Wilbur Wright Adjusting the Canvas on the Flyer in France, 1908-1909

Summary

Worried that rivals would steal their yet-to-be patented designs, the Wright brothers stopped flying publicly for nearly three years in late 1905. People began to doubt that the Wrights had ever flown. Skeptics were silenced in August 1908 when Wilbur Wright made a series of spectacular demonstration flights at Le Mans, France, achieving more distance and control than anyone else.

Worried that rivals would steal their yet-to-be patented designs, the Wright brothers stopped flying publicly for nearly three years in late 1905. People began to doubt that the Wrights had ever flown. Skeptics were silenced in August 1908 when Wilbur Wright made a series of spectacular demonstration flights at Le Mans, France, achieving more distance and control than anyone else.

Artifact

Negative (Photograph)

Subject Date

1908-1909

Creators

Bollee, Leon, 1870-1913 

Place of Creation

France, Le Mans 

Collection Title

Leon Bollee Photographs 

 On Exhibit

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

2000.53.100

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Glass (Material)

Technique

Gelatin dry plate process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 7 in

Width: 5 in

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