7 Wilbur and Orville Wright 7precision machines of wood, wire, and metal tubing was
ideal preparation for the construction of flying machines.
In later years the Wrights dated their fascination with
flight to a small helicopter toy that their father had brought
home from his travels when the family was living in Iowa.
A decade later, they had read accounts of the work of the
German glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal. But it was news
reports of Lilienthal’s death in a glider crash in August
1896 that marked the beginning of their serious interest in
flight. By 1899 the brothers had exhausted the resources
of the local library and had written to the Smithsonian
Institution for suggestions as to further reading in aero-
nautics. The following year they wrote to introduce
themselves to Octave Chanute, a leading civil engineer and
an authority on aviation who would remain a confidant of
the brothers during the critical years from 1900 to 1905.
Early Glider Experiments
The ability of the Wright brothers to analyze a mechanical
problem and move toward a solution was apparent from
the outset of their work in aeronautics. The brothers
realized that a successful airplane would require wings to
generate lift, a propulsion system to move it through the
air, and a system to control the craft in flight. Lilienthal,
they reasoned, had built wings capable of carrying him
in flight, while the builders of self-propelled vehicles
were developing lighter and more powerful internal-
combustion engines. The final problem to be solved, they
concluded, was that of control.
Most aeronautical experimenters up to that time
had sought to develop flying machines incorporating a
measure of inherent stability, so that the aircraft would
tend to fly a straight and level course unless the pilot