Inside the Wright Brothers: Flight Is Possible

Table of Contents

Author’s Preface

Chapter One

The Wright Brothers 1

Chapter Two

Wilbur Wright 1

Chapter Three

Orville Wright 1

Chapter Four

The Wright Brothers 2

Chapter Five

Wilbur Wright 2

Chapter Six

Orville Wright 2

Chapter Seven

The Wright Brothers 3

Chapter Eight

Wilbur Wright 3

Chapter Nine

Orville Wright 3

Chapter Ten

The Wright Brothers 4

Chapter Eleven

Wilbur Wright 4

Chapter Twelve

Orville Wright 4

Chapter Thirteen

The Wright Brothers 5

Chapter Fourteen

Wilbur Wright 5

Chapter Fifteen

Orville Wright 5

Chapter Sixteen

The Wright Brothers 6

About the Author

Author’s Preface

The Story

The story of the Wright Brothers is an amazing blend of the ingredients of two story-telling traditions, combining elements that make the stories of childhood so charming and attractive and the gritty ingredients of the adult stories in which contemporary characters are faced with the challenge of developing a positive response to the often-bewildering complexity of the society that we inhabit in the 20th and 21st Centuries.

Of the two story-telling traditions, the fairy-tale elements of the story are the most familiar. That one of the world’s most astonishing innovations should have been provided for mankind by two bicycle mechanics who lived at home with their father and sister, and who rode their bicycles each day to the bicycle shop in Dayton Ohio, where they engaged in the process of inventing the world’s first airplane, is an amazing story. It has humble, obscure heroes, a happy family, a small-town ambiance, a seemingly-impossible task, and a successful ending: the invention of a machine that divided the entire history of mankind into two eras: Before the Wright Brothers and After the Wright Brothers.

The Ideal Relationship

It was while writing an earlier novel, Pinafore Park, that I began to think about the Wright Brothers story as having a meaning which could provide imagery for some of the ideas that I wished to express. I needed an airplane for an old man to turn into a model as a gift for his estranged son, and looked for model-making instructions in the library. The Wright Flyer presented itself as a logical choice and I did some general reading on the Wright Brothers, whose story I had known from childhood. At one point, while writing about the model-making, I tried to remember which brother had actually been the first human being to fly. It occurred to me – as I wondered why the individual name hadn’t lingered in my memory – that my inability to distinguish between the two Wright Brothers was the point of their story that most appealed to me: I realized that since it was irrelevant to the brothers who was the first to fly, it should also be irrelevant to me; that the brothers took turns – between flying the airplane and working on the ground, rotating their roles with each attempt at human flight – because no matter which one flew first, it would have the same result: the Wright Brothers, as a single entity, would be the first to achieve human, controlled, powered flight. It was this idea about the Wright Brothers – that they are an example of the ideal human relationship – that attracted me to the subject.

The Possibility of a Wright Brothers Novel

Further consideration of this idea about the ideal relationship as a factor in their exceptional creativity led me to decide to write an entire novel on the topic of the Wright Brothers. Though I had no hesitation in deciding to write a novel about the Wright Brothers, once the idea occurred to me, I was aware that the depiction of a ideal relationship at novel length would present difficulties. Novels tend to depend on human conflict as the fuel that drives them. I was unaware of any conflict in the Wright Brothers’ relationship and had no wish to invent any conflict, as that would undermine both the historical reality and the idea about the Wright Brothers which gave me the premise for the novel.

I began my intensive research thinking that perhaps there would be enough dramatic conflict between the Wright Brothers, as a harmonious unit, and the forces which presented difficulties in their attempts to invent the airplane. However, I was unprepared for the drama that my research into the process of the invention and marketing of the airplane was waiting to present to me. Familiarity with the story since childhood, and general reading in adulthood, had made the invention of the world’s first airplane seem to have a fairy-tale ambiance which was divorced from the sweat and anxiety of everyday life. I learned that this assumption of an effortless invention process was a hold-over from the initial response to their accomplishment by the people of the Wright Brothers’ own time. While suitably impressed with the achievement of the Wright Brothers, the people of the early 20th Century remained unaware of the complex process that the Wright Brothers had actually gone through in order to produce such amazing results. The lack of appreciation of the complexity of the invention process was a result of the pronouncements of aviation experts of the time who failed to appreciate the magnitude of the Wright accomplishment for two reasons: an inability to imagine the number and complexity of the challenges that the Wrights had found solutions to; and/or a desire to limit the Wright’s legal hold over their inventions in light of what promised to be a great financial future for the new innovation. In effect, while the public of the early 20th Century marveled at the invention of the airplane, and gave full credit to the Wright Brothers, many aviation expertsassumed that the Wright Brothers’ contribution to the invention process had involved nothing more complicated than a little tinkering with the ideas of those who were better qualified – by education and by academic eminence – to invent the airplane.

True appreciation of the wonder of the Wright Brothers’ contribution to the invention of controlled, human-piloted, powered flight was reserved for the detailed historical and aeronautical researches and studies of our own time. It is here, a century after the Wright Brothers’ accomplishment, that the mythical story – of small-town bicycle mechanics astonishing the world with a feat as impressive as the boy Arthur pulling the sword from the stone – and the modern story of painstaking scientific research and development – of problem, theory, experiment and solution – come together.

The Elements of a Wright Brothers Novel

My intensive reading of the Wright Brothers topic produced a cluster of ideas that I wished to include in my novel:

-that the Wright Brothers’ story presents an example of the ideal relationship; that neither brother would probably have been able to invent the airplane on his own; that the brothers melded two distinct personalities into one extremely efficient personality; that the ideal relationship of the brothers was bolstered by the support of an ideal family;

-that the Wright Brothers’ story properly begins with the first aspirations of mankind; and that it continues through the centuries of our collective experience at the highest level of human endeavor;

-that the brothers faced a host of unprecedented challenges in the invention of the airplane: that they encountered mysteries of natural phenomena which no one had ever encountered previously; that they devised technological solutions that were in harmony with these natural phenomena;

-that the process of the invention of the airplane was a blending of a technological achievement and a highly-creative, imaginative act; that this act was at the highest level of artistic accomplishment: an attempt to create an artifact as a response to an idea that the brothers developed about life itself;

-that the creation of this artifact – what we would call an artistic installation – was produced by pressures on the brothers, both benevolent and threatening, pressures which found expression in the airplane as a product of the response-to-life process which takes place in the minds of all creative artists;

-that the brothers faced opposition in their attempt to demonstrate, promote and market their invention; that the seeming-ease with which two small-town bicycle mechanics surpassed the wise men of past ages and the best scientific minds of their own age threatened to undermine the appreciation of the magnitude of their achievement; that the rivalry of other inventors and the peculiarity of the patent system threatened their legal control over the fruits of their invention;

-that my imaginary version of the Wright Brothers would have many layers in their thoughts, which would range all the way from the ancient stories of the dream of flight to the size of bolts that would be needed to secure the wings of their invention to the undercarriage; that these thoughts would range from the barely-conscious to the fully-conscious; that these levels of thought would be distinct, while also being contemporaneous and interactive.

The Structure of the Novel: Major Cycles

The question of how to present these ideas in novel form led to the idea of a three-character structure, composed of three alternating major cycles:

-a Wright Brothers cycle, in which the two brothers think as one person, though they are physically separate, of course, and in which they forge ahead with the great confidence that their ideal relationship allows them; in this cycle, despite the challenges that had baffled the best minds of the entire history of the world and the best educated and financially-backed scientists of their own time, the Wright Brothers move ahead, systematically, through the complex process of the invention of the world’s first piloted, controlled, powered airplane;

-the Wilbur Wright cycle, in which Wilbur travels alone to France in order to demonstrate the new invention to military and civilian interests, without the help of Orville, whom he has come to rely on to supply the deficiencies in his own make-up; despite the doubts, fears and obstacles that Wilbur Wright encounters, he manages to demonstrate the new invention successfully and win the adulation of the crowds; however, despite his triumph, Wilbur Wright is faced with scepticism as to the credit that the Wright Brothers should receive and a patent challenge from other inventors; while waiting for Orville to come to France, and in order to gain strength for the battles ahead, Wilbur Wright reviews his entire life up to that point, a process which produces the text of the Wilbur Wright and Wright Brothers cycles;

-the Orville Wright cycle, in which Orville travels to Washington to demonstrate the new invention to the American army; Orville too suffers doubts and difficulties, due to the separation from the brother with whom he has lived and worked as one person for the last ten years; Orville Wright, too, perseveres and demonstrates the new invention to cheering crowds, but, due to the lack of the thoroughness which the partnership of the Wright Brothers provided, Orville suffers a major accident in which the first airplane casualty occurs; while traveling to France to meet his brother, Orville, too, reviews his life up to that point, and gains strength for the battles ahead; his review provides the Orville Wright and Wright Brothers cycles of the novel.

In the final chapter of the novel, the two individual brothers cycles – the Wilbur Wright cycle and Orville Wright cycle – meld into the Wright Brothers cycle, as the fused personality of the Wright Brothers is restored. After being forced, by necessity, to demonstrate their new invention as individuals, and to suffer the lack of completeness in their preparations that the double-personality had allowed for, the brothers come together again with the confidence that they had been able to rely on at Kitty Hawk, in 1903, to face the future as the unified and supremely creative personality that we know as the Wright Brothers.

It was this three-fold drama – of the brothers together and successful, in 1903; of the brothers apart and facing doubts and opposition, in 1908-1909; and of the brothers together again, in 1909, and confident that the successes of 1903 can be repeated again in the situation that they are facing beyond 1909 – that gave me the structure of the three rotating major cycles and the final, blended-chapter.

The Structure of the Novel: Minor Cycles

I decided that I would have a series of minor cycles, which would be included within the major cycles, and which would help me to illustrate the cluster of ideas that I mentioned above as containing the essence of the meaning of the Wright Brothers’ story as I wished to tell it:

-minor cycles of the ideal relationship which exists between the two brothers and their family:

-minor cycles of the environments – of Kitty Hawk and Dayton, Washington and France – in which the brothers live and work;

-minor cycles of competition with other inventors such as Professor Langley and Glenn Curtiss;

-minor cycles of the opposition to the successful completion and acceptance of their life’s work:

-a minor cycle of the relationship with their early mentor, Octave Chanute, the engineer whose help and advice at first encourages their efforts and later threatens their accomplishment;

-a number of minor cycles of the history of the dream of human flight, from the early folk stories, through Leonardo da Vinci, and on to the pioneering inventors of their own day;

-and two very important minor cycles – of experiment and of technical mastery – in the invention of the airplane.

The form of the novel was devised as a means of presenting the meaning of the Wright Brothers story as I understand it: the formation of the ideal human relationship allows the Wright Brothers to turn their wonder at the complexity of the universe into the achievement of a creative act which commands the wonder of all of mankind, and reveals the heights that are within the reach of human endeavor.

In Search of Form and Meaning VII

The Making of Inside the Wright Brothers

During the writing of Inside the Wright Brothers: Flight is Possible, as I have for each of my novels, I kept a record of my progress through the certainties and uncertainties of the creative process. Each note of the journal is a result of asking myself the two questions which drove the project: what have I accomplished so far, and, what do I need to do next in order to move the project forward?

Inside the Wright Brothers, novel and journal, are the seventh in a series of companion books which explore the concept of form and meaning in the novel. Each journal is a chapter-by chapter record of the crafting of a particular novel, as an author considers a series of technical and thematic questions and decisions. Included are reflections on the creative process whereby an idea – often beginning as merely a word or a phrase – is expanded, structured and developed through the planning, writing, editing and polishing stages to emerge as a finished work of art. A list of the novels and journals is printed at the back of this book. For more details, see www.johnpassfield.ca.

John Passfield

Cayuga Ontario

June 2006

Chapter One

The Wright Brothers 1

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

December 17, 1903

Morning at Kitty Hawk.

Thursday, December 17th, 1903 - today, perhaps, is the day that we will fly - much later, by a couple of months, than we ever thought we’d be - bad weather too - clear and cold isn’t too bad, but listen to that wind - coming from the north - must be twenty or twenty-five miles an hour at least - the roar of the waves as they break on the shore - the ocean is angry today - the wind must be thirty miles an hour off-shore to make those waves - and coming from the north means its extra cold.

Prometheus was torn and bleeding. He brushed aside the brambles and stumbled on loose rock. There was no moonlight to alleviate the darkness, but he knew where there was a glow that could be seen.

Very seldom did he venture out in the dark.

He could not see past his elbows. He held his hands out to protect his eyes. The brambles slashed and scratched him, but he stumbled and grunted on. He was determined to get to a spot where he knew he would be able to see the distant glow.

How will man fly? Will his wings flap or glide? How is he to steer? How will he stay stable in the air? What will power this strange machine that he seeks to invent? What will propel this machine forward through the air?

If man is ever going to fly, it must be by a process of problem-theory-test-and-solution, not of trial-and-error. Trial-and-error is a process that has been followed for a hundred years. It is a process that, so far, has not been successful. To build a set of wings on a guess, and hope that the strange machine will fly, is a great mistake. To build and test two hundred wings, for instance, one summer at a time, would obviously take two hundred years.

Octave Chanute left Kitty Hawk a month ago. After forty years of yearning for man to rise above the earth and fly, he complained that Kitty Hawk in December would be far too cold for him to stay.

He went home to where he could sit and read by the fire.

December 1903. The Seventeenth day of December. A cold day at Kitty Hawk, with winter coming on. Strong winds and cold air. Ice on the puddles and a crust on top of the sand. Dampness seeping into the blankets and the clothes.

The attempt to fly is certainly important, but Christmas is approaching. A difficult choice to make, perhaps, but we are determined that we will do both: be the first human beings to fly, and do it in time to spend Christmas Day at home.

Data/ technical terms/ numbers/ equations/ the water we swim in; the air we breathe/ an envelope of creativity that surrounds us/ a cloud of terminology/ a mist of numbers, theories and concepts that we breathe into our lungs and into our bloodstream/ the element that we live in/ the element in which we will continue to live until we have mastered the age-old secret of human flight.

Pitch and yaw and roll/ rise and fall of nose and tail/ degree of turn about a vertical axis/ turn about a longitudinal axis/