Wright Brothers at Fort Myer
The US Army wanted to see how maneuverable the machine was and Orville repeatedly took off from Ft. Myer’s Summerall Field to circle the area.
On September 3, 1908: Orville Wright first began demonstrating the flying machine that he and his brother, Wilbur, had built, to prove to the US government at Ft. Myer that their invention would be useful to the military. The US Army wanted to see how maneuverable the machine was and Orville repeatedly took off from Ft. Myer’s Summerall Field to circle the area.
The Wright brothers succeeded in their bid to build the 1st military airplane in the world for the US Army Signal Corps. In 1907, the Chief Signal Officer requested bids for a flying machine with requirements generally thought to be impossible. Many predicted that the Army would not receive any bids, but the Wright brothers signed a contract on February 10, 1908, and delivered the airplane to Ft. Myer in August 1908. The specifications required the "Heavier-Than-Air Flying Machine" to carry two people, fly 40 miles per hour, make a one-hour endurance flight, and be transportable by Army wagons. Orville Wright was the pilot for the flights demonstrating the machine’s capabilities. Almost 1,000 people witnessed the first flight at Ft. Myer on Sep 3, 1908, although the general public was still doubtful that powered flight had been achieved. After demonstrating that powered flight was, indeed, possible, Orville's subsequent flights over the next two weeks were watched by many more thousands and he finally convinced the American public that "man could fly." Orville’s flights at Fort Myer in September 1908 established several world records for endurance. But the last flight on September 17 ended in disaster. A crack in the right propeller caused the plane to crash, killing passenger and observer Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge of the US Army Signal Corps and seriously injuring Orville. Delivery of the new flying machine was postponed until the following summer, while the Wright brothers made changes and demonstrated additional flights at Ft. Myer. The US Army formally accepted Signal Corps Airplane No. 1, the world's first military airplane, on August 2, 1909.
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