Previous image preload Next image preload
Back to catalog
Lot 264
image_0 image_1
Orville Wright Great Aviation Content in Rare ALS, Refusing Journalist's Request for a Flight Days before Fatal Crash
Orville Wright Great Aviation Content in Rare ALS, Refusing Journalist's Request for a Flight Days before Fatal Crash
image_0 image_1
Description:

Wright Orville

Orville Wright Great Aviation Content in Rare ALS, Refusing Journalist’s Request for a Flight Days before Fatal Crash

 

“I am limiting the number of passengers to the army officials at present.”

 

Autograph Letter Signed, to Arthur Ruhl, September 14, 1908, Washington, D.C.  2 pp., 5" x 8", usual folds, very good.

 

Complete Transcript

Cosmos Club

Washington, D.C.

                                                                        Monday, / Sep. 14, 1908

My dear Mr. Ruhl:

            I have your letter, and I am sure it would give me great pleasure to take you up with me in our machine, but I have had so many requests that I hardly see how I can take you without giving offense to others. I am limiting the number of passengers to the army officials at present.

            I am sorry that you <2> were not able to remain to see some of the flights, but hope you may be able to come down again.

                                                                        Very truly yours

                                                                        Orville Wright

 

Historical Background

Journalist Arthur Ruhl, who was a regular contributor to Collier’s Weekly national newspaper, published in New York, had made friends with pioneer aviators Orville and Wilbur Wright through visits to Ohio, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C.  In the late summer and fall of 1908, Wilbur Wright traveled to France to pilot public demonstrations of their airplane. In flights beginning on August 8, 1908, Wilbur amazed spectators with his ability to make turns and fly in circles. Although his first flight lasted less than two minutes, he made longer and more challenging flights over the next several days and took a succession of passengers on flights as well.

 

Meanwhile, Orville Wright was at Fort Myer, Virginia, demonstrating their airplane to the United States Army, beginning on September 3. Six days later, Orville completed the first hour-long flight. On September 17, he took twenty-six-year-old Army lieutenant Thomas Selfridge along as a passenger and official observer. A few minutes into the flight, at an altitude of one hundred feet, a propeller shattered and sent the airplane out of control. In the crash, Selfridge suffered a fractured skull and died that evening in an Army hospital. He was the first passenger and the first active-duty member of the military killed in a plane crash. Orville Wright suffered a broken leg, four broken ribs, three hip fractures, and a dislocated hip, which troubled him for years. The Wrights’ sister Katherine, a school teacher, arrived from Ohio and remained with Orville for the seven weeks of his hospitalization. Katherine Wright also negotiated a one-year extension to the Army contract.

 

In January 1909, Orville and Katharine Wright joined Wilbur Wright in France. When they returned to the United States, President William Howard Taft hosted them in the White House, and in July, they completed the proving flights for the U.S. Army that Orville had begun before his accident. The army had required a two-seater airplane capable of flying a passenger for an hour at an average speed of 40 miles per hour and landing undamaged. The Wrights sold the airplane to the U.S. Army’s Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Signal Corps for $30,000 (including a $5,00 bonus for exceeding the speed specification).

 

Orville Wright (1871-1948) was born in Dayton, Ohio, four years younger than his brother Wilbur (1867-1912). He dropped out of high school after his junior year to start a printing business in 1889. He designed and built, with his brother’s help, a printing press, and they started their own weekly newspaper, which they converted to a daily in 1890, but it lasted only four months. In 1892, they opened their own bicycle sales and repair shop and by 1896 began manufacturing their own brand of bicycle. They began their own aeronautical research and experimentation in 1899. They eventually discovered wing-warping as a means of turning an airplane. In 1900, they first went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to experiment with gliders. They continued to experiment with wing and rudder design over the next three years with gliders, and first achieved powered flight in December 1903. Although their 1903 patent application was rejected, an Ohio patent attorney assisted them with a successful application for a patent for controlling a flying machine, issued in May 1906. They continued their experiments at Huffman Prairie near Dayton in Ohio for the next several years, keeping their designs secret to avoid theft by competitors. By 1908, they had contracts from the U.S. Army and a French company to built aircraft. Injured in a demonstration flight for the U.S. Army that killed a passenger, Orville Wright spent seven weeks in the hospital recovering from multiple broken bones. In 1909, they formed the Wright Company. After Wilbur’s death in 1912 of typhoid fever, Orville became the company’s president, but he sold it in 1915. He made his last flight as a pilot in 1918 and spent the next three decades serving with various aviation organizations.

 

Arthur Brown Ruhl (1876-1935) was born in Rockford, Illinois, and graduated from Harvard University in 1899. While at Harvard, he wrote for The Advocate and Lampoon, and ran on the track team. After he graduated, the New York Evening Sun employed him as a reporter, and he was soon published in Century Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and Collier’s Weekly.  He traveled widely and wrote on a wide variety of topics, from sports to theatre to politics. He wrote about Latin-American affairs and was an authority on international relations. He wrote about a Mexican revolution, a volcano erupting in South America, the German and Turkish lines at Gallipoli, the world heavyweight boxing match in Reno, theatres in Moscow, a George Gershwin concert, the Wright Brothers’ experiments with flight, and many other topics. He died in Queens from pneumonia, contracted ten days earlier. He married Zinaida Yakovnchikoff (1904-1952), who was born in Russia and spoke German, in 1926, in Berlin, Germany. They had one son Arthur Paul Ruhl (1929-1997).

 

 

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Paypal, Personal Check, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

We do our own in-house worldwide shipping!
Applicable shipping and handling charges will be added to the invoice. ***PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR SHIPMENT TO BE SENT TO AN ADDRESS OTHER THAN THE ONE YOU HAVE ON FILE WITH INVALUABLE, YOU WILL NEED TO INFORM US OF THIS AS SOON AS PAYMENT IS SUBMITTED FOR YOUR WINNINGS*** Shipping and handling costs are competitive as we maintain discounted contracts with FedEx. If you have any questions, contact University Archives prior to bidding. After payment has been made in full, University Archives will ship your purchase within 5 business days following receipt of full payment for item. We currently ship via FedEx but if your purchase is shipping to a P.O. Box, we ship via USPS. All items are insured. We ship from our offices in Westport, CT. We may opt to use a third party shipper for very fragile, bulky or oversized items. Items requiring third party shipping will be denoted in the item description. Packages shipped internationally will have full value declared on shipping form. International buyers will be responsible for any customs fees incurred.

Please remember that the buyer is responsible for all shipping costs from University Archives' offices in Westport, CT to the buyer's door. Please see full Terms and Conditions of Sale.

University Archives

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000