The Wright brothers considered their flights of 1905 of great importance, and the 1905 plane proved through performance that it was a greatly improved “flyer.” In a report to the Aero Club of America dated March 12, 1906, they said this:
“The object of the 1905 experiments was to determine the cause and discover remedies for several obscure and somewhat rare difficulties which had been encountered in some of the 1904 flights and which it was necessary to overcome before it would be safe to employ flyers for practical purposes. Toward the middle of September, means of correcting the obscure troubles were found and the flyer was at last brought under satisfactory control. From this time forward almost every flight established a new record.” The last flight was the longest of all, lasting for 38 minutes and 3 seconds and covering 24⅕ miles. It ended because of exhaustion of fuel. The gas tank, which held only about a gallon, had, through oversight, not been full before the take-off.
One of the many flights made over Huffman Prairie, just east of Dayton on present site of Wright-Patterson airfields.
The Wright Memorial overlooking Huffman Prairie.
THE WRIGHT MEMORIAL
On a hilltop overlooking Huffman Prairie where the Wright brothers accomplished so much, stands this shaft, made of North Carolina pink granite and erected by the citizens of Dayton in their memory. To the east lies Wright Field, the great government air center named in their honor. The principal bronze plaque tells in a few words the story of their great contribution to the progress of mankind. A smaller tablet records the names of those early flyers who were trained by the Wright brothers. In the simplicity of design and the strength of structure, it reflects the characters of the men it honors.
The report to the Aero Club continued, “The 1905 flyer had a total weight of about 925 pounds, including the operator and was of such substantial construction as to be able to make landings at high speed without being strained or broken. From the beginning the prime object was to devise a machine of practical utility, rather than a useless and extravagant toy.... The favorable results which have been obtained have been due to improvements in flying quality resulting from more scientific design and to improved methods of balancing and steering.... The best dividends on the labor invested have invariably come from seeking more knowledge rather than more power.”
The submission of this report was followed by the adoption of a resolution by the Aero Club commending the Wrights upon their accomplishment. This, it might be said, marked official recognition on the part of the public that the Wrights really had flown. Despite numerous flights made in 1904 and 1905, there was considerable skepticism and grave doubts on the part of most people that flights were being made. In fact, the unwillingness of the world to believe that man could fly was one of the ironies of the Wright story. It was many months before the last doubting Thomas was convinced that practical flight had actually been achieved.