Wright Brothers flights of 1909

It was an interesting trip, and at times rather exciting.

-Wilbur Wright

The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were of course the innovative duo that helped to invent the modern aeroplane. They were among the first people to fly and definitely the very first to fly a canoe around the Statue of Liberty.

On December 17, 1903 they achieved a very well known flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. However, this entry examines 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.

Interestingly, 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 show down between the two flyers.

They both were scheduled to make a series of flights. On September 29, 1909, Wilbur made a famous flight on the Wright Flyer III around the Statue of Liberty. To the amazement of the crowd, there was a red canoe attatched 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 his house on Hawthorn Hill in Oakwood, Ohio as it reminded him of his and his brother's flights. This first airborn canoe was more recently moved to Carrilon Park in Ohio in the room connected to the Wright Flyer III's pit.

The flights

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 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, October 4 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 to 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.

Wilbur was succeeded in one of these flights on May 26th, 2003. The flight around the Statue of Liberty was duplicated by a Dayton Group named 'Wright Flyer B Inc' with a replica of Wright Flyer as a part of the continuing celebrations of the Wright Brothers anniversary.