Orville Wright with army officer during highly successful flights at Fort Myer, Virginia.
In December, 1908, Orville and his sister, Katherine, went to Europe to join Wilbur. The weather at Le Mans where Wilbur had been flying became unsuitable for further flights and operations were transferred to Pau in southern France. Here Orville and Katherine joined Wilbur. Many flights were made and many distinguished visitors came to see the modern miracle of human flight.
Honors were heaped upon the Wrights. They received among many other distinctions, the gold medal of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and the Aero Club of the United Kingdom. The French Aero Club of the Sarthe gave them a bronze trophy. Later the Aero Club of America bestowed medals on the flyers. A few weeks afterward, President Taft received the Wrights at the White House and the brothers returned to Dayton where a tumultuous welcome awaited them.
Wilbur flies low over spectators’ carriages at Pau, France.
Welcome home!
Main Street and Third on day of great Homecoming Celebration, June 17, 1909.
Probably nothing stirred the Wrights quite so deeply as their welcome when they returned to Dayton from their foreign triumphs. The “homecoming” lasted two days, June 17 and 18, 1909. Whistles blew, bands played, bells rang, men, women and children paraded. During the celebration practically all business in Dayton was suspended.
