7 Wilbur and Orville Wright 7With the new aircraft that they would fly in America
and France ready for assembly, the Wright brothers returned
to the Kill Devil Hills in May 1908, where they made 22
flights with their old 1905 machine, modified with upright
seating and hand controls. On May 14, Wilbur carried aloft
the first airplane passenger—mechanic Charles Furnas.
Wilbur then sailed to France, where he captured the
European imagination with his first public flight; this took
place over the Hunaudières Race Course near Le Mans on
Aug. 8, 1908. During the months that followed, the elite of
the continent traveled to watch Wilbur fly at Le Mans and
Pau in France and at Centocelle near Rome.
Orville began the U.S. Army trials at Fort Myer, Va.,
with a flight on Sept. 3, 1908. Fourteen days later a split
propeller precipitated a crash that killed his passenger, Lt.
Thomas E. Selfridge, and badly injured the pilot. During
the course of his recovery, Orville and his sister Katharine
visited Wilbur in Europe. Together, the brothers returned
to Fort Myer to complete the Army trials in 1909. Having
exceeded the required speed of 40 miles (65 km) per hour,
the Wrights earned a bonus of $5,000 beyond the $25,000
contract price.
Following the successful Fort Myer trials, Orville trav-
eled to Germany, where he flew at Berlin and Potsdam.
Wilbur made several important flights as part of New York
City’s Hudson-Fulton Celebration, then went to College
Park, Md., where he taught the first three U.S. Army
officers to fly.
Going into Business
In November 1909 the Wright Company was incorpo-
rated with Wilbur as president, Orville as one of two vice
presidents, and a board of trustees that included some of
the leaders of American business. The Wright Company