National Aviation Day celebrates pioneers of flight on Orville Wright’s birthday
National Aviation Day recognizes the pioneers of human flight and is held on the anniversary of Orville Wright’s birthday, Aug. 19, 1871.
National Aviation Day was established in 1939 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a presidential proclamation honoring the birthday of aviation pioneer Orville Wright, who was born on August 19, 1871.
Wright lived to see his birthday become the inspiration for the national observance, which recognizes the pioneers of human flight.
On Dec. 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, N.C., Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first powered flight. The historic first flight of the Wright Flyer lasted 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet, with Orville as the pilot.
PHOTOS: Dayton’s Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, through the years
Although Wilbur Wright had won the coin flip to see who would make the first flight, it was Orville, after an unsuccessful attempt by Wilbur on Dec. 14, 1902, who made it airborne for the first time.
Here is Orville Wright’s account of that flight:
“During the night of Dec. 16, a strong, cold wind blew from the north. When we arose on Dec. 17 morning the puddles of water, which had been standing about the camp since the recent rains, were covered with ice. The wind had a velocity of 20 to 24 miles per second (22 to 27 miles an hour).
“We thought it would die down before long and we remained indoors the early part of the morning. But when 10 o’clock arrived and the wind came no less we decided that we had better get the machine out and attempt a flight. To fly under such conditions was dangerous, but for the men of the life saving station. We thought that by facing the machine into a strong wind we ought to be no trouble in launching it from the level ground about the camp. We knew that the danger of flying in so high a wind, but believed that the added dangers in flight would be partly compensated for by the slower speed in landing.
Orville Wright (1871-1948) was one of a pair of Dayton brothers who taught the world to fly. After dropping out of school in 1889 he started a printing business by building a press with his brother Wilbur. The Wrights became intrigued with the bicycle, and eventually opened a bicycle repair shop and showroom. Soon they began working on an improved bicycle design. In 1896 Orville Wright came down with typhoid and while reading to pass the time during Orville s recuperation, the brothers became interested in gliders and flight. They quickly read all the information available. Of the three components required for human flight — lift, locomotion and control, Orville Wright s interests focused on the development of the engine that would power the aircraft. Working with Charlie Taylor, he built an engine in their shop. On Dec. 17, 1903 Orville Wright was the first man to fly with a flight of 120 feet in 12 seconds. Inducted: 1995.
“We laid our track on a smooth stretch of ground about 100 feet west of the building. The biting cold wind made work difficult, and we had to warm up occasionally in the room where we had a good fire in a improvised stove made of a large carbide can.
“The records of the government weather bureau at Kitty Hawk gave the velocity of the wind between the hours of 10:30 and 12 o’clock, the time during which the four flights were made, as averaging 27 miles at the time of the first flight and 24 miles at the time of the last.
“With all the knowledge and skill acquired in thousands of flights in the last 10 years, I would hardly think today of making my first flight in a strange machine in a 27-mile wind, even on standard gliders which had already been flown and was safe. After these years of experience I look back with wonder at our audacity in attempting flights with a new and untried machine in such a gale.
“Yet faith in our calculations was so great, and the machine, based upon our tables of air pressure, obtained by months of patient pressure, so great, and our confidence in our system of control developed by three years of practice with gliders in the air, had convinced us that the machine was capable of flying and with a little practice it could be safely flown.
Orville and Wilbur Wright.
“Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the next try now belonged to me. After running the motor a few minutes to heat it up, I released the wire that held the machine to the track, and the machine started forward into the wind. Wilbur ran at the side of the machine, holding the wing to balance it on the track. Unlike the start of the 14th, with a 27-mile wind, the machine starting slow on the rail. Wilbur was able to stay with it until it lifted from the track after a 40-foot run. The slow forward movement of the machine on the ground is clearly shown in the pictures. Wilbur, who ran alongside, stayed along beside the machine without any effort.
“The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air and partly to lack of experience in handling this machine. The control of the front rudder was difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center. This gave it a tendency to turn itself when started so that it turned too far one side and then too far on the other.
PHOTOS: Hawthorn Hill, home of Orville Wright
“As a result, the machine would rise suddenly to about 10 feet and then as suddenly dart for the ground. A sudden dart, when a few feet off, touching the ground at the end of the track, or a little over 120 feet from the point at which it left the rail, brought the flight to an end.
“The flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.”