by James Tobin
“You have done what no one”: Gardiner Hubbard to SPL, 4/27/1897, Box 36, RU 7003, SIA.
“I have passed sixty years”: SPL, draft of letter to Gardiner Hubbard, 4/28/1897, “Private Wastebook,” 1888–1894 [sic], NASM/SI archives, 476–78. Several days later, Langley consented to meet with a patent attorney sent by Hubbard. “I told him I was not expecting to take out patents, yet was enquiring at the urging of friends whether the thing was patentable. That I knew that almost anything could be patented and did not doubt that no end of patents could be secured here. What I wanted to know was whether they would probably be worth anything.” The upshot of the exchange is unknown, but it appears that Langley never followed through. SPL, entry of 5/4/1897, “Private Wastebook,” 1888–1894 [sic], 482, NASM archives.
“If anyone were to put”: SPL to OC, 6/8/1897, Chanute papers, LC.
Chanute offered encouragement: OC to SPL, 6/11/1897, letterbooks, Chanute papers, LC.
“a collection of church steeples”: quoted in Cynthia R. Field, Richard E. Stamm, and Heather P. Ewing, The Castle: An Illustrated History of the Smithsonian Building (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993), 122.
“Speed, then, is indispensable here”: SPL, “The ‘Flying-Machine,’” 650.
“Swift Camilla”: SPL, “The ‘Flying-Machine,’” 650.
“anyone who is disposed”: SPL to OC, 12/[?]/1897, Chanute papers, LC.
“I know of nobody”: OC to SPL, 12/11/1897, letterbooks, Chanute papers, LC.
“an athletic, breezy type of man”: Charles G. Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science (Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1958), 97.
That morning, after discussion: SPL-Walcott meeting of 3/21/1898, “Memorandum of conversation with Mr. Walcott,” 3/21/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
Walcott moved with astonishing speed: Memoranda, 3/25/1898, 3/28/1898, 3/30/1898, 3/31/1898, 4/2/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
The President was much pleased: Memorandum, 3/28/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
“The machine has worked”: Quoted in Archibald D. Turnbull and Clifford L. Lord, History of United States Naval Aviation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1949), 1.
He “was by no means eager”: SPL’s meeting with aerodrome advisory committee, “Memorandum,” 4/6/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
no financial interest: SPL to Stimson Brown, 4/16/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA. Langley’s letter suggests he made this assertion to members of the advisory committee during their visit to the Smithsonian on 4/6/1898.
For the committee’s report said: Committee’s report on feasibility of Langley’s manned aerodrome project, successive drafts of the report, including SPL’s recommended changes, appear in Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
“the gentlemen. . .are honorable”: Paul Beckwith to SPL, 6/10/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
“Have you any young man”: SPL to R.H. Thurston, in Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 31.
Manly came from an old Virginia family: C. B. Veal, “Manly, The Engineer,” S.A.E. Journal, April 1939.
The secretary began by emphasizing: SPL’s meeting with Board of Ordnance and Fortification, 11/9/1898, SPL, “Memorandum of verbal statements made to the Board of Ordnance & Fortification,” 11/9/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA. These remarks are quoted from Langley’s memorandum, written on the day of the meeting, about his presentation to the Board of Ordnance and Fortification. I have altered verbs to the tenses Langley would have used in his spoken remarks before the board.
That afternoon, the board agreed: BOF’s approval of SPL’s funding request, “Extract from Proceedings of Board of Ordnance and Fortification,” 11/9/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
Someone at the War Department: Press stories of BOF’s allotment to SPL, “Flying Machines in War,” Washington Post, 11/11/1898; “Flying Machines in War,” New York Times, 11/11/1899.
“I could not undertake”: SPL to I. N. Lewis, 11/12/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
“fullest discretion”: Telegram, I. N. Lewis to SPL, 12/16/1898, Langley scrapbook, 1897–98, RU 7003, SIA.
“the flying-machine has always been”: “Wait for the Flying-machine,” Washington Post, 11/14/1898.
Langley, confident of his purpose: Robert B. Meyer Jr., ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971), 7, 29–35.
Chapter Two: “A Slight Possibility”
“because those he otherwise harmonized with”: H. A. Thompson, Our Bishops (Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House, 1904), 527.
As a boy in the 1840s: For MW’s background, education, and early ministry, see Daryl Melvin Elliott, “Bishop Milton Wright and the Quest for a Christian America,” Ph.D. dissertation, Drew University, 1992, 12–107; Tom D. Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright (New York: Norton, 1989), 23–43.
Milton sharpened all his: MW’s views on slavery, Elliot dissertation, “Bishop Milton Wright . . . ,” 86–94.
“steady, continued and systematic investigation”: Thompson, Our Bishops, 535.
“a man of strong convictions”: Thompson, Our Bishops, 527.
Worst of all about the secret: Antisecrecy views of MW and United Brethren, Elliott dissertation, “Bishop Milton Wright . . . ,” 167–81.
As Eddie and Orville listened: WW’s faked phonograph speech, Fred C. Kelly, “Traits of the Wright Brothers,” Technology Review, June 1949, 505.
Among other sports: John R. MacMahon, The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1930), 41.
They made plans for him: MW, “Wilbur Wright Born in Henry County,” New Castle (Ind.) Daily Times, 6/11/1909, scrapbooks, WBP, LC.
classes in trigonometry and Greek: Fred Howard, Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers (New York: Knopf, 1987), 5.
But an accident intruded: There is no contemporary account of the injury except MW’s brief diary reference (see next note), though even that entry was recorded months after the fact, and in any case, MW was away from home at the time of the injury. Much later, MW described the injury and the “nervous palpitations of the heart” briefly in a newspaper article, “Wilbur Wright Born in Henry County,” New Castle (Ind.) Daily Times, 6/11/1909, scrapbooks, WBP, LC. Tom D. Crouch notes the uncertainty of the timing, in The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright (New York: Norton, 1989), 74–75. John R. McMahon, whose account was based on interviews with family members, not including WW, describes the accident and mentions “a long period of delicate health if not semi-invalidism, with a diet confined to liquids, eggs and toast. It seemed to every one that the boy was handicapped for life,” The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1930), 49–50. Fred C. Kelly, who interviewed OW extensively in later life, refers to “a heart disorder from which he did not completely recover for several years,” The Wright Brothers (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1943), 26.
“Wilbur’s health was restored”: Diary entry of 12/31/1886, Bishop Milton Wright, Diaries: 1857–1917 (Dayton, Ohio: Wright State University Libraries, 1999), 261.
“might be time and money wasted”: WW to MW, 9/12/1894, FC, WBP, LC.
“a declining, not a suffering invalid”: MW, “Wilbur Wright Born in Henry County,” New Castle (Ind.) Daily Times, 6/11/1909, scrapbooks, WBP, LC.
catch her breath: Lorin Wright to MW, 11/23/1885, FC, WBP, LC.
She was very bright: Susan Wright’s intelligence, skill at math, McMahon, Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight, 15–16, 22–23.
“adapting household tools”: Kelly, Wright Brothers, 26.
“with a faithfulness”: MW, “Wilbur Wright Born in Henry County,” New Castle (Ind.) Daily Times, 6/11/1909, scrapbooks, WBP, LC.
“What does Will do?” LW to KW, 11/12/1888, FC, WBP,
LC.
helped his father with church business: Howard, Wilbur and Orville, 5.
“perhaps nearly equaled”: MW, “Wilbur Wright Born in Henry County,” New Castle (Ind.) Daily Times, 6/11/1909, scrapbooks, WBP, LC.
Traveling in Europe: Ivonette Wright Miller, comp., Wright Reminiscences.
After eight years: Battle between Brethren “Radicals” and “Liberals,” Crouch, Bishop’s Boys, 51–52, 60–69, 78–82; Elliott dissertation, “Bishop Milton Wright . . . ,” 186–252.
“They try to smile”: WW to MW, 10/10/1892, 10/10/1892, FC, WBP, LC. For an example of WW’s early argumentative style, see his pamphlet, “Scenes in the Church Commission,” 1888, file 4, box 8, WBC, WSU. A characteristic passage expresses Wilbur’s view of the Church Commission’s refusal to meet in public. “We were, of course, greatly disappointed, but we could offer no reasonable objection, for it seemed entirely proper, and indeed fitting, that a body meeting to legislate secrecy in, should also legislate in secret.”
When he was seventeen: OW’s printing press, Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 96.
It was a big operation: Charlotte K. and August E. Brunsman, “Wright & Wright, Printers: The ‘Other’ Career of Wilbur and Orville,” Printing History, vol. X, no. 1, 1988, 2.
Soon he started a small: Wright brothers as printers, Crouch, The Bishop’s Boys, 93–103.
Dayton had become: Dayton as a center of manufacturing and invention, Mark Bernstein, Grand Eccentrics: Turning the Century: Dayton and the Inventing of America (Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press, 1996), 15–18.
But it was a great craze: Robert A. Smith, A Social History of the Bicycle (New York: American Heritage Press, 1972), 17–47.
“I have been thinking”: Renewed college plan, WW to MW, 9/12/1894, FC, WBP, LC.
“Yes,” he replied: MW to WW, 9/15/1894, FC, WBP, LC.
“Learn all you can about housework”: MW to KW, 10/15/1887.
“You have a good mind”: MW to KW, 5/30/1888, FC, WBP, LC.
“But for you,” Milton told: MW to KW, 8/9/1899, FC, WBP, LC.
She referred to it in a letter: KW to Henry J. Haskell, 6/16/1925, Katharine Wright Haskell papers, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri-Kansas City (hereafter KWH papers.)
She persuaded herself: KW to Henry J. Haskell, 6/16/1925, KWH papers.
“was briefly attracted by one of the girls”: John R. McMahon, The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1930), 40–41.
“Orv used to say it was up to Will”: Charles E. Taylor, as told to Robert S. Ball, “My Story of the Wright Brothers,” Collier’s Weekly, 12/25/1948, reprinted in Jakab and Young, eds., Published Writings, 289–90.
“there was a reason”: KW to Henry J. Haskell, 6/22/1925, KWH papers.
“putting up the swings”: Thomas R. Coles, “The ‘Wright Boys’ as a School-Mate Knew Them,” Out West, January 1910, 36–38 [typescript copy in E.I. #186, “Greenfield Village Buildings—Wright Cycle Shop,” collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village Research Center.
Raised in the suburbs: Lilienthal’s background and early experiments, introductory essay by Gustav Lilienthal in Otto Lilienthal, Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1911), xi–xxiv.
the act was photographed: Lilienthal photographs as innovation, John D. Anderson, Jr., Introduction to Flight: Its Engineering and History (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978), 18.
“No one can realize”: Article about Lilienthal, “Vernon,” “The Flying Man: Otto Lilienthal’s Flying Machine,” McClure’s Magazine, September 1894, 323–31.
“It is a difficult task”: Otto Lilienthal, “Practical Experiments in Soaring,” Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the Year Ending June 30, 1893 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894), 197.
“like a prophet crying”: WW, “What Mouillard Did,” in Published Writings, 172.
“O! blind humanity!”: Mouillard, “The Empire of the Air: An Ornithological Essay on the Flight of Birds,” Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1893, 397.
“must thoroughly know”: Mouillard, “Empire of the Air,” 413.
“The evolution of the flying machine”: Lilienthal, “Practical Experiments in Soaring.”
“I feel well convinced”: Mouillard, “Empire of the Air,” 398.
“continual practice”: Lilienthal, “Practical Experiments in Soaring.”
Octave Chanute, too: Octave Chanute, Progress in Flying Machines (New York:The American Engineer and Railroad Journal, 1894), 257.
“rocked its body”: WW testimony, appearing as Appendix G, Aeronautical Journal, July-September 1916, 118.
“it tilted so that”: WW testimony, appearing as Appendix G, Aeronautical Journal, July–September 1916, 118.
Gear idea for shifting angles of wings: OW deposition, 1/13/20, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 8.
cardboard box: Deposition of OW, 1/13/1920, McFarland, ed., Papers, vol. 1, 8.
Will built a kite: OW deposition, McFarland, ed., vol. 1, Papers, vol. 1, 10–11.
Chapter Three: “Some Practical Experiments”
Samuel Langley enjoyed: J. Gordon Vaeth, Langley: Man of Science and Flight (New York: Ronald Press Co., 1966), 61.
“ ‘dim religious light’”: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 31; SPL to Richard Rathbun, 3/30/1900, box 56, RU 31, SIA.
“it is expected to be”: SPL, “Preliminary Report of Progress of Work on Account of the Board of Ordnance & Fortification, from January 1, 1899 to October 14, 1899,” box 96, RU 31, SIA. Langley recorded further details of work completed to this date in his entry of 10/8/1899, Aerodromics 26, Private Wastebook 1898–1903, NASM archive.
Then Langley led his guests: BOF’s inspection of 11/21/1899, Charles Manly’s waste book entry, 11/21/1899, in Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 55.
With his original allotment: SPL learns of actual 1898 allotment, SPL, entry of 10/8/1899, Aerodromics 26, Private Wastebook 1898–1903, NASM archive, SI.
By January, the original: BOF allotment runs out and is replenished, Richard Rathbun to SPL, 1/12/1900, box 45; I. N. Lewis to SPL, 1/22/1900, box 43, RU 31, SIA.
“practically no means”: Memorandum, Manly to SPL, 1/15/1900, in Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 59.
“integrity of purpose”: Manly to SPL, 2/24/1900, box 45, RU 31, SIA.
“I have had to practically guarantee”: Manly to Balzer, 1/10/1900, in Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 57.
“was often unfairly impatient”: C. G. Abbot, “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 92, no. 8 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1934), 2.
“Same old nervous driving energy”: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 14.
“Do you know why the Secretary never married?”: Cyrus Adler, I Have Considered the Days (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1941), 250.
The secretary wanted work done: SPL’s high standards of craftsmanship, Tom D. Crouch, A Dream of Wings: Americans and the Airplane, 1875–1905 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981), 147–48.
“William, my hat!”: C. G. Abbot, “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 92, no. 8 (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1934), 3.
“I used to have cold shivers”: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 27.
“It’s correct already”: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 27.
Virtually no one but Langley: SPL in his own home, Andrew Dickson White, “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” in “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, part of Vol. XLIX (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1907), 23–24. Little evidence survives to shed light on Langley’s home in northwest Washington. In this memorial after Langley’s death, White said: “[H]e lived in remarkable seclusion, not accessible in his own home save to very few.”
“our friends the reporters”: SPL to W. Hallett Phillips, box 17, RU 7003, SIA.
By his order only three: SPL’s keys to the Castle, Richard Rathbun to SPL, 12/1/1903, box 56, RU 31, SIA.
“a sort of holy place”: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 32.
he often displayed the awkwardness: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 14, 32.
“not only revered, but loved”: White, Andrew Dickson, “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” in “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. XLIX (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1907), 23–24.
“shell of hauteur”: C. G. Abbot, “Samuel Pierpont Langley,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 92, no. 8 (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1934), 2.
“his longing for friendship”: Helen Waldo Burnside to Cyrus Adler, 2/12/1907, box 22b, RU 7003, SIA.
Bell’s closest friend: Robert V. Bruce, Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973), 313.
“a staunch friend,” “a great man”: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 15–16.
Langley offered to house: Sarah F. I. Goode to SPL [undated copy], box 22b, RU 7003, SIA.
the secretary quietly cut up: Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science, 16.
“his habit, when he once trusted a man”: remarks of Charles Walcott in untitled manuscript report of remarks made at Smithsonian Institution upon SPL’s death, 3/1/1906, box 14, RU 7003, SIA.
His aides made Langley’s quest: Aides’ commitment to SPL’s aerodrome enterprise; concern for SPL’s and Smithsonian’s reputation, Adler, I Have Considered the Days, 187–88.
“with the utmost speed”: SPL, “Experiments With the Langley Aerodrome,” Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1905 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905), 114.
“strain every point”: Balzer to Manly, in Manly to SPL, 7/9/1899, in Meyer, Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 41.
Manly spoke up for Balzer: Manly to SPL, 2/21/1900, box 45, RU 31, SIA.
“I desire to say”: Stephen Balzer to SPL, 3/1/1900, box 11, RU 31, SIA.
“very uneasy”: Manly to Balzer, 3/20/1900, in Meyer, ed., Langley’s Aero Engine of 1903, 61.
