I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. Except for my time at Butler University in Indianapolis, I lived in Dayton until I was 26 years old. I loved growing up there. I thought it was the best place in the world. Of course, I wasn’t familiar with too many other locations, as the furthest we ever “vacationed” was Kentucky, or maybe Pennsylvania.
Regardless, there was a sense of pride about it. We had historical landmarks, and famous people, like Jonathan Winters, Martin Sheen, and Erma Bombeck. Heck, Chad Lowe was going to Oakwood High School when I was at C-J. Yeah, yeah. But none have been so notorious as the Wright Brothers. I’ve never really taken the time to “study” them. They always kind of meld into one Flying-Wright kind of figure. But I’m going to make some distinctions, in honor of Orville’s birthday, today, August 19.
They were here in Dayton, on and off. Orville was born here. Wilbur was born in Millville, Indiana. Their father was a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and he traveled often. But because of his Bishop-ness, the Wrights moved around a lot. They moved twelve times before finally returning permanently to Dayton in 1884.
So here is how the Wright Family shapes up, in the way of the kids. Reuchlin (1861–1920), Lorin (1862–1939), Wilbur (1867-1912), twins Otis and Ida (born 1870 and died in infancy), Orville (1871-1948), Katharine (1874–1929).
We all know how the later years went, mostly. I’ll get to those in a minute. But what I’m really interested in is the younger, formative times. First of all, there were seven kids in their family. I know about that because I am the seventh born of seven children. So looking at the family dynamics from afar, I can say without a doubt, that young Katharine Wright was the best and brightest among them.
Wilbur and Orville were in the middle/end of the pack, so they got away with a lot more than the two oldest, Reuchlin and Lorin. And I will say that the older kids have it a bit harder than the younger ones. They are always expected to “look after” the minors, pick them up, carry them here and there. I have been carried around as a child. I know I’ve been dropped, too, by the way. I just have the feeling that my older siblings dropped me a lot. On purpose.
Anyway, back to the Wrights. Wilbur was older. He seemed to be a little more driven and outgoing too. He was even planning on heading to Yale. But then he was playing around one day and got cracked in the face with a hockey stick. Oh sure. It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Well, he did get hurt and was laid up for a while. He got depressed. Skipped college. My guess is that Orville nudged him one day, and said, let’s go build some airplanes. So they did. They had been fascinated with flying since they were very young kids. Their dad, Milton, had brought them home a little toy helicopter that was made of paper and bamboo and cork. They broke it pretty quickly, but they figured out how to build a new one. So as they got older, this all stuck with them.
I won’t go into all their steppy-steps along the way. All the inventions, the print shop, and the bicycle shop. The big date was December 17, 1903. They went down to Kitty Hawk, NC, where there were windy beaches, and they made an attempt to fly. And those Wright brothers succeeded in making the first free, controlled flights of a power-driven airplane. Of four flights they made that day, the longest was 59 seconds, over a distance of 852 feet.
The news of the Wrights’ feat was met with early skepticism. So they had to take their act on the road. Wilbur went to Europe, Orville to Washington, D.C., and between the two of them, they convinced a lot of people to buy their planes. They got rich.
Personally, I think Wilbur was the brains behind the whole deal, and Orville was the “little brother” that was always strapped in as the “test dummy.” I’m the youngest of seven kids. I’ve been the test dummy.
So that’s my take on the Wright Brothers. Happy Birthday, Orville. And to the rest of us? May we always spread our wings and fly.
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“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
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“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
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“The Guide says there is an art to flying”, said Ford, “or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
― Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything
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