We often receive letters from
young people or their parents asking where the best opportunities for the
future lie. Our answer is that special opportunities do not exist in the
particular industry or profession-they exist within men themselves.
On December 17, 1943 the world
celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first successful flight of a
self-powered airplane - and I can think of no better time to review some of the
highlights in early career of the inventors - the
wright brothers. After you
have heard the simple story of their lives - I wonder if you will think they
were conscious of what Destiny had in store for them?
Wilbur wright was born on a farm
near
Millville, Indiana - in 1867 - and Orville was born four years later in
Dayton, Ohio. Their father was the Reverend Milton Wright. In this period -
just after the Civil war - there were yet no electric lights, telephones or
automobiles, and their home town, Dayton, a typical American town of about
thirty thousand people.
The Wrights were not wealthy people
and the boys had no special advantages, except their home environment. Their
parents encouraged them to investigate aroused their curiosity, but urged them
to try to earn enough to cover the costs of their experiments. The boys tried
many things, and to finance their experiments, they sold kites, folded papers
and collected junks.
When bicycles became the fad, the
Wright boys each saved up enough money to buy one. This was a new field to them
and, after a thorough job of investigation; they went into the bicycle
business. Business grew; they not only sold several makes but repaired them,
and in 1895 even brought out a custom model of their own make – the Van Cleve.
As they read scientific papers,
they ran across an article on
Lilienthal’s glider experiments in Germany. so
they got together all the information they could find about Lilienthal and his
work – they investigated
Chanute’s experiments – and read about Langley. But the
wrights could never be satisfied just reading about these experiments - they
had to try things for themselves. They didn’t let the fact that Lilienthal and
Pilcher had been killed – or that Chanute had quit after a careful study and many
experiments in gliding – prevent them from going ahead. They wanted to fly!
The Wright boys – in 1899 – began
with a biplane kite equipped with wing controls. It is interesting to note
their first man-carrying kite cost them, in actual cash outlay, about $15.00.
As a result of a letter to Chanute – and Weather Bureau reports – they decided
to go to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, for their first experiments.
You probably know the story from
then on – how they made glider after glider – how they fought the weather –
about their accidents – and their inaccurate data. During the next two years,
they visited
Kitty Hawk with new wings, new controls – and collected fact after
fact – until in 1902 they felt they had enough information to build a power
machine. Then began another long year’s experiments on engines; they found that
there was none in existence that met their requirements.
On December 17, 1903, after many
disappointments and weeks of waiting, they made the world’s first successful
flight of a self-powered, heavier-than-air flying machine. Orville was the
pilot. The flight lasted 12 seconds.
These few highlights in the early
life of the Wright brothers can give only a sketchy impression of those two
American pioneers. Perhaps they weren’t ordinary boys – although there was
certainly nothing unusual about their environment. They did not have wealth,
family influence or educational advantages. To me they seemed average American
boys from an average American town. But they had outstanding qualities –
curiosity, persistence, an intense desire to succeed and, above all, they were
self-sufficient. They were encouraged to develop themselves from within and not expect too much help from
without.
I believe if these young people
who write us every year would take the same point of view, they could solve
many of their own problems. I don’t believe anyone outside should tell them
they should be lawyers, doctors or engineers or advise them what business to
get into. Suppose someone had insisted that the Wright boys get into the new automobile
business – the development of the airplane might have been delayed for decades.
Certainly no one, at that time, could have advised them to investigate the
airplane business – there simply wasn’t any.
A young man starting out today
should analyse his own problems, prepare himself, perfect his thinking – and be
ready and willing to face the inevitable failures and discouragements. I would
not depend too much on a fairy god-mother pointing out the Road to success. I
would be more inclined to do some surveying and map making of my own.