“Three-quarter left rear view of glider in flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina” in October of 1911. (credit: Wright Brothers Papers, Library of Congress.Library of Congress)

The Year of 1911 in Aviation … and the Wright Glider

A look back at a year which brought the further development of soaring as a recreational sport to the public interested in flying.

This article originally appeared in the February, 2012 issue of no-longer-published WW1 Aero: The Journal of the Early Aeroplane and appears here with the kind assistance of Jonathan Fallon, the former editor of the publication. Also, click on any image for a larger version. — Ed.

Progress in the science of aviation in 1911 surpassed any twelve months’ advancement recorded since the Wrights first flew in a motor-driven airplane in 1903. These advances were not confined to a particular country or continent, since every section of the world was now taking part in aviation history-making. The editors of the 1911 World Almanac estimated that more than 3,000 miles have been covered in aeroplane flights and more than 7,000 persons, either as aviators or passengers, took into the air during 1911.

Flying had passed from sensational exhibitions for the curiosity of the crowds to the realm of accepted fact. Death, disaster and new enterprise were rife and the impartial spectator found it at times difficult, if not impossible, to arrive at an accurate measure of the net progress made. The United States was slowly losing its lead in aviation, as seen in the table below, which appeared in Flying, Fast and Furious, by August Post in The World’s Work, July 1911 (see link in Resources, below).

Clipping from ‘Flying, Fast and Furious’ by August Post in ‘The World’s Work’ published in July, 1911.

Aviators (or pilots) tried to bring greater honors back to America with daring feats — only to lose their lives. Throughout 1911, newspapers and magazines described with colorful headlines The Toll of Lives the Air has Taken and all the Fatalities of Flight. On October 15, 1911, the New York Times was just one newspaper that gave on page one the news that Aviation Victims Now Number 100 (see clipping in Resources). People were killed either flying an airplane or standing on the ground. The causes of these flying accidents, many with Wright airplanes, were not completely understood, but it was generally believed that stability and control were the pressing problems of save human flight.

From the ‘New York Tribune’ published on January 22, 1911 (see ‘Resources’).

Mechanical flight was an accomplished fact and a success, but stability in flight had to be assured. When an aeroplane is stable, it has the power of preserving the natural level in flight — or its equilibrium. If this equilibrium is upset by a sudden gust or in turning, the aeroplane should be capable of regaining its natural level with a minimum of oscillation. This detail was behind every tragedy that had shocked the world of aviation during 1911.

The more than two hundred different types of aeroplanes in use worldwide included ever-improving versions of tried machines, with new machines coming from both famous and unknown manufacturers. They ranged from monoplane to biplane, triplane and even quadraplane designs. The monoplane, whose possibilities were hardly recognized in earlier days, provided speed and efficiency; it now rivaled, if not surpassed, the older biplane so successfully used by the Wright brothers in the United States and various enthusiasts in France.

Extracted verbatim from 1911 World Almanac, Aviation:

Two of the prominent developments of 1911 were the introduction of the hydro-aeroplane and the motorless glider experiments of the Wright brothers at Kill Devil Hills, N.C, where during the course of two weeks experiments numerous flights with and against the wind were made, culminating in the establishment of a record of Orville Wright on October 25, 1911, when in a 52-mile per hour blow he reached an elevation of 225 feet and remained in the air 10 minutes and 34 seconds. The search for the secret of automatic stability still continues, and though some remarkable progress has been made the solution has not yet been reached.

It should be noted that Orville set his record on 24 October, 1911 and that he remained in the air for 9 minutes 45 seconds.

The two players: Orville Wright (left) and Alec Ogilvie. (credit: Wright Brothers National Memorial Collection)

Orville Wright, brother Lorin, nephew Horace and Alec Ogilvie from Great Britain spent a little over two weeks at Kitty Hawk, combining business with pleasure. Orville had stated earlier that “flight without the use of a motor” was the most perfect form of flying. Being in need of a vacation he wanted to have fun flying, but also experiment and hopefully make some “startling discoveries” in regard to stability and control of their aircraft. During this time the glider was constantly redesigned, and after a lot of trial and error — mostly trying to establish the correct location of the “Center of Pressure” while the “Center of Gravity” was not part of the discussion — Alec soared for almost five minutes on October 17 and Orville remained airborne in ridge lift for almost 10 minutes on October 24.

Parts from several airplanes, readily available at the Wright factory, were used to create the new Wright ‘Soaring Machine’. Above: The Wright Model B was the first Wright aeroplane manufactured in quantity, and incorporated several new features that departed from previous Wright designs, including wheels and an aft mounted elevator. (credit: Wright State University Libraries)

The Wright Model R, ‘Baby Grand’ was designed for speed, and featured a reduced wingspan and an eight cylinder engine that generated roughly 60 hp. It was hoped that the Baby Grand would win the Gordon Bennett trophy in 1910, however, the aircraft suffered substantial damage after an engine failure and was unable to participate in the race. (credit: Wright State University Libraries)

Newspaper write-ups were plentiful and offered colorful headlines, but they are of somewhat questionable value. The personal diaries of Orville Wright (1911 Diary V, Wright Papers, Library of Congress and marked as O.W.) and of Alexander Ogilvie (extracted from the article Golden Jubilee of Soaring which appeared in the journal Sailplane and Gliding of December, 1961 and marked as A.O.) gave the best factual information, and appear below combined into one story.

Oct. 7. (A.O.) — Glider 145 lbs, crated and shipped. [Took] 6.0 train for Kitty Hawk via Cincinnati, Norfolk, Elizabeth City with Orville, Lorin and Buster, on 9.30 Chesapeake and Ohio Pullman.

Oct. 9. (A.O.) — Shopped in morning. On board Hattie — Captain Johnson 12.45. Arrived Manteo 6.15 p.m. Stopped Tranquil House. Mrs. Evans. Harwood of the World called after dinner to see O.W.

The Tranquil House Inn, Manteo. (credit: Photo: Drinkwater Collection, Joyner Library)

Oct. 10. (A.O.) — By motor boat to Kill Devil Camp, 1hr. 5 mins and then 1⁄2-hr. walk. Making latrine, shelves, pump trough, partitions. Rain in night. Warm.

Oct. 11. (A.O.) — Cloudy and warm. Making ladder, bath arrangements, fixing beds in roof. Opened up all 1905 and ’08 machines in box. Lorin to Manteo in motor boat. 10–12 m. breeze in afternoon. Sally (reporter) and Harwood. Rain in night.

Oct. 12. (O.W.) — Measured West Hill = 80 ft. high. [Slope] 500 ft. Kill Devil Hill = [Slope] 665 [ft. at] 8° 40' = 103 ft. high. 30-mile wind at top hill. 18 on ground. (A.O.) — West Hill. 500 sin 90° 40' — 84 ft. Kill Devil Hill 655 sin 8° 40' = 103 ft. Angle of hills from building K.D. 12 ½° West 8 ½°. [Added subsequently: These data were measured by me with my pocket theodolite. A.O.]

Orville measures slope of hill with a pocket theodolite. This photo originally appeared in the December 1911 Popular Mechanics article entitled “The Secret Experiments of the Wright Brothers,” by Victor Lougheed.

Oct. 13. (O.W.) — Wind north 20–25 miles. Motored to Kitty Hawk through outside channel. Machine arrived on Van Dusen (Shipped Sat. 7th). 4 newspapermen — J. Mitchell, Asso. Press, Mitchell, N.Y. Herald, Sally of Norfolk, Van Ness, New York World, arrived.

The crates containing the glider parts were delivered by horse- drawn carriage (credit: Wright State University Libraries)

Oct. 14 (A.O.) — 10 m. N. wind. Erecting machine in morning. Kitty Hawk in motor boat in afternoon. Buying fish and chickens. Made chicken coop.

Oct. 15 (A.O.) — 3 to 4 m. N.E. wind…

Left: The glider was assembled with the hope to “remain aloft for hours like the soaring birds.” (credit: Illustrated London News, November 4, 1911) | Right: New York World reporter Van Ness Harwood was detailed to the Outer Banks to report on the gliding experiments. His papers and photos are housed at East Carolina University’s Joyner Library.

Oct. 16 (O.W.) — 12–14 miles from N.E. West Hill: 3 glides. Shot up at landing and dropped about 6 feet, bending rear center uprights. Horizontal rudder too small. Vert. rudder too small (7 ½ ft. area, 7 ft. in rear of back edge of surface). Put on a vane on front upright. Vane was one of the rear rudder planes of 1905 machine, 18" X 6'. Kill Devil Hill: After one glide, in which I pitched forward out of the machine, put on a larger rudder, 38" X 8' 10", using center of 1905 rudder. Afterward made glide of 637 ft. in curved line [plus] 586 ft. in straight line. Angle 7° 45'. Wind very light (4 mi.). Time 23 seconds. (A.O.) — Rear elevator too small. One bad thump, bending back centre uprights. Vertical rudder not very effective, better after fixing vane in front. Took glider to Kill Devil Hill. Glide by O.W. Landed on hummock and was chucked out . . . Put on a new tail surface.

The rear rudder of the 1905/1908 machine was pulled from the wrecked camp building and used as a “stabilizing vane” as Alec had seen used in France. The camp is seen here in 1908, after repairs were made to the living quarters in the background. (credit: Wright Brothers Papers, Library of Congress)

Oct. 17 (O.W.) — Wind 10 mi. southeast. Glides on West Hill. Ogilvie glides 7° 35', 473 ft. Ogilvie 3 glides. O.W. 2.

Detail of the structural modifications made to the tail of the 1911 glider. The original configuration was a good start, but the structure had to be refined and improved to increase its performance to “go into the clouds and soar indefinitely”. In a step-by-step process, just as the brothers did a decade earlier, the aircraft became safer and better performing.

Oct. 18 (O.W.) — Wind 20–25 [M.P.H.]. Rain. Ogilvie wind vane corresponds with our Richard [anemometer] when miles per hour is taken at double meters per second. Took machine out about four o’clock. Front vane 2 ft. from front edge on sliding sticks. Made several glides. In last one, machine turned around in spite of all I could do and ran into hill, turning over. Broke both left wings and rear horizontal surface. John Mitchell present. (A.O.) — Raining and blowing 20–25 m.p.h. Cleared up about 4. On Big Hill. O.W. soared three or four times, twice for 1 ¼ min. Vertical rudder 7 ½ sq. ft. at back, 10 ft. from C.P. not big enough. Front vane 9 sq. ft. at 4 ft. from C.P. Machine turned round by the wind and drove into hill. O.W. thrown out unhurt. Left wings broken and rear surface. Over 35 m.p.h. on crest.

Left: An interpretation of the 1911 glider’s tail structure by Neal Pfeiffer of Wichita, Kansas. | Centre: Carrying the glider back up for another launch. (credit: Wright State University) | Right: Another good launch and now soaring. (credit: Wright Brothers Papers, Library of Congress)

Oct. 19 (O.W.) — Wind 20 miles. Busy repairing on wings.

Oct. 20 (O.W.) — Extended tail frame 4 ½ feet. Used small racer horizontal rudder of 15 ½ ft. area projecting above frame. Arnold Kruckman & Berges arrive — N.Y. Amer’n.

Left: The ‘wind vane’. | Right: The Richard Anemometer that Octave Chanute gave to the brothers in 1903. (credit: Chanute Papers, University of Chicago Library)

Oct. 21 (A.O.) — Almost calm. Making new rudder 5 ft. 2 in. high by 1 ft. 6 in. = 15 ½ sq. ft. at 14 ft. from C.P. Fixing old tail surface 14 sq. ft. and increasing range of action.

Changing the position of the ‘front vane’ in a step-by-step process, stabilizing the glider.

Oct. 22 (O.W.) –Wind 10–15 miles. Tate & family called in morn. Geo. Baum called. Went to K.H. to get provision. Looked over situation of 1900 camp. (A.O.) — Very bright sun. Wind 10–15 m.p.h. West.

The 1911 glider after turning over on landing. (credit: Wright State University)

Oct. 23 (O.W.) — Light drizzle. First flight, wires of vert. rudder crossed. In second flight turned over backward when Ogilvie & Lorin let go. Cause of accident due to difference in velocity of wind on surface and 6 feet above. Broke vertical & horizontal rudders. (A.O.) — Blowing 20–25. Fine rain. On Kill Devil Hill in afternoon. O.W. turned over backward. Rudder wires crossed. Back horizontal rudder too small. Rudder broken. Made new horizontal rudder 27 sq. ft., 9 ft. by 3 ft. Put new sticks in rudder. [Added subsequently: Orville’s account is a little different here. As I remember it, this turnover was the first thing that happened!]

Extending the tail, note the hand-drill that Orville (left) is using. (credit: Photo: Joyner Library)

Oct. 24 (O.W.) — Sunshine. Wind 20–25 [M.P.H.] on ground. Wind at top [of] hill as high as 40 miles at 6 ft. [above ground], 50 miles [at] 12 ft. Just below top, 35 miles at height of 6ft. 22 miles [at height of] 6ft. at bottom and 30 miles at height of 12 ft. Made about 20 glides ranging from one [minute] to 9 min. 45. Sec. [Two of] 7' 15" [and] 5' 29" more than 50 ft. above top hill. Measured a space of about 40 yards over which machine seemed to glide without any loss of speed at angle 6°. Hung 8 lbs. sand 7 ft. out. (A.O.) — Fine and sunny. 8 lbs. out front at 7 ft. from front edge. Success- successful soaring up to 10 min. by O.W. Others 7 ½ m. and 5 ½ m. aggregating nearly 1 hour. Only just enough control. Very difficult. I did a few glides late in afternoon. M/c travelled 40 yards without loss of speed on 6° slope. Wind condition. On crest 40 m.p.h. Kill Devil. 12 ft. up, 50 m.p.h. Just below crest, 30–35 m.p.h. O.W. was sometimes 50 ft. above top of hill.

Group portrait in front of the glider at Kill Devil Hill. Sitting (L to R): Horace Wright, Orville Wright, and Alexander Ogilvie; standing (L to R): Lorin Wright, and a group of journalists, including Van Ness Harwood of the New York World, Berges of the American News Service, Arnold Kruckman of the New York American, Mitchell of the New York Herald, and John Mitchell of the Associated Press. (credit: Wright Brothers Papers, Library of Congress)

Oct. 25 (O.W.) — Glides on West [Hill] & Kill Devil [Hills]. 12 lbs. sand 8 feet out. (A.O.) — Wind 15–20 m.p.h. dying away to 10–15 about midday. O.W. tried quartering. One sideways glide. I did some soaring glides, about 15. Longest 59 sec. Very difficult to stop m/c if sliding sideways. One stall and bump. Sometimes 40 ft. above hill.

Lorin Wright (left) and Alec Ogilvie ready to lift the glider prior to hand launching. A bag of sand in the front counterbalanced the weight of the extended fuselage, counteracting the tail. (credit: Flugsport, November 29, 1911)

Oct. 26 (O.W.) — Wind at top of hill 20–25 miles. Gliding on Big Hill from 12 to 3. Vane put out 5 ft. in front of machine. Control much improved.

• Small V Rudder 3' 3" X 14"
• Ex. Rudder 3' 9" X 15"
• B Rudder 5' 2" X 18"

Flying and then bringing the glider back up the dune. (credit: Wright Brothers Papers, Library of Congress)

(A.O.) — Wind 15–20 decreasing after 1 p.m. Warm and sunny. On Big Hill wind 25 m.p.h. on top. Only just enough for soaring. Put front vane 6 ½ sq. ft. area, 5 ft. from front edge. Much better steering. Might be doubled in effect. Weight of 12 lbs. 8 ft. from front edge. 25 flights, longest 1m. 5s. [Added subsequently: Incorrect unless it referred to my longest glide]. O.W. soared 2 ½ min. and landed above start, nearly over the crest. O.W. repaired my watch. Sand in escapement.

These accidents resulted in sensational newspaper reports and photos. The tendency of the glider to stall and spin was still not overcome. (credit: Wright Brothers National Memorial Collection)

Oct. 27 (O.W.) — Went fishing and to Manteo. Machine weights 170 lbs. in later glides, include 12 lbs sand. (A.O.) — Calm and sunny…

Left, Centre: Soaring high above the takeoff point while spectators look on. Right: Alec Ogilvie during a soaring flight. (credit: Joyner Library)

Oct. 28. (A.O.) — Raining and blowing hard. Took down machine for fittings.

Oct. 29. (A.O.) — Left for Manteo. Oct. 31. (A.O.) — Arrived Dayton Nov. 1 (A.O.) — Left for New York.

Left: In his December 1911 Popular Mechanics article, Victor Lougheed tried to explain the phenomena of hovering or how the glider was sustained in a stationary position to soar for almost 10 minutes. | Right: Our current understanding of ridge lift. (credit: Soaring Society of America)

In Closing

Katharine Wright wrote to Alec on November 8, 1911 that Wilbur Wright was ―up to his neck in lawsuits, and Orville was full of energy and enthusiasm since his return from Kitty Hawk. He had hoped to make a good many improvements in the machine for the next year and he now spent much time at the drawing board.

Success again! Soaring high, but the flights were not as long as those on October 24. (credit: Joyner Library)

On the ‘fun side’, Orville’s 9 minute 45 second soaring flight was the beginning of modern-day soaring. On the ‘business side’, believing that the front vane would prevent the airplane from stalling, the “stabilizing device” was added to the Wright Company’s Model C series.

10/24 + 1911 + 9:45 = SOARING100 Celebration

The gliding community celebrated the centennial of Orville Wright’s history-making flight, as it is seen to be the beginning of modern soaring. In conjunction with this celebration, several aeronautical researchers looked closer at why Orville decided to experiment with a glider again, and how the structure of the glider changed during these two weeks. This provided insight into the contemporary knowledge and understanding of aeronautics.

One way to learn about the glider and the surrounding events was the initial thought of building and then flying a reproduction of that glider during SOARING100 at the dunes of Jockey’s Ridge State Park. Three groups (from Wichita, Kansas, St. Mary, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia) researched and started to exchange information in late 2009. Each group made good progress, but then encountered problems along the way. As a result, the visiting public could admire two reproductions; at Jockey’s Ridge State Park, one reproduction was displayed as an uncovered structure, inviting curious on- lookers to see how an early aircraft was built. The just completed reproduction, built by the team from Richmond, was on display at the Pavilion of Wright Brothers National Memorial.

The as yet uncovered glider of the ‘Dayton Team‘”’ from St. Mary, Maryland on display at the SOARING100 event. (credit: Simine Short)

©2012, 2022 Simine Short

Resources

• Flying, Fast and Furious by August Post in The World’s Work of July, 1911. — “Aviators had, before this summer, to their credit among other daring and skilful deeds these achievements: An entire working day of more than eight hours spent in an aeroplane…”
• Aviation Victims Now Number 100 clipped from The New York Times of October 15, 1911. — “Death Roll Reaches That Point with Fatalities at Rheims and Berne. | Sixteen were Americans. | France Suffered the Most, Losing 37 of Her Aviators, One a Woman — Germany Lost Twelve.”
• Aviators Not at All Dismayed by Toll of Lives the Air Has Taken clipped from the New York Tribune of January 22, 1911. — “Ten Times as Many Airmen Killed Last Year as in 1909, but Total Distance Flown in 1910 was Twenty Times as Great as in Previous Twelve Months.”
• Golden Jubilee of Soaring by A.E. Slater as it appeared in Sailplane & Gliding Vol. XII, №6, December, 1961. — “What was the first sustained soaring flight in history? Pioneers like Lilienthal and Pilcher sometimes hovered for a few seconds…” The article goes on to provide extensive quotes from the diaries Alexander Ogilvie and Orville Wright, which were both kept during the October, 1911 Kitty Hawk flights.
• The Secret Experiments of the Wright Brothers as it appeared in Popular Mechanics Vol. 16, №6 in 1911/12. — “So many extravagent stories have been printed concerning the interesting experiments with a new glider, which the Wright brothers have been making of late at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., that Popular Mechanics Magazine sent an acknowledged authority…”

Note that where possible, we have retained the sepia and cyanotype colouring of the original photographs, to provide the reader with a more authentic sense of the period in which the story takes place. Also, thanks to Editorial Assistant Michelle Klement for her invaluable assistance in preparing this article for publication. Read the next article in this issue, return to the previous article in this issue or go to the table of contents. A PDF version of this article, or the entire issue, is available upon request.