Wilbur and Orville Wright decided within days of their Dec. 17, 1903, success at Kitty Hawk, N.C., that they could no longer approach the problem of flight as a hobby. To progress, they had to devote time and money to building new machines. The Wrights decided to take the risk and regard flying not only as a passion but also as a strict business proposition, at least until they had recouped their investment. It was a long wait. Not until 1909 did they find a buyer for a Wright airplane. In the two years after their world-changing flight, the brothers dedicated themselves to making much-needed improvements in their flying machines. In 1904, they began flying at Huffman Prairie, near their home of Dayton, Ohio, with a new aircraft replacing the one wrecked by a wind gust at Kitty Hawk. They were still paying for their flying efforts out of their own pockets, so they were tempted to go after cash prizes such as the $150,000 offered at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair for the exhibition of an aircraft in flight. They might have succeeded in such exhibitions, but the Wrights could not bring themselves to perform for thrill-seeking crowds. Neither did they want to risk damage to their machine.
展开▼
