THE WRIGHT WAY

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.