Orville's Bad Attitude

MikeS

MikeS

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MikeS
I think refusing a pilot license is clearly grounds for a retroactive 509 ride.

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Apr 6, 1927: William P. MacCracken, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, received Pilot License No. 1, a private pilot license, from the Aeronautics Branch. MacCracken thus became the first person to obtain a pilot license from a civilian agency of the U.S. Government. Before accepting License No. 1, MacCracken had offered this honor to Orville Wright, promising to waive the fee and examination. Wright declined because he no longer flew and did not think he needed a Federal license to show that he had been the first man to fly. Like Secretary Hoover, Wright believed MacCracken should receive License No. 1. (See Aug 19, 1940.)

I'm reading a history of the FAA and found Orville's response to the offer of a government certificate quite wonderful.

I'm going to attach the document I'm reading for anyone interested. There's really some fascinating history in it and I've barely scratched the surface.

For example:

Mar 29, 1927: The Aeronautics Branch issued Aircraft Type Certificate No. 1 to the Buhl Airster C-A3, a three-place open biplane.

The first transatlantic flight had been made in stages on May 16-27, 1919, from Newfoundland to Lisbon, via the Azores, by a U.S. Navy Curtiss NC-4 seaplane, flown by a six-man crew commanded by Albert C. Read. That same year, on Jun 14-15, Royal Air Force pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown crossed the Atlantic nonstop from Newfoundland to Ireland in a Vickers Vimy. The following month, another Royal Air Force crew, commanded by G. H. Scott, flew the airship R-34 from Scotland to New York (Jul 2-6), then returned to England (Jul 9-13). Between Jul 30 and Aug 31, 1924, two U.S. Army Douglas World Cruiser seaplanes (manned by Lowell H. Smith, Leslie P. Arnold, Erik H. Nelson, and John Harding), flew from England to Labrador during the course of history's first round-the-world flight. Three other aircraft with multiple crew members had also crossed the Atlantic before Lindbergh's "Lone Eagle" flight.
 

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Interesting. I suspect you have an agenda?
 
Never heard of Whitehead until now. Interesting stuff. His designs were sure a lot more attractive than the Wright's.
 

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MikeS said:
Never heard of Whitehead until now. Interesting stuff. His designs were sure a lot more attractive than the Wright's.
Click to expand...
Have you noticed that all the really good quality photos of airplanes in flight were taken by the Wright Bros.?
I guess all those others could only take photos of their planes setting on the ground.......
 
I just watched a National Geographic show called "American Genius" on the battle between the Wrights and Glenn Curtiss, who, in the show, looked to be much more admirable and successful than the Wrights. It's hard to tell if they truly aren't all they were cracked up to be or if the episode was written only to undermine them. Either way, I believe most of the story was true and it's an interesting perspective on "the fathers of flight." If you're interested in that little snip of history in the OP, you'd like this, too. (It's on Netflix).
 
Cruiser said:
Have you noticed that all the really good quality photos of airplanes in flight were taken by the Wright Bros.?
I guess all those others could only take photos of their planes setting on the ground.......
Click to expand...

...Or maybe it's because the Wrights' planes were slower, allowing more time for the exposure to capture them in flight.
 
Just watched the Genius episode. Some of the footage is valuable to watch. The dramatization and extremely abbreviated telling of events is so very TVish. I'm reminded by it though that the Wright's place in history is akin to that of Columbus' in discovering America. Right here in San Diego John J. Montgomery (for whom MYF is named) was doing everything the Wright's were doing, twenty years earlier. (okay, okay . . . he didn't have a motor)

Anyone who has landed at Brown Field (SDM) has been to the true birthplace of controlled flight in the U.S.

From Wikipedia:
"Montgomery himself never claimed firsts, his flight experiments of the 1880s are considered by some historians and organizations to have been the first controlled flights of a heavier-than-air flying machine in America, or in the Western Hemisphere]depending on source.
Montgomery devised different control mechanisms for his gliders including weight shifting for roll and an elevator for pitch (1884), and subsequent designs incorporated hinged, pilot-operated trailing edge flaps on the wings (1885-1886) for roll control,"
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I started this thread simply because I admired Orville's response when he was offered a government pilot's license. I could easily imagine the cranky old fellow sending the newly formed CAA official down the road with his offer of certificate number 1. That history of the FAA I attached to the first post is a real treasure trove.
Discussion of the Wright Bros. however can't help but lead to the reminder that much had preceded their exploits, both in this country and in Europe. Their accomplishment lay in reinventing the wheel and doing a better job than anyone else of publicizing themselves.

 
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