated a little press attention, newspaper editors scoffed and ignored them. Some were insisting human flight was impossible even after the Wright Brothers proved otherwise. Not until Wilbur took their plane to Europe and wowed nobility and peasants alike did the American press and the United States government start paying attention. And this was more than two years after that first flight at Kitty Hawk.

After that the brothers spent more time in lawyers' offices than in the air. In 12 lawsuits against those who stole their ideas and claimed them as their own, they won them all. Even then it was others who most profited from the invention of powered flight.

McCullough tells this story with his usual style that presents potentially difficult subject matter in a manner any reader can understand. He also widens the scope of the Wright genius to include not just the brothers but also their sister Katherine, the only Wright sibling with a college degree, whose support and ability at public relations aided their effort. Also, often ignored, there was Charlie Taylor, a mechanical whiz who was first hired to mind the bicycle shop while the brothers were away playing with airplanes but who soon became indispensable for his skill at building and repairing engines.