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Wright Timeline 1940
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 o
invention, no scientific discovery, no work of art, no human
endeavor happens in an historical vacuum. There are always other
factors -- cultural, political, personal -- that influence the
outcome of a single event. So it was with the invention of the
airplane.
When Wilbur and Orville were children, the abacus was the most
advanced mathematical aid, influenza was an often-fatal disease, and
the cannon was the most feared weapon of war. By the time Orville
died, the first computers were just being built, antibiotics had
begun to wipe out disease, and the atomic bomb made war
unthinkable. Many of these advances influenced the development of
the airplane -- and the airplane, in turn, influenced further
advances.
Here is chronology that shows not just the story of the Wright
brothers, but also the world they lived in and the important political,
cultural, and scientific events that loomed large in their lives. Click on the
decade you want to see:
|
 |
Time
|
The Wright
Story
|
The Bigger
Picture
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1940 |
With Orville in attendance,
Dayton, Ohio dedicates the Wilbur and Orville Wright
Memorial on a hill overlooking Huffman Prairie. The 1903
Wright Flyer is removed from the Kensington Museum and
stored in a stone quarry for safekeeping during World War
II.
|
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Sikorsky makes the first successful helicopter flight;
prehistoric cave paintings are discovered in France. |
 |
|
1941 |
As World War II approaches and
because Orville Wright is a consultant to the US Army, US
military escorts bring Orville back to Ohio from his
vacation home on Lambert Island in Canada. It is the last
time he ever visits the island.
|
|
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and the United States enters World
War II. |
 |
|
1942 |
Orville Wright designs an
encryption
machine for the US Navy. It is similar to German "Enigma"
machines but cannot be deciphered by the primitive computers
being used by National Cash Register to read
coded German communications. The Smithsonian finally
recants their 1914 report on the Langley Aerodrome and
recognizes the Wright brothers as the first to make a
controlled, sustained powered flight.
|
 |
The first electronic computer is built in the U.S.
and Bell Aircraft tests the first U.S. jet airplane. |
 |
|
1943 |
His feud with the Smithsonian
over, Orville recalls the Flyer I from England but it can't be shipped
home until World War II ends. Fred G. Kelly publishes the first authorized
biography of the Wright brothers, written with Orville's
input and permission.
|
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The Allies stop German advances in Italy, North Africa, and
the Soviet Union. "Jitterbug" dance craze begins and Rogers
and Hammerstein produce Oklahoma. |
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|
1944 |
After setting a speed record flying a prototype
Constellation across America, Howard Hughes lands in Dayton,
Ohio and gives Orville Wright his last airplane ride. |
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The Germans fly the first operational jet fighter, the ME-262.
They also launch V-2 rockets against the Allies. |
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|
1945 |
The aircraft
carrier the USS Wright is launched and christened at Camden,
New Jersey by Orville's niece, Ivonette Wright-Miller.
|
 |
First atomic bomb is detonated at Alamogordo, NM.
World War II ends.
|
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|
1946 |
Orville rediscovers
the original 1901 Wright wind tunnel balances and airfoils
in the attic of his laboratory ― they were lost when
Orville moved there in 1916. These are donated to the
Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
|
 |
The first meeting of the United
Nations is held in London
|
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1947 |
Orville Wright assists in the
restoration of the world's first practical airplane, the
1905 Wright Flyer III. It will later be installed at Deeds
Carillon Park, a museum dedicated to Dayton's history and
its role in transportation technology.
|
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Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. |
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1948 |
Orville Wright dies of a
heart attack in Dayton, Ohio and the Wright brothers' first powered airplane,
the 1903 Flyer I, is enshrined at the Smithsonian Institution.
|
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Israel becomes a nation, the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang
forms in California, and Albert, a rhesus monkey, becomes the
first astronaut riding a V-2 rocket to an altitude of
40 miles.
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