The Wright Brothers #5

The Wright brothers continued their experiments with powered flight after the one at Kitty Hawk in December, 1903. They did longer flights with more control of the aircraft, attaining 24 miles in October, 1905. They got a patent approval in 1906. Their fame grew slowly initially. The American press and government expressed little interest. The U.S. goverment wanted drawings and descriptions enough to enable construction, but the brothers refused. Their fame did grow rapidly after Wilbur did demonstrations in France in 1907-8.

Wilbur lost control and crashed a plane in 1905 with minor injury. Orville did, too. They flew little for about two years, trying to commercialize their invention. In September, 1908 Orville crashed a plane and was badly injured, with multiple broken and fractured bones. His passenger was killed.

They formed the Wright Company in 1909. They sold their patents to the company for $100,000 and also received one-third of the shares in a million dollar stock issue and a 10 percent royalty on every airplane sold. With Wilbur as president and Orville as vice president, the company set up a factory in Dayton and a flying school/test flight field at Huffman Prairie, Ohio; the headquarters office was in New York City.