Wright Flyer dovetails into history as the latest engineering landmark

ASME kicked off its celebration of flight activities in February by honoring the 1905 Wright Flyer III at Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio, home of the Wright family.

The aircraft, one of three Wright Flyers built by the brothers, was recognized by ASME during Engineers Week, Feb. 20. The first Wright Flyer is at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The second no longer exists.

The Wright Flyer III was the plane that flew reliably and was easily controlled. That is, it was the first practical airplane, which the brothers then boxed up to protect their potential patent and dedicated their lives to promoting it.

The 1905 Wright Flyer III is on display at Carillon Historical Park, in Dayton, Ohio, the home of the Wright family.

 

The Wright Flyer circled — in figure eights, no less — and stayed aloft as long as the gas tank allowed, and it landed easily. When it performed these feats repeatedly in 1905, Orville and Wilbur knew that they had something to sell.

Before his death in 1948, Orville Wright helped to restore and conserve the Wright Flyer III in Carillon Historical Park, noting that visitors should look down on it in order to appreciate it. Nearly 80 percent original, the plane remains in a display pit, surrounded by a viewing balcony.

Amanda Wright-Lane, great-grandniece of the Wright brothers, and other family members attended the history and heritage ceremony in February. During the ceremony, ASME President Susan H. Skemp presented a bronze plaque that describes the attributes of the Wright Flyer as a Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

 

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