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THE 456th FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR SQUADRON |
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THE PROTECTORS OF S. A. C. |
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The Wright Aircraft Company |
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While Katharine oversaw the operations at Hawthorn Hill, Orville turned his attention to The Wright Company. When Wilbur died, Orville, against his desires, became president of the company. While Wilbur had not been fond of assuming a management position in the company, he worked hard to achieve success. Orville, like Wilbur, was not interested in management but, unlike Wilbur, he also had no desire to rise to the challenge. Tom Crouch described the differences between the two brothers as follows:
Orville had almost none of his brother's restless ambition nor the energy and drive to succeed that came with it. Alone with his friends he was a delightful conversationalist; among strangers he grew silent and withdrawn. He had few illusions about his capacity for leadership. The thought of attending a board meeting, let alone presiding at one, was abhorrent to him.
Despite Orville's desire not to become president of The Wright Company, he found it necessary. By accepting the position, he could control the bulk of his investments while continuing to support the patent suits at company expense. In fact, Orville's dedication to the patent litigation decreased his available time to continue aeronautical research and become further involved in the company operations. As had Wilbur, he spent the majority of his time fighting to preserve the brothers' patent.
While Orville was president of The Wright Company, he only occasionally worked at his office in the manufacturing building. Instead, he chose to work at the old bicycle shop at 1127 West Third. He also retained Mabel Beck, who previously worked for Wilbur, as secretary. Within Orville's first year in management, he instigated change by firing the factory manager, Frank Russell, whom he had never particularly liked. Grover Loening, a recent graduate of Columbia University, was hired to replace Russell in July 1913.
When he arrived in Dayton, Loening quickly discovered that Orville was more interested in research rather than the business end of The Wright Company. Letters needing prompt attention were forwarded from the factory to Orville's office in the old bicycle shop and then remained unanswered for up to several weeks. In response, Loening began answering some of the letters himself, at least with a brief acknowledgment. While initially expecting Orville to be furious at his intrusion, Loening believed that he appreciated the assistance.
Loening found that Orville's personality became vastly different when conducting a flight test from when he was in the office. More in his element flying an airplane than in the office, Orville became more decisive and happier. His tendency to procrastinate that was so prevalent in his daily business activities and decision making processes disappeared.
Another sign of how little Orville enjoyed taking over the business end of the airplane company was his reluctance to travel. Pained by sciatica from the Fort Myer accident, he found travel to be bothersome. The movement of trains tended to aggravate his injuries, and he preferred to stay in Dayton in the comfort of his own home and surroundings. Despite his wishes, as president of a company and a central figure in the patent litigation, Orville was required frequently to travel.
After much effort on the part of the Wright brothers in order to prepare for the case, Judge Hazel handed down his final decision in Wright v. Curtiss on February 27,1913. He upheld the Wrights' position and Curtiss was barred from manufacturing, selling, or exhibiting aircraft. Curtiss immediately appealed the decision and the ban was rescinded until the Federal Appeals Court ruled on the case. The court's decision was handed down on January 13, 1914. In agreeing with Judge Hazel's ruling, the court finally brought an end to the five-year fight that Wilbur and Orville had concentrated on so intensely.
With a favorable decision in Wright v. Curtiss, the stockholders in The Wright Company began discussing how to collect royalties and operate the company that now had sole authority to manufacture and sell airplanes. The decision opened the way for a legal monopoly such as had been awarded to the Bell Telephone Company, but differences developed between the New York stock holders and Orville. Against a monopoly, Orville announced that everyone, with the exception of Curtiss, would be free to operate their businesses as before as long as they paid a twenty percent royalty to The Wright Company.
Now that the patent war was over and still discontent as a businessman, Orville began to purchase all the stock from The Wright Company stockholders in the spring of 1914. This was a risk for Orville to take, for most of his own capital was tied up in The Wright Company, and he had to borrow money to make the purchases. Finally, he bought them all out except Robert Collier who was a personal friend and supported Orville's business decisions.
Once he held the majority of stock, Orville's indecision that had been characteristic of his management style over the last two years vanished. His first action was to file a suit against the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Curtiss had uncovered a loophole in the Federal Appeals Court decision and was manufacturing airplanes that operated with one aileron at a time. Orville had discouraged The Wright Company board from taking action against Curtiss, but once he was in command, he had no hesitations. Orville devoted the next several months to working with the company lawyers and preparing depositions for the case. In addition, Orville also devoted his time to applying for an additional patent that incorporated changes and improvements developed on the airplane since 1906.
With action taken on these two projects, Orville took the final step in his plan and put The Wright Company up for sale. In what proved to be the best example of Orville's business sense, he expertly handled negotiations with a group of interested New York financiers, and a deal was signed on October 15, 1915. Although the amount of the purchase was not disclosed, the New York Times reported that Orville received about $1.5 million. In addition, he would serve as chief consulting engineer for the first year of the new company's operations for a salary of $25,000. Orville did little to earn his consultant salary over the next year and the contract was not renewed. The final connection between Orville and the company he and Wilbur founded five years earlier was now gone. No longer did Orville need to worry about patent fights or the business matters that he so disliked.
During the Wright brothers’ demonstration flights in Europe in 1909, they met the wealthy businessman J.P. Morgan. Later that year, Morgan introduced the Wrights to a group of New York financiers who were interested in backing the fledgling aviation industry. These investors helped the Wright brothers establish the Wright Company, which was founded in November 1909. In January 1910, the Wright Company set up a factory in Dayton, Ohio.
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The Wright Company |
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The incorporation papers of the Wright Company -- one of the many treasures in the rediscovered documents.
Amazing as it seems, the original buildings built by the Wright brothers in 1910 to manufacture airplanes are still standing and they are in relatively good shape. Unfortunately, they aren't open to the public. They are still in use as a manufacturing facility, part of the Delphi plant, a maker of automobile parts. (Until recently, Delphi was part of General Motors.) The Delphi management is aware of and appreciates this valuable heritage.
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The Wright Aircraft Company |
Today, when people think of cities where airplanes are produced, they think of Seattle, St. Louis and Ft. Worth. They don’t think of Dayton where the Wright Brothers designed and produced the first successful airplane.At one time the Wright Brothers did produce airplanes in Dayton. This is that story.
Wright Company
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The Wright Company building as they stand in the middle of the Delphi plant.
The Wrights established the Wright Company in 1909. Their first factory was located about two miles from their bicycle shop. Wilbur in a letter to Octave Chanute, announcing the formation of the company, said "that we will devote most of our time to experimental work." Unfortunately, it would not work out that way.
It was a small factory with some dozen employees. They temporarily rented manufacturing space at the Speedwell Motor Car plant until a new factory building was completed in November 1910. The Speedwell site was located at Wisconsin and Miami Chapel Streets in West Dayton. The building no longer exists. The Model B airplane was first built in this building.
The new manufacturing factory was built on West Third St. where it is now part of the Delphi manufacturing complex. The original Wright buildings are still there and can be viewed through the entrance gate. The white buildings have a distinctive curved roofline which at one time served as the logo of the Inland Manufacturing Co. which owned them at the time.
The factory had the capacity to produce four airplanes per month, a capacity greater than any other airplane factory in the world. One of the employee incentives was to provide each man with a pound box of chocolates for Christmas.
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Orville's old office in Building one
The planes were not cheap at $7,500 for each fully equipped machine. But, even at that price, demand exceeded supply.
Students at the Wrights’ flight school conducted at Huffman Prairie bought many of the planes. Huffman Prairie was the location of the Wrights early experimental flights in Dayton after their successful first-flight at Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903. It is now located on the grounds of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and is a national historical park.
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The Wright Factory, Model "B" Production
The photograph was taken in the factory and shows the engine department. Note the Vertical Four engines in production and the pistons on the floor.The planes would be loaded onto an old horse drawn hay wagon at the factory and transferred to Huffman Prairie at midnight to avoid crowds and their jostling. In total, nine new types of planes were tested at Huffman.
Most of the flight instruction was delegated to others and cost $60 an hour. Orville, who was in charge of pilot training, would visit at times to check up on how things were going. He would sometimes ask students if they had done any "mushroom hunting." Mushroom hunting referred to flying low to the ground. Orville believed that low flying showed up mistakes quickly.
Vertical Four Engines being made in the Wright factory
Image credit: Wright State UniversityTheir most famous flying student was Hap Arnold, who later commanded the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. He reportedly soloed after only three hours, forty-eight minutes of flying time.
Although Wilbur was president of the company, Orville was the brother that kept the closest surveillance over the factory operations. Wilbur was busy fighting violations of their 1906 patent.
The Wright factory in Dayton, Ohio, was a far cry from the modest bicycle shop where their first engines were made. A fully equipped department produced engines, most of which were used in the Model "B", the most popular of the Wrights' designs. Serial numbers as high as 67 have been recorded, and it is possible that the factory produced over 100 engines. The factory was in operation under the Wrights' ownership from 1910-1915.
The Wright Company Papers
Fill the Gaps
What's in the Wright Company documents that makes them so valuable? You can't tell the complete story of early aviation without them.
in Aviation History"The history of the Wrights, Glenn Curtiss, and early aviation in America cannot be truly understood without the information in these ledgers, files, and almost 900 letters," says Dawne Dewey, curator of Special Collections and Archives at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. "It is our hope that the collection will remain together intact and eventually be opened for serious research and scholarship."
These documents have been reviewed by scholars at the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress. "Like Tom Crouch at the Smithsonian," wrote Leonard C. Bruno, science manuscript historian at the Library of Congress, "I concur that the Wright materials are of major significance to the history of American aviation and contain details of the Wright Company unavailable anywhere else."
The papers tell a very different story of the development of early aviation in this country than what is widely assumed, according to Joe Gertler, who found the documents and saved them from being auctioned off piecemeal. "Most historians believe that the Wright brothers held back the progress of aviation with their patent suits," said Gertler. "But the papers show this is not the case."
He goes on to say that the papers reveal many things that were never known about the Wright's business practices. "The overall impression I get from reading their business correspondence is one of integrity," said Gertler. "Orville and Wilbur Wright were the most honest and conscientious businessmen imaginable."
Are you interested to know what's in the Wright Company papers? Here a re few excerpts printed by Joe Gertler in the November 1994 issue of The First Warplanes:
TO: Mr. B. Fisher, March 23, 1910. Re: his purchase of a "foreign made aeroplane". "...We of course cannot permit the sale and use of foreign made infringing machines in this country until an agreement as to royalties is made...it would be inadvisable for anyone to purchase such a machine.
TO: Potential Customer, March 24, 1910. "...We could not make delivery before September or October. The price is $7,500.00, 20% with order...We expect to instruct purchasers in the use of the machine, and believe that anyone can learn to fly successfully within a very short time -- say a week."
TO: Russell, Mgr., Dayton. From N.Y. Office. June 13, 1910. "...The show at Montreal is, of course, very disappointing...The Wright Company has established all records for Canadian territory with exception of cross country flights. Today I received from the Atlantic City Aero Club a check for $5000., the contract price for the exhibition, and another check for $5000., the altitude prize won by Brookins.
TO: F. H. Russell, Mgr., The Wright Co., Dayton. From A. F. Barnes, The Wright Co., New York Office. June 28, 1910. "The receipts of our first Meet are certainly rather disappointing. And there is nothing left for us to do but put the money in the bank with the best grace possible.
TO: Russell, Mgr., Dayton, from A. F. Barnes, N.Y. Office. July 21, 1910. Re: Toronto exhibition. "I was unable to collect anything.
TO: Russell, Mgr., Dayton, from A. F. Barnes, N.Y. Office. Night letter telegram, September 13, 1910. Re: Parkersburg Exhibition. "Did Parmalee fill contract. Why did we not get full payment.
TO: Russell, Mgr., Dayton, from A. F. Barnes, N.Y. Office. September 14, 1910. "...From my recollection of Coffyn's flights (at Asbury Park, NJ) I should say he is not entitled to any Day whatever...I do not like to put all this in a letter but owing to my inability to get to Dayton, I feel it necessary to do so. So far as discipline and order went, I was thoroughly disgusted and chagrined at Asbury. Coffyn as manager of the camp was a dead failure. I preferred to give instruction regarding flights through him, for the sake of organization, but once in the air the boys disregarded all instructions and did as they pleased, without regard to the nature of the flight scheduled...On a number of occasions they took the matter into their own hands and made flights without authority and without announcement to the public or anyone else.
(Continuing in same letter) Re: sales of aeroplanes and "prospective purchasers" ...Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt is the only man in New York as far as I know, who had serious intentions to purchase. As we have had no inquiries for months, it is certain that we must advertise and let the public know we are ready to make delivery,
and the reduced price, etc. (Note: The price was then $5000.00 per machine.)Other letters describe the first woman passenger, the first black student, a sportsman paying for his chauffeur to be trained, and countless other inside views into the history of the first years of the Wright Company.
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Charlie Taylor working at a vise 1911
Assembled Wright Model C Flyer. 1912
A Wright Model C Flyer assembled inside the Wright Company factory.
Albert M. Flora at work assembling wings. 1911
Print of a newspaper photograph showing mechanic Albert M. Flora at work assembling wings in the Wright Company factory.
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Corner of the Woodworking Department. 1911
The employees are Dan Farrell, Frank M. Quinn, and Bill Conover.
Corner of the Sewing Department. 1911
Ida Holdgreve at work.
Corner of Paint Shop. 1911
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Dayton-Wright Company at Moraine Farm. 1911
First tent or hangar erected for the Dayton-Wright Company at Moraine Farm, the home of Edward Deeds
Engelhard's crash September, 1911
The fatal accident of Captain Paul Engelhard in the German built Wright Model B Flyer. Engelhard was the chief pilot for the German Wright Company
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Engelhard's crash September, 1911
Engelhard's crash September, 1911
Engelhard's crash September, 1911
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Exterior of Wright Company factory. 1911
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Exterior view of Wright Company factory. 1911
Fitting fabric to a wing assembly. 1911
C. E. Nellis fitting fabric to a wing assembly in the Wright Company factory.Front office of Wright Company. 1911
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General Assembly Department. 1911
General Machine Shop. 1911
German-built Wright Model B Flyer 1910
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German-built Wright Model B Flyer 1910
German-built Wright Model B Flyer on display March, 1910
Interior view of Wright Cycle shop with workmen at lathes 1910
Interior view of the Wright Cycle Company shop showing men at work on lathes producing engines and aircraft parts
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Metal Cutting and Motor Assembly. 1911
Orville Wright and A. F. Barnes inspect Wright Model G Aeroboat. 1914
Rear view of the Wright Model G "Aeroboat" sitting outside the Wright Company factory. Orville Wright and A. F. Barnes are inspecting the airplane.
Painting a propeller. 1911
Harry Harold painting a propeller in the Wright Company factory.
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Propeller and Rib Department. 1911
Radiator Department 1911
Radiator Department of the Wright Company with Frank Quinn at work.
Rigging rudder of Wright Flyer. 1911 James Arnold rigging the rudder of a Wright Flyer in the Wright Company factory.
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Six-cylinder Wright engine mounted on Wright airplane 1913
A six-cylinder vertical Wright engine mounted on an unidentified Wright airplane. Note on back, "Motor controls tested on Miami River from 6/27 to 7/2 1913." The six-cylinder engine was known as the Wright 6-60 and was used on Wright airplanes after 1913.Stearing rudder pontoon of Wright Model CH Flyer. 1913
Small pontoon with a steering rudder fitted to the tail of a Wright Model CH Flyer inside the Wright Company factory. Note on verso "tested on Miami River 6/27 to 7/2, 1913."
Wire Cutting Department. 1911
Wire Cutting Department of the Wright Company with Frank Quinn and James Davis at work.
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Superintendent's Office. 1911
Working in the Machine Shop. 1911
Tom Russell at work in the Machine Shop of the Wright Company.
Wright Company factory under construction. 1911
Interior view of the Wright Company factory under construction.
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Wright Flyer on cart outside Speedwell Motor Car Company factory 1910
A Wright Model B Flyer sits on a cart being pulled by a truck outside the Speedwell Motor Car Company factory. The Wright Company rented factory space from the Speedwell company beginning in Jan 1910 until the Wright Company factory at 2701 Home Road in Dayton was completed in Nov 1910.Wright Model B Flyer with twin, multi-step pontoons. 1913
Left front view of a Wright Model B Flyer equipped with twin, multi-step, pontoons sitting in the Wright Company factory.
Wright Model CH Flyer with single, large pontoon. 1913
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Wright Model G Aeroboat under construction. 1913
Fuselage of Wright Model G "Aeroboat" under construction in the Wright Company factory.Wright Model G Aeroboat under construction 1914
Wright Model F Flyer sitting in Wright Company factory 1914
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10/19/2009 |
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