The Bishop's Boys (90 page)

1. Katharine Wright to Agnes Osborn, September 22, 1908, author’s collection. Thanks to Mrs. E. Rehling.

2. Ibid.

3. Octave Chanute to Katharine Wright, September 29, 1908, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953, cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 2, p. 929.

4. Washington
Evening Star
, September 22, 1908.

5. Ibid.; see also C. H. Roseberry,
Glenn Curtiss: Pioneer of Flight
(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972), pp. 130–131.

6. Wilbur Wright to Katharine Wright, September 20, 1908, in
Papers
, vol. 2, P. 927.

7. Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright, November 14, 1908, in ibid., p. 936.

8. Arthur G. Renstrom,
Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Chronology
(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975, cited hereafter as
Chronology
), provides the most complete and detailed list of all Wright flights.

9. B. Baden-Powell, “A Trip with Wilbur Wright,”
Aeronautics
(December 1908).

10. Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright, October 9, 1908, in Fred C. Kelly, ed.,
Miracle at Kitty Hawk
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1951), p. 323.

11. Ross Browne Interview, Columbia University Oral History Collection, p. 17.

12. C. H. Gibbs-Smith,
The Invention of the Aeroplane, 1799–1909
(London: Faber & Faber, 1965), pp. 122–165.

13. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 164.

14. Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright, April 9, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 949.

15. John McMahon,
The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1930), p. 217.

16. Fred C. Kelly,
The Wright Brothers
(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943), p. 155.

17. Ibid.

18. Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright, April 4, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 949.

19. Milton Wright, Diary, April 19, 1909, box 10, file 3, WSU.

20. Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright, April 4, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 950.

21. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 32.

22. “Wrights Hear of Their Fame,”
New York Globe
(May 12, 1908). All description of the reception in New York is based on material in Wright scrapbooks at the Library of Congress and the Dayton Public Library.

23. Ibid.

24. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, June 6, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 953.

25. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 41.

26. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, June 16, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 955.

27. Ibid.

1. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, June 6, 1909, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953, cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 2, p. 954.

2.
New York Times
, June 29, 1909.

3. Carl Dienstbach, “The Revelations at Fort Myer,”
American Aeronaut
(September 1909), vol. 1, no. 2, 81.

4. Benjamin D. Foulois,
From the Wright Brothers to the Astronauts
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968), p. 62.

5.
New York Times
, July 3, 1909.

6.
New York Times
, August 11, 1908.

7. Foulois,
From the Wright Brothers
, p. 64.

8. Ibid.

9. C. H. Gibbs-Smith, “The Man Who Came By Air,”
Shell Aviation News
, June 19, I959, 2.

10. The most complete treatment of the AEA is in J. H. Parkin,
Bell and Baldwin
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964); see also Louis S. Casey,
Curtiss: The Hammondsport Era, 1907–1915
(New York: Crown, 1981).

11. The best account of the history of the Herring-Curtiss firm is in C. R. Roseberry,
Glenn H. Curtiss: Pioneer of Flight
(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972). pp. 159–162

12. Ibid., p. 154.

13. Casey,
Curtiss
, pp. 55, 61; Roseberry,
Glenn H. Curtiss
, pp. 167–168, 173.

14. Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith,
The Invention of the Aeroplane, 1799–1909
(London: Faber & Faber, 1965), pp. 213–220.

15. Casey,
Curtiss
, p. 46.

16. Heinrich Adams,
Fluq von Heinrich Adams Unser Flieger von Wilbur und Orville Wright
(Leipzig: C. F. Amelaags Verlag, 1909), p. 104.

17. Gibbs-Smith,
Invention of the Aeroplane
, pp. 213–220.

18. Roseberry,
Glenn H. Curtiss
, pp. 170–171.

19. Ibid.

20. Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright, August 24, 1909, in Fred C. Kelly, ed.,
Miracle at Kitty Hawk
(New York: Farrar, Straus & Young, 1951), p. 343.

21. Arthur G. Renstrom,
Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Chronology
(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975, cited hereafter as
Chronology
), pp. 40–47.

22. Ibid., p. 47.

23. Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright, September 28, 1909, in Kelly, ed.,
Miracle
, p. 348.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.

26. Renstrom,
Chronology
, pp. 179–180.

27. Fred C. Kelly,
The Wright Brothers
(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943), p. 264; author’s interview with Ivonette Wright Miller.

28. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 181.

29. Grover Loening,
Our Wings Grow Faster
(New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1935). pp. 9–13.

30. Clara Studer,
Sky-Storming Yankee: The Life of Glenn Curtiss
(New York: Stackpole, 1937), p. 195; Roseberry,
Glenn H. Curtiss
, p. 220.

31. Renstrom,
Chronology
, pp. 44–45.

32. Ibid., p. 45.

34. Kelly,
Wright Brothers
, pp. 164–165.

35. Ibid.

36. Ibid.; Milton Wright, Diary, November 25, 1909, box 10, file 4, WSU.

37. Kelly,
Wright Brothers
, pp. 164–165.

38. The figures are drawn from a close study of the Wright letters, papers, and diaries for the period. The final estimate is my own. For quote, see Wilbur Wright to Milton Wright, October 31, 1909, in Kelly, ed.,
Miracle
, p. 352.

39. Kelly,
Wright Brothers
, p. 166.

40. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, December 6, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 971.

1. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, December 6, 1909, in Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953, cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 2, p. 971.

2. Fred C. Kelly,
The Wright Brothers
(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943), p. 166.

3. For a complete account of the Wright factory locations, see Mary Ann Johnson,
A Field Guide to Flight: On the Aviation Trail in Dayton, Ohio
(Dayton, Ohio: Landfall Press, 1986).

4. Grover Loening,
Our Wings Grow Faster
(New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1935). P. 33.

5. C. W. Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
(Chicago: American Technical Society, 1917), part 2, pp. 55–85, remains by far the most useful introduction to the aeronautical patent suits. See also Arthur G. Renstrom,
Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Bibliography
(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1968), pp. 100–122, for a listing of all patents and suits, as well as the most complete bibliography available on the subject.

6. Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part 2, p. 66.

7. Ibid., p. 80.

8. C. R. Roseberry,
Glenn Curtiss: Pioneer of Flight
(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972), pp. 430–435; James V. Martin, “When Will Merit Count in Aviation?”
The Libertarian
(October 1924), 589–608.

9. Roseberry,
Glenn Curtiss
, pp. 430–435.

10. Ibid., pp. 453–455, 479.

11. Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part 2, pp. 55–85; Kelly,
Wright Brothers
, pp. 176–183.

12. Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part 2, pp. 71–73.

13. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, March 31, 1911, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 1022.

14. Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part
2
, pp. 55–85.

15. Ibid., p. 70.

16. François Peyrey,
Les Oiseaux Artificiels
(Paris: H. Dunod et E. Pinat, 1909), p. 202.

17. Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part 2, p. 505.

18.
Aeronautics
(April 10, 1910); Arthur G. Renstrom,
Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Chronology
(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975, cited hereafter as
Chronology
), p. 50.

19. Quoted in Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part 2, p. 521.

20. Octave Chanute to Ernest Jones, August 20, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 962.

21.
New York World
, June 17, 1910.

22. Chicago
Daily News
, undated clipping, Chanute Scrapbook, Octave Chanute Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

23. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, January 20, 1910, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 979.

24. Octave Chanute to Wilbur Wright, January 23, 1910, in ibid., p. 980.

25. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, January 29, 1910, in ibid., p. 982.

26. Ibid.

27. Octave Chanute to George Spratt, February 2, 1910, in ibid., p. 978.

28. Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, April 28, 1910, in ibid., p. 991.

29. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 53.

30. Wilbur Wright to George Spratt, October 16, 1909, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 978.

31. Ibid.

32. A. F. Zahm to Wilbur Wright, January 27, 1910, in ibid., p. 1094.

33. Wilbur Wright to A. F. Zahm, January 29, 1910, in ibid.

34. A. F. Zahm to Wilbur Wright, February 7, 1910, in ibid., p. 1094.

35. Ibid., p. 1095.

36.
Aeronautics
(July 1910), 21–22; Israel Ludlow, “Criticism of the Court’s Decision….”
Aircraft
(April 1910), 75; Israel Ludlow, “The Wright Company Is a Menace….”
Aircraft
(May 1910), 94–95; and Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part 2, pp. 505–524.

37. Hayward,
Practical Aeronautics
, part 2, p. 62.

1. James C. Fahey,
U.S. Army Aircraft, 1908–1946
(New York: Ships and Aircraft, 1946), p. 6.

2. Sherwood Harris,
First to Fly: Aviation’s Pioneer Days
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970), p. 117.

3. Ibid., p. 178.

4. Ibid.

5. Fred C. Kelly,
The Wright Brothers
(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943), pp. 166–167, 171.

6. Arthur G. Renstrom,
Wilbur and Orville Wright: A Chronology
(Washington D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975, cited hereafter as
Chronology
), pp. 187–190.

7. Kelly,
Wright Brothers
, pp. 168, 171.

8. Ibid., p. 169.

9. Frank Coffyn, “Flying with the Wrights,”
The World’s Work
(December 1929), 80–86; Frank Coffyn, “Flying As It Was,”
Sportsman Pilot
(May 19, 1939), 30–32; Frank Coffyn, Interview in the files of the Columbia Oral History Project.

10. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 51.

11. Marvin W. McFarland, ed.,
The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953, cited hereafter as
Papers
), vol. 2, p. 996.

12. Houston Peterson,
See Them Flying: Houston Peterson’s Air-Age Scrap-book, 1909–1910
(New York: R. W. Baron, 1969), pp. 192–195.

13. Harris,
First to Fly
, p. 166.

14. Coffyn, interview.

15. Ibid.

16. Beckwith Haven Interview in Columbia University Oral History Collection quoted in Roger E. Bilstein,
Flight in America, 1900–1983
(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), p. 18.

17. Fred C. Kelly, “They Wouldn’t Believe the Wrights Had Flown,”
Harpers
, vol. 81 (August 1940), p. 300. Orville Wright quoted in Mark Sullivan,
Our Times: The United States, 1900–1925
(New York: Scribner’s, 1931), vol. 2, P. 599.

18. J. A. Adams, “The Man Higher Up,”
The Advance
, LX (Oct. 6, 1910), 12.

19. Charles K. Field, “On the Wings of Today,”
Sunset
, 24 (March 1910), 249.

20. Peterson,
See Them Flying
, pp. 212–213.

21. Coffyn, interview.

22. Wilbur Wright to Arch Hoxsey, September 19, 1910, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 998.

23. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 42.

24. Henry Serrano Villard,
Contact! The Story of the Early Birds
(New York: Bonanza Books, 1953), pp. 106–112.

25. Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright, December 3, 1910, in
Papers
, vol., 2, p. 1006.

26. Harris,
First to Fly
, pp. 215–216.

27. Renstrom,
Chronology
, p. 53.

28. Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright, November 24, 1910, in
Papers
, vol. 2, p. 1001.

29. Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright, November 27, 1910, in ibid., p. 1002.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid.

32. Wilbur Wright to Orville Wright, December 9, 1910, in ibid., p. 1006.

33. Orville Wright to Wilbur Wright, November 27, 1910, in ibid., p. 1004.

34. Villard,
Contact!
, pp. 242–243.

35. A complete list of the pilots trained at Huffman Prairie appears on the monument on Wright Hill overlooking the field.

36. H. H. Arnold,
Global Mission
(New York: Harper, 1949), pp. 16–17.

37. Harris,
First to Fly
, pp. 160–162.

38. Arnold,
Global Mission
, pp. 18–19.

39. Harris,
First to Fly
, pp. 160–162.

40. Ibid., p. 161–162.

41. Arnold,
Global Mission
, pp. 19–20.

42. Harris,
First to Fly
, p. 258.

43. Calbraith Perry Rodgers biographical file, Library, National Air and Space Museum.

44. Charles Taylor, “My Story of the Wright Brothers,”
Collier’s
(Dec. 25, 1948).

45.
New York Times
, April 4, 1912.