NORTH CAROLINA -- One-hundred years ago this week, the world saw its first pictures of Orville and Wilbur Wright flying at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It was five years after the first flight, but up until May of 1908, there hadn't been any published pictures of flight.
Most North Carolinians know the story of the Wright brothers. Outer Banks lifesaver John T. Daniels took a now famous picture of the first flight on December 17, 1903, showing the Wright flyer gliding a few feet above the ground with Orville Wright lying down on the flyer and Wilbur on the ground nearby.
That picture has struck awe and inspiration in generations of aviation enthusiasts ever since.
“I was born in Dayton, Ohio and my mom actually used to walk by the Wright brothers’ workshop on her way to school and see them working when they were there,” explained history buff Jerry McLain. “I've always been interested in flight.”
While the Daniels picture was the first taken of successful flight, it was not the first picture that went public. The world didn’t get a chance to see aviation in action until several reporters and photographers secretly saw a later flight, in May of 1908.
“As far as the world is concerned, the 1908 flights were much more important than the 1903 flights,” said Larry Tise, Wilbur and Orville Wright Distinguished Professor of History at East Carolina University. “Until 1908 nobody had seen the Wright brothers fly and suddenly in May of 1908 at Kitty Hawk, they were viewed by seven reporters who got the story, got a photograph, and sent it out across the world.”
One-hundred years ago this week, the world saw its first pictures of Orville and Wilbur Wright flying at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It was five years after the first flight, but up until May of 1908, there hadn't been any published pictures of flight.
The 1908 Wright flyer was also different from the 1903 machine.
“In the 08 flight, they weren't lying down, they were sitting up,” explained Tise. “In the 08 flight they controlled the plane basically with a stick which would become the way planes were controlled. Also in 1908 for the first time, they carried a passenger. On May 14, 1908 was the Wright brothers’ first passenger flight.”
The Charlotte Observer was the first newspaper to publish a story about the Wright brothers flying. However, when newspapers all across the world published the first pictures of flight, the Wright brothers became instant international celebrities.
Those first public pictures were later lost, until recently.
Tise recently rediscovered them at the University of Texas in an uncatalogued collection of works by world-famous photojournalist James H. Hare, who took the picture.
Hare and the other reporters and photographers were not allowed anywhere near the Wright brothers' experiments. They had to hide in a wooded area a distance away, trying to catch a glimpse of the Wright flyer.
The original picture was taken from far away, and shows a small black dot against the backdrop of sandy Kill Devil Hills. However, that picture is the first independent proof of the Wright brothers flying.
“When they went to Kitty Hawk in April and May of 1908 they were private citizens,” explained Tise, “but after their flights on May 13 and 14, they could never hide from the press as long as they lived.”
The pictures in 1908 were taken on May 13 through 15.