“I fancy that he is now very nearly where you were”: Octave Chanute to Wilbur, November 1, 1906, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 733.
“Fear that others will produce a machine”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, April 22, 1907, ibid., 756.
Flint & Company was offering the Wrights $500,000: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, December 20, 1906, ibid., 743.
In February, Germany offered $500,000: Wilbur to Orville, February 8, 1907, ibid., 751.
“I am more careful than he is”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, July 20, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“grabbed a few things”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, May 16, 1907, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 760.
By Saturday, May 18: Wilbur to Katharine, May 18, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“I sailed this morning about 9 o’clock”: Ibid.
The weather was “splendid”: Ibid.
“We made 466 miles the first day”: Ibid.
The third day out he took a tour: Wilbur to Katharine, May 20, 1907, ibid.
He kept note of the miles made day by day: Wilbur to Katharine, May 21, 1907, ibid.
“The waves are probably 10 feet high”: Wilbur to Katharine, May 23, 1907, ibid.
“a little sick”: Ibid.
“and how they could skim within a foot”: Wilbur to Katharine, May 24, 1907, ibid.
“I have never seen a picture of him”: Memorandum of Hart O. Berg to Charles Flint on first meeting Wilbur Wright in London, May 26, 1907, ibid.
At a tailor shop in the Strand: Ibid.
“Orv had marched off to Perry Meredith’s”: Katharine to Wilbur, June 8, 1907, ibid.
“He inspires great confidence”: Memorandum of Hart O. Berg to Charles Flint on first meeting Wilbur Wright in London, May 26, 1907, ibid.
Berg and his wife, Edith: Milwaukee Journal, December 18, 1928.
“The Tuileries Palace and the Louvre”: Wilbur to Katharine, May 27, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
The “New Hotel Meurice”: New York Tribune, March 23, 1907.
“rendezvous of fashion”: Ibid., April 18, 1908.
“Paris is the most prodigal of land”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, June 4, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“There is always an open space”: Ibid.
“a little shabby”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, June 7, 1907, ibid.
He spent considerable time at the Panthéon: Wilbur to Katharine, June 5, 1907, ibid.
“My imagination pictures things”: Wilbur to Katharine, June 8, 1907, ibid.
“right on the sidewalks”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, June 4, 1907, ibid.
He preferred the Rembrandts: Wilbur to Orville, May 30, 1907, ibid.
“While I do not pretend to be much of a judge”: Wilbur to Katharine, June 5, 1907, ibid.
“entirely another thing from flying”: Washington Post, June 30, 1907.
“You are over here on pleasure”: Paris Herald, June 14, 1907.
“the Standard Oil King of France”: Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 335.
“pretty slick hand”: Wilbur to Orville, May 31, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
Berg was “very practical”: Wilbur to Orville, May 28, 1907, ibid.
“about as enthusiastic now”: Wilbur to Orville, June 7, 1907, ibid.
“The pot is beginning to boil”: Ibid.
“bluffers like all Americans”: M. Lazare Weiller, “De Montgolfier a Wilbur Wright.” From a report of the 52nd meeting of La Societe Archeologique le Vieux Papier, December 22, 1908.
One Monday morning, while Wilbur was lying in bed: Wilbur Wright’s diary, July 8, 1907, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 790.
“very successful trial”: Ibid., 791.
“Don’t worry over Flint’s commission”: Wilbur to Orville, June 12, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“distributed among persons who had the power”: Wilbur to Orville, July 12, 1907, ibid.
“I presume you will have everything packed”: Wilbur to Orville, June 28, 1907, ibid.
“Orv can’t work any”: Katharine to Wilbur, June 30, 1907, ibid.
“I can’t stand Berg’s looks”: Ibid.
“What on earth is happening to your letters?”: Katharine to Wilbur, July 5, 1907, ibid.
“We are all so nervous”: Ibid.
“Why couldn’t you tell us sooner”: Katharine to Wilbur, July 16, 1907, ibid.
“in one of his peculiar spells”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, July 20, 1907, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 804–5.
“In view of the fact that I have written”: Wilbur to Katharine, July 17, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“I have done what I know he would have done”: Ibid.
“It is not my custom to voice my complaints”: Ibid.
“merely sort of an exhibit”: Ibid.
They took off from the Aéro-Club grounds: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, July 18, 1907, ibid.
“The alterations of rich brown newly plowed soil”: Ibid.
“What we are seeking is the means”: Vernon, “The Flying Man,” McClure’s Magazine, Vol. 3, 1894.
“pretty well fizzled out”: Katharine to Wilbur, August 1, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
Early on a Sunday morning in late July: New York Herald, July 29, 1907; L’Aérophile, June 1907; London Daily Mail, September 2, 1907.
“a rather warm heart-to-heart talk”: Wilbur Wright’s diary, July 29, 1907, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 809.
“We are, and intend to be”: Notes of Conversation between Wilbur and Orville Wright and Hart O. Berg, Paris, November 6, 1907, ibid., 827, 830.
“Our friends F”: Orville to Katharine, June 28, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
Wilbur led Orville on a first stroll: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, August 2, 1907, ibid.
Frank Cordley hosted an evening at the . . . Tour d’Argent: Orville to Katharine, August 2, 1907, ibid.
“The legs, wings, etc.”: Ibid.
“We have been real good over here”: Orville to Bishop Wright, August 23, 1907, ibid.
On the way to Berlin: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 204.
“We do not want the papers”: Orville to Katharine, August 14, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
occupied primarily with sitting in the park: Paris Herald, September 29, 1907.
“You need not worry about me”: Orville to Katharine, September 9, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“They jump on and off the horses”: Ibid.
Greatest by far was the spectacle: Ibid.
The “mystery” of the Wrights: Paris Herald, September 29, 1907.
Apparently the brothers caught on quickly to the diabolo art: Wilbur to Katharine, August 27, 1907, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“You never told me whether you learned to talk”: Katharine to Orville, September 22, 1907, ibid.
His sense of humor plainly in play again: Orville to Katharine, September 26, 1907, ibid.
“getting along famously”: Katharine to Wilbur, August 25, 1907, ibid.
He had bought a new typewriter: Bishop Wright to Wilbur, September 5, 1907, ibid.
She had ordered a new stove: Katharine to Wilbur and Orville, October 13, 1907, ibid.
“What plans do you suggest?”: Wilbur to Orville, September 29, 1907, ibid.
“Aren’t you getting worried over ‘Farman’s flights’?”: Katharine to Wilbur, November 21, 1907, ibid.
“It seems that to the genius of France”: John Sweetman, Cavalry of the Clouds: Air War Over Europe, 1914–1918 (Gloucestershire, UK: History Press, 2010), 15.
“We will spend the winter”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, November 22, 1907, ibid.
8. Triumph at Le Mans
“G
entlemen, I’m going to fly”: Tobin, To Conquer the Air, 306.
“I am on my way to Kitty Hawk”: Wilbur to Octave Chanute, April 8, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 861.
Though he had been forewarned: Wilbur Wright’s diary, April 10, 1908, ibid., 862.
Walking among the ruins: Wilbur to Orville, April 11, 1908, ibid.
“Conditions are almost intolerable”: Wilbur Wright’s diary, April 18, 1908, ibid., 866.
Nor did the fact that so many of those: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, April 28, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
A Dayton mechanic the brothers had hired: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, April 16, 1908, ibid.
“Spent afternoon cleaning out trash”: Wilbur Wright’s diary, April 25, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 869.
The morning of Monday, April 27: Wilbur Wright’s diary, April 27, 1908, ibid.; Wilbur to Bishop Wright, April 28, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
Virginian-Pilot: Howard, Wilbur and Orville, 241.
Test flights got started on May 6: Renstrom, Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Re-Issue of a Chronology Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Orville Wright, August 19, 1871, 85.
Once he left, Wilbur took off again: Ibid.
“The Wrights we found were some twelve or fourteen miles”: “Journal of Byron Newton,” Byron Newton Papers, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
“the end of the world”: Ruhl, “History at Kill Devil Hills,” Collier’s Weekly, May 30, 1908.
“There was something weird”: Walsh, One Day at Kitty Hawk: The Untold Story of the Wright Brothers and the Airplane, 215.
“We couldn’t have delayed”: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 224.
“dazzling white sand dunes”: Ruhl, “History at Kill Devil Hills.”
“[We were] all seasoned campaigners”: “Journal of Byron Newton,” Byron Newton Papers, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
A photographer for Collier’s Weekly: Renstrom, Wilbur and Orville Wright, 85.
Early the morning of May 14: Ibid., 86; Chicago Examiner, May 15, 1908; Philadelphia Press, May 17, 1908.
“I was watching with the field glass”: Tise, Conquering the Sky: The Secret Flights of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, 115.
He had been violently thrown: Renstrom, Wilbur and Orville Wright, 86.
“I hate like anything to go away”: Wilbur to Katharine, May 19, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“Write often”: Katharine to Wilbur, May 31, 1908, ibid.
“smooth but foggy much of the time”: Wilbur Wright’s diary, May 29, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 883.
He reached Paris on May 29: Dayton Daily News, May 29, 1908.
a “tendency” to be hostile: Wilbur to Orville, June 3, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 806.
“The first thing is to get some practice”: Tise, Conquering the Sky, 178.
Hart Berg assured a correspondent: L’Auto, June 3, 1908 and June 14, 1908.
Bollée met Wilbur and Berg: Wilbur Wright’s diary, June 8, 1909, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 895.
Short and dark bearded: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 236; Howard, Wilbur and Orville, 249; Wilbur to Orville, October 4, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“Léon Bollée automobiles”: Le Figaro, March 22, 1908.
Wilbur received word from Bollée: Wilbur Wright’s diary, June 11, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 896.
a young French aviation journalist: L’Auto, June 14, 1908; see also Peyrey, Premiers Les Hommes-Oiseaux.
Wilbur arrived back in Le Mans: Wilbur Wright’s diary, June 16, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 899.
overlooking the main square, the Place de la République: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, June 21, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
he began opening the crates: Wilbur Wright’s diary, June 17, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 899.
“I am sure that with a scoop shovel”: Wilbur to Orville, June 17, 1908, ibid., 900.
“Worked all today and a few hours yesterday”: Wilbur Wright’s diary, June 18, 1908, ibid., 901.
“I have had an awful job sewing the section together”: Wilbur to Orville, June 20, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“I have to do practically all the work”: Ibid.
Hôtel du Dauphin: Motor Car Journal, December 7, 1907; Autocar, February 1906.
He loved the sound of the chimes: Wilbur to Katharine, June 28, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“The arches forming the openings”: Wilbur to Katharine, June 23, 1908, ibid.
“impresses me more and more”: Wilbur to Katharine, June 28, 1908, ibid.
He wrote of the comforts of the hotel: Wilbur to Katharine, June 23, 1908, ibid.
“some sort of cake”: Ibid.
“I was a little astonished”: Wilbur to Katharine, June 28, 1908, ibid.
“I have to do all the work myself”: Wilbur to Orville, June 28, 1908, ibid.
On the evening of July 4: Wilbur to Katharine, July 7, 1908, ibid.
“Fortunately we had picric acid”: Léon Bollée to Hart Berg, June 4, 1908, ibid.
“We voted him ‘mule-headed’ ”: London Daily Mail, August 17, 1908.
“I did not ask you to come here”: Ibid.
Their nickname for him was Vieille Burette: Combs and Caidin, Kill Devil Hill, 284.
“In a corner of the shed was his ‘room’ ”: London Daily Mail, August 17, 1908.
The sky overhead was a great blue vault: Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 9, 1908.
“The famous Wright brothers may today claim”: Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 345.
Such “quiet self-confidence”: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 236.
“Neither the impatience of waiting crowds”: Sproul, The Wright Brothers: The Birth of Modern Aviation, 52.
After much show of despair: Paris Herald, August 9, 1908.
“C’est l’homme qui a conquis l’air!”: Kelly, The Wright Brothers, 238.
“I would have waited ten times as long”: Paris Herald, August 9, 1908.
“C’est merveilleux!”: Ibid.; Tobin, To Conquer the Air, 309.
“very calmly”: London Daily Mail, August 8, 1908.
headline news everywhere: Le Matin, August 9, 1908, Paris Herald, August 9, 1908, London Daily Mail, August 9, 1908, Echo de Paris, August 9, 1908, Chicago Tribune, August 9, 1908, Dayton Journal, August 9, 1908.
“The mystery”: Le Matin, August 9, 1908.
“the most marvelous aeroplane flight”: London Daily Mail, August 8, 1908.
“Not one of the former detractors”: Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 368.
“For a long time, for too long a time”: Ibid.
“Today, because it is Sunday”: Le Petit Journal, August 10, 1908.
“a harvest of money”: New York Times, August 12, 1908.
“ablaze with anger”: Walsh, One Day at Kitty Hawk, 228.
“In a flight lasting”: London Daily Mail, August 11, 1908.
“Well, we are beaten!”: Gibbs-Smith, Aviation, 131; Howard, Wilbur and Orville, 259.
“Now all have seen”: New York Herald, August 10, 1908.
“and the features, dominated by a long prominent nose”: London Daily Mail, August 17, 1908.
“The flecks of gold”: Le Figaro, August 11, 1908.
“Even if this man sometimes deigns to smile”: Léon Delagrange, “Impressions sur L’Aéroplane Wright,” L’Illustration, August 15, 1908.
“Wilbur Wright is the best example of strength of character”: Ibid.
“un timide”: L’Auto, August 8, 1908.
On Thursday, August 13: Renstrom, Wilbur and Orville Wright, 87.
/> “a pretty bad smash-up”: Wilbur to Orville, August 15, 1908, McFarland, ed., The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 2, 912.
“Mr. Wright is as superb”: Howard, Wilbur and Orville, 260.
“All question as to who originated the flying machine”: Wilbur to Katharine, August 22, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“I cannot even take a bath”: Ibid.
A new song, “Il Vole”: Ibid.
because of “their grit”: Dayton Herald, August 18, 1908.
“How many, many times have we wished”: Katharine to Wilbur, August 9, 1908, ibid.
a big “welcome home”: Katharine to Wilbur, August 18, 1908, ibid.
“all kinds of the finest sardines”: Wilbur to Bishop Wright, August 15, 1908, ibid.
“The new grounds are much larger”: Ibid.
“excitement almost beyond”: Wilbur to Orville, August 25, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“They flock from miles”: Le Figaro, August 25, 1908.
The public is: Ibid.
Orville had gone to Washington: Dayton Journal, September 3, 1908.
“avoid all unnecessary personal risk”: Bishop Wright to Wilbur, August 2, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“I tell them plainly that I intend”: Wilbur to Orville, August 25, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“I can only say”: Ibid.
On the evening of August 25: Paris Herald, August 26, 1908.
9. The Crash
[He] rode the air as deliberately: Crouch, Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age, Prologue.
Orville was in Washington: Orville to Katharine, August 27, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“stacks of prominent people”: Orville to Katharine, August 29, 1908, ibid.
“Suppose you tell me about a few things”: Katharine to Wilbur, August 27, 1908, ibid.
“very smart” and “charming woman, like yourself”: Wilbur to Katharine, August 13, 1908, ibid.
“answering the ten thousand fool questions”: Orville to Katharine, August 27, 1908, ibid.
“Mr. Wright stood and talked”: Washington Post, September 2, 1908.
“I am meeting some very handsome young ladies!”: Orville to Katharine, August 31, 1908, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, LOC.
“I don’t know when Pop”: Katharine to Wilbur, August 27, 1908, ibid.