The Wright Brothers

by David McCullough

Overview: The Wright Brothers is a biographical history of Orville and Wilbur Wright following their lives and developments that led them to flight and beyond. McCullough begins by investigating their personal history and development from childhood to adulthood, describing the influences of their father and family. He then shows how their entrepreneurial spirit led them to create a bicycle shop and use that experience to purse manned flight. The story emphasizes the unwavering and sometimes maniacal singularity of focus that led them to their discovery and successes. However, it does not end when they take flight, but rather continues on to demonstrate the struggles they encountered once they’d achieved this pinnacle, both in getting others to recognize the work and to achieve financial success from it.

In Chapter 1, McCullough describes the Wrights and the family dynamics that contributed to their personal development. What were the critical components of natural aptitude, intellectual preparation, and practical preparation that set the groundwork for their later aerial accomplishments? In retrospect, Orville described “intellectual curiosity” as the brother’s greatest special advantage(p.18). What did his family do to nurture the Wright Brother’s curiosity, and how can they be applied your own unit?
Chapter 2 examines how Orville and Wilbur reached out to others and received responses that helped them learn about the subject of flight. To what degrees did serendipity and their social network play in their decision to attempt to build the first successful powered aircraft, and help them gain the knowledge they needed? What obstacles did they need to overcome along the way, and how were they able to negotiate or work around them?
In Chapter 3, McCullough describes a series of test failures that ultimately demonstrate that “the long established, supposedly reliable calculations and tables…were, in a word, &lsquoworthless’” (p.63). What made these “failures” extremely useful, and is that the right term we should use to describethem compared to other types of failures? How did the Wright Brothers manage their risk when going beyond the body of established knowledge, ultimately proving its inadequacy?
Chapter 4 begins with Orville’s quote, “We had to go ahead and discover everything for ourselves.” and details the new tests and experiments the Wrights designed to fill the gaps in knowledge that their earlier efforts had uncovered. What kept the Wright Brothers engaged with their project despite these initial setbacks? How can the ways Wilbur and Orville attacked the fundamental problems underlying their experiments inform the way that the DoD innovates today?
In Chapter 5, McCullough describes the run up to the first manned powered flight onDecember 17th, 1903. How did reading about the methodical process leading up to this historic flight differ from the “Eureka Moment” we often ascribe to major breakthroughs? Why were the Wrights able to achieve with less than $1000 in private funds what Langley’s team could still not achieve after spending over $70,000 of mostly public money?
In Chapter 6, McCullough describes the continuation of the Wrights flying experiments back in Ohio. What are the modern implications of the Wrights comment that “The best dividends on the labor invested have invariably come from seeking more knowledge rather than more power”? How important was iteration and repetition in the advance of the Wright’s continued progress?
In Chapter 7, the author describes the obstacles Orville and Wilbur faced to wide-stream acceptance and financial support for their work. Which challenges and social forces experienced by the Wright Brothers continue to stymie innovation even in our highly connected age? What was the effect of the separation on their collaboration, and how did they stay connected?
In Chapter 8, McCullough describes the Wright Brothers’ effort to get acceptance of their invention overseas. What, if anything, did Wilbur gain from his time in Le Mans (and France in general) that would have been impossible had he stayed home? How important is capturing the imagination of the general public in order to advance aviation? What might we do today to recapture that imagination in aerospace?
In Chapter 9, McCullough details both record setting flights and the first manned flight fatality back in the US. How did Orville’s crash and Lt Selfridge’s death affect the further development of the project, beyond the initial slowdown of the timeline? How did attitudes about risk at that time compare with those we have today, and what are the upsides and downsides of any differences? Why do we see risk differently today? Or do we?
In Chapter 10, McCullough describes the Wrights achieving “rock star” status overseas while demonstrating the Flyer. What personal qualities and types of engagements were most successfully in helping Wilbur promote both his invention and enthusiasm for aviation overseas? How did that enthusiasm translate into action in France compared with back in the United States?
In Chapter 11 and the epilogue, McCullough describe the Wrights triumphal return to the US and their attempts to secure both their legacy and their business. How did the Wright Brothers “plan to fail”, and how did their approach differ from Samuel Langley’s “Dream Team” effort? What were the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? What kept the Wrights grounded at the heights of their success, and how did they cope with the fallout of lawsuits and challenges to the originality of their ideas? How did Orville, who lived to see the destruction wrought by aircraft in both World Wars, personally reconcile the ethical implications of his invention and the capabilities it unleashed?