The Wright brothers with the 1904 Flyer II |
The Wright brothers never wanted an exhibition team. They saw themselves as
scientists first, businessmen second, and certainly never as showmen. With
their successful first flight of 1903, they had proved that flight was
possible. Working in secret on a series of machines through 1905, they had
established the scientific principles of flight, and laid the foundation for
all aeronautical engineering to follow. But as earnest experimenters in
France and the United States had struggled into the air, the Wrights' claims
were put in doubt. They unveiled their creation in 1908, astonishing the
world with the magnificent control of their machines, and obliterating any
doubt of their supremacy in the air. They founded the Wright Company and
began selling airplanes.
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