Chronicling history of early flight. A German motorless glider early aircraft is launched from atop a hill and flies over bystanders on a field. Short history of the Wright Brothers flights at Kitty Hawk is given, showing planes, hangar, and living quarters for the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina during 1903 to 1908 period. Footage of successful flightby Wilbur Wright in Le Mans France on August 8, 1908. People watch from grandstand as plane flies. Newspaper headlines detail success in Le Mans. Front page of "The North American" is shown with headline "Wright Glides in Air as a Hawk; flies 2.17 Miles in 106 Seconds!"
History of aviation. A balloon in flight. Historic glider such as that which interested U.S. War Department as early as 1898. In 1903, a crew of men moving a Wright Flyer into position. Two men turn over propellers on a Wright Flyer, and the engine starts. View of the Wright-designed water-cooled engine. View of Orville Wright. The famous first powered flight, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with Orville Wright at controls. Animation shows that 120 foot flight juxtaposed against a B-36 wing. Wilbur Wright in Europe, in 1908, gesturing as he converses with interested parties. A gallery of spectators including the President of France, King of England, King of Spain, and King of Italy. Wilbur Wright places a wheel under the right wing of a Wright Flyer and lashes it to the strut. A team of horses pulls the plane across the field. Men maneuver the plane onto a monorail on the ground. Men pull on a heavy rope to raise a weight in a tower, for a catapult. Two men spin the propellers and the Wright Brothers airplane motor starts. Wilbur Wright and his passenger, a French journalist, board the plane. The catapult weight drops, launching the aircraft which flies low over the field. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt speaking (He is seen on a podium campaigning for the Bull Moose Party nomination at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, Kansas on September 22, 1912.) War department issues specifications for a heavier-than-air craft. Reenactment of a Wright brother signing a bid contract. A Wright Flyer airborne at Fort Myer, Virginia, as the Wrights meet the Army specifications and sell, U.S. Army airplane number 1, to the War Department, in 1908. Gold Aviator wings being pinned on the uniform of a U.S. Army pilot. Photograph of Army Air Forces Chief, General Henry (Hap) Arnold, wearing his original aviator wings on his service uniform. A Glenn Curtis training airplane starting up and taking off. View of a DH-4 airplane and a Wright Flyer taking off together.
Views of traffic on a city street around the turn of the 20th century. A mix of horse and buggies and motorcars and bicycles. People waiting for a trolley car. Reenactment of persons using an early telephone and of early filmmakers at work with camera on motion picture film. The Wright brothers home at 7 Hawthorne Street, West Dayton, Ohio. The Wrights' former housekeeper, Carrie Grumbach, recalls December 17, 1903, a telegram arriving about the Wright brothers successful first powered flight. Glimpse of Wright brothers machine shop. Charlie Taylor, who had worked in their shop, speaks of being pleased at their accomplishment. View of the Wrights flying gliders at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Charlie Taylor describing how he machined and built the motor for the Wright brothers airplane. Glimpse of that motor or a facsimile. Men positioning the Wright brothers airplane for launching, and French citizens gathered to watch a demonstration of their airplane in France. French aviation pioneer, Henri Farman with two other men in his Voisin-Farman I airplane. They begin takeoff. Closeup of Brazilian aviation pioneer, Alberto Santos-Dumont. Other early aircraft in flight. A Wright Flyer passing over the Fort Myer drill ground in Virginia. An Army balloon in the background. Retired United States Air Force Brigadier General, Frank P. Lahm, walks across the tarmac on an airport and speaks for interviewer (unseen). He speaks about the difficulty the Wright brothers had in convincing the U.S. Army of the value of their airplane. He tells that in December, 1907, Wilbur Wright was finally granted an interview with the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications, which led to a contract, in 1908, with the Signal Corps. Moving imagesof Orville Wright and assistants bringing a Wright Flyer to Fort Myer, Virginia, to conduct flight trials for the Army. Views of the airplane being flown all around the area, watched by spectators. (This footage is a mix of 1909 footage where the aircraft shows two half-rounds of canvas in the front elevator, and 1908 footage, taking off and flying, where the aircraft has a single half-round of canvas in the front elevator.) After landing on the 9th of September, 1908, then, Lieutenant Lahm, accepts Orville Wright's offer to fly with him. Lahm climbs aboard the airplane, sits next to Orville Wright, and they are seen taking off and flying about for six minutes and forty seconds. (Lahm is the first. military officer to ever fly in an airplane.) The next scene shows the wreck of a Wright Flyer, in which Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge was killed and Orville Wright injured, on September 17, 1908.
1902 Still photo of glider made by Wright brothers in which they used wing warping technique for balance in flight. 1903 Still photograph of Orville Wright's first flight and plane on the ground. 1908 Newspaper headline and front page story of Wilber Wright's flights in France along with pictures. Wilbur Wright works on a transporting wheel of his plane in France. Horse tows plane across a field in France.
Wright Plane flies in Le Mans, France. Wilbur Wight's plane with 25 horse power and two chain-driven propellers at Le Mans, France. Two men start propellers. Frenchmen pull Wright brother's plane 'B' Pusher type over the ground to steel rail catapult ramp. French military and civilian spectators at air show. Frenchmen pull launch weight into steel tower. Start of flight on 08 August 1908. Steel weight descends and plane catapult into air. Airplane flies.
First flight with a passenger on Wright plane in France. News Clip of Wright plane in flight with photograph of Wilbur Wright and a headline as 'carries passenger 36 miles'. Wright and a French journalist sit as passengers on the Wright plane on 03 October 1908. Plane flies over water for 55 minutes and 37 seconds. People watch from the ground.