Original Documents: What Really Happened, Part II. How the Wrights' Tall Tales Came to Light

 How the Wrights' Tall Tales Came to Light.

"Falsity is so easy, truth so difficult."--George Eliot
in "Adam Bede"

Headlines of the Virginian Pilot article printed on December 18, 1903. The story was "scooped" by 19 year old reporter Harry Moore

Reporter Harry Moore in his later years and a photo of him as young  man.

This blog is dedicated to finding the truth about what really happened in aviation history, as far as is possible. Rather than relying on the words of the Wright brothers, we have taken a new approach by exploring other documents and witness statements. We feel that it's important that all the great aviation explorers receive their proper places in history and that we expose false claims of biased individuals, or those who would benefit from publishing misinformation.

The previous post establishes how documents we are posting came into the hands of Steve Fritts, an aviation enthusiast and collector of historical newspapers. This post will show how the documents relate to the Wrights erroneous statements about what happened the day they claimed they made the first four "flights" in history. We will also begin to tell the story of how the documents came to be written in the first place.

 The Wrights began experimenting with gliders with the intention of making powered flights from 1900 through 1903. Their idea wasn't at all new. Aviation pioneers such as Lilienthal, Herring, and Montgomery, had intended to attach engines to their gliders and achieve powered flights. In fact, Herring did and flew about 73 feet. Gustave Whitehead was witnessed and reported making powered flights at least two years before the Wrights in 1901.

Photograph of a Wright glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, by Octave Chanute.

 The Wrights established a camp at Kill Devil Hills a few miles from Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.where the wind could lift their gliders, gravity could help pull them forward, and the sand could cushion their falls.

The Outer Banks was sparsely populated. Much as in any small town, it didn't take long before the news got around about these "crazy" guys who were trying to fly. One day in 1903, a young reporter by the name of Harry Moore happened to overhear some Life Savers talking about the Wrights in Norfolk, Virginia.They had gone there to to buy a barrel of oysters for the pair. Moore's interest was piqued.  He had a nose for news.  He befriended the Life Savers, who seemed to know all about the Wrights' experiments, and made them promise to let him know right away if the Wrights managed to make a powered flight.
                    
We know from the Wright letters that, according to their calculations, they were concerned whether they had enough thrust to fly with their little 12 horsepower engine. With changes, the machine kept getting heavier.

Their friend Octave Chanute, who was an engineer and an expert in aviation, visited them at Kill Devil Hills that fall. Before he left, he told them that their engine wasn't powerful enough to lift their plane because it would lose too much energy from the chain drag to the propellers. The Wrights averred they did an experiment and proved him wrong.

The Wright Flyer on its track on the big Kill Devil Hill, 1903.  Here the Wrights used the assistance of gravity to take off because their 12 hp engine wasn't strong enough. Note that the "Flyer " had no wheels, which was an advantage in the sand, but wheels weren't added for years because the Wrights later had to rely on a catapult to take off.

They attached their 12 horsepower engine to their "Wright Flyer I" in preparation for what they thought would be the first powered, manned, heavier than air flight in history. On December 14 1903, we are told that they tried and failed in their first attempt to make a powered flight, launching from the track on the hill.

But on December 17 at 10:35 a.m., we are told by Wright historians that Orville succeeded in making a 12 second hop of 120 feet  "from level ground." The wind was recorded at 27 mph.Wright historians call Orville's hop the first manned powered controlled heavier than air flight in history. Was it a flight or a glide?

 What happened immediately before and after Orville's claimed flight is now open to question. There are at least two different stories, the one told by the Wright brothers and the one that is revealed.from the primary source documents that reporter Harry Moore's daughter preserved for years.

The Wrights say they made three more flights that morning from 10:35 until noon. Their story can be read in a telegram they sent their father the Bishop that afternoon. They claim it was sent after the last flight by Wilbur and that it is the only telegram that was sent. Later, they sent out a news release that was supposed to back up what the telegram said.

  

 Success four flights thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from Level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas

These words have been accepted as gospel for over a hundred years

But it's important that we reexamine the statements of the Wrights in this telegram, because it establishes whether they were truthful or not right from the beginning. We need to prove the veracity of their claims, because their stories then and later had to be based on their honesty or lack of it. These are valid questions. The Wrights were very secretive about what they did from 1903 until 1908--five long years. Much of all we really have is their words about what happened. Moreover they made long testimonies in court under oath in their large numbers of lawsuits that claimed infringement of their patents and primacy in flight.

Unfortunately for the Wrights' tales and their historians claims, our primary source documents and witness statements do not support the Wrights' statements about what happened that day--before, during, and after Orville's hop of 120 feet at 10:35 am. On the Wrights' side, we only have their claims in their own words and some photographs with questionable anomalies they claimed documented their flights. What's more, Wright historians won't accept the statements of the actual eye witnesses, because the witnesses say that all of the flight attempts were made from the hill, not level ground.
           

What we believe happened immediately before and after the 10:35 claim, our primary source documents and witness statements can establish as follows:.

The Life Savers were true to their word to Harry Moore--to let him know right away if there was a powered flight. Directly after Orville's 10:35 powered "hop" on the day of December 17, the Life Savers, Willie Dough and John Daniels walked the quarter of a mile to the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving station, where there was a telephone. From there they contacted Joe Dosher, the telegraph operator at Kitty Hawk to send a telegram to Moore, who was in Norfolk, Virginia.

There was a telephone at the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Station, above. Two Life Savers hiked the quarter of a mile to this station right after Orville's "flight" and telephoned Joe Dosher who had a telegraph at the Kitty Hawk Station. Dosher telegraphed a message to reporter Harry Moore that Orville Wright had flown.

The telegram was received in Norfolk a little after 11:00 am by the telegraph operator named C. C. Grant, who was manning the line for the usual operator. Grant walked the telegram over to the home of Harry Moore and hand delivered it to him by about 11:40.  

Below is a copy of a letter written and signed by Grant, the telegraph operator in Norfolk, Virginia, who received the wire addressed to Harry Moore. It is an affidavit--a primary source document signed personally by the writer. This valuable document confirms what happened the morning of December 17, 1903, in at least two points. First of all, it proves that more than one telegram was sent that day--and this one was sent in the morning. To phone the telegram in, the Life Savers had to leave the camp--and the Wrights needed the help of all the Life Savers there to launch their "flyer." Therefore, the Wrights could hardly have made four flights that morning. Confirming this, C. C. Grant states right in the letter that the Life Savers said, "the Wrights made a short flight this morning and will try again this afternoon."

This valuable document resides right now in a safety deposit box, together with others that back up Moore's story.It essentially proves that the Wrights did not make four flights the morning of  December 17, '03, as they claimed in a telegram to their Bishop father. Permission to use this document was granted to truthinaviationhistory by its owner Steve Fritts.

  Norfolk Va., April 11, 1929

            I was bureau telegrapher at the Norfolk weather bureau, located on the top floor of the Citizens Bank of Norfolk, on December 17, 1903.
           Shortly after 11 a. m., a message came through on our wire government owned and controlled, from Kitty Hawk N.C.
            It was addressed to Harry P. Moore and it was signed Dough and Daniels. It stated that the "Wrights made a short flight this morning and will try again this afternoon."
             I delivered the message in person to Mr Moore at his home190 Charlotte street, opposite the Norfolk Academy. It was about 11.40 when I arrived.

                                                                    Very Truly

                                                                    C.C. Grant
For Mr Harry Moore or
any others who may be
Concerned

After reporter Harry Moore received the telegram from the Life Savers about 11:40 am, he immediately called up the Life Savers on the phone. The Life Savers were there at their Kill Devil Hills station, (not helping the Wrights launch three more flights).

To quote Moore:

I got in touch with one of the Life Savers by telephone, and he told me that 'at last the nuts had flown. One of those fellows flew just like a bird. The two of them put gasoline in the engine in their contraption and after it glided down a hill on a wooden track, it went up. It was Orville that flew and he came down safely.--Harry P. Moore, reporter *

Moore contacted the Norfolk Virginian Pilot newspaper with this big story. According to a "Virginia Living" article, "After collecting what facts he could from Norfolk by telephone, Moore rushed to the Pilot news room and gave the Kitty Hawk news to editorial personnel Keville Glennan, Frank S. Wing, and C. G. Kizer, the last head of the news department." The reaction was mixed. According to a later letter from Kizer recounting the newsroom’s reaction, Glennan, the city editor, thought it was “just another glider flight” and tossed Moore’s story into the wastebasket. But other newsmen backed up Moore. And meanwhile, more news was coming from other telegraph reports being sent. (Wright historians claim that only one wire was sent, the one from the Wrights to their father the Bishop at the end of the day. But even another telegram was apparently sent that morning by the Wrights to their sister Katherine. It was forwarded by Alpheus Drinkwater.)
.
Eventually the paper decided to print the story (headline at the start of this blog)  It was Harry
Moore's "big story," but as time went on, other newsmen, including Keville Glennan, decided that the story was so important, they wanted to take credit for it. It is this controversy about who was responsible for the newspaper account that prompted C. C. Grant, telegrapher, and others to write letters to set the story straight. If that hadn't happened, we wouldn't have these documents, and we might never have known what really happened the morning of December 17, 1903.

Below is a letter we have by editor Kizer. This story backs up Harry Moore's claim but also helps to back up the letter by telegrapher C. C. Grant. It was Henry Moore's intuition and his scoop that made the front page of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot in one of the most famous news stories of the era.**

Letter written by newsman C. G. Kizer, to back up reporter Harry Moore's story. Permission to publish this document was granted to truthinaviationhistory by owner Steve Fritts.

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* For a timeline and a more complete story, please see blog post "{Pieces of the Wright Puzzle. What Really Happened December 17, 1903)  (http://truthinaviationhistory.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-01-28T18:23:00-08:00&max-results=5)

**Transcript of Kizer's letter:
Norfolk    Lynchburg VA. Mar11 1929
Mr. Harry P. Moore'Virginian-Pilot
Norfolk, Va.

Dear Harry-
                Here I am in Lynchburg, wife's home town. I'm killing two birds with one stone, conducting a hearing of a labor dispute and paying my respects to the Wabes--my wife's folks-
at the same time.
             I wanted to write to you from Richmond to thank you for your letter to Byrd in my behalf. He told me about it and was much impressed with the things you told him. I hope I can live up to the nice things you said about me.
                It was largely through friendship, such as yours, that I made the grade and received another appointment.
                Don't you let anything Glennan has to say worry you in the least. You know him of old. He waits 25 years to claim credit for himself and Dean for the hard and excellent work you did [on] the Wright flight story.
                You know I was in charge of the news department at the time and I discussed with Foote the city editor and Glennan at two 'o clock in the afternoon your story on Wrights first flight  on December 17, 1903.***
                 At the time Glennan said he thought the story was just another glider flight. I told him to keep in touch with you and if you felt it was true it was good enough for me.
                 It was largely at my urging that he pulled the story out of the waste basket, under his desk, at night, touched it up to suit his own whim and sent it back to the composing room. I told him to put it on the front page.
                 Of all the mean tricks he has pulled, this is one of his meanest.   Mr. Grandy had little faith in him and he told me if I could not keep him in line to get rid of him.
                  Again, thanking you for all your efforts in my behalf I am,
                                   Sincerely your friend
                                        C. S. Kizer

*** The Wright brothers didn't walk the four miles to Kitty Hawk, so they claimed, to send the famous telegram to their father until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Obviously, according to Kizer, Moore had already written and submitted his story to the Virginian-Pilot by then.
       This corroborates that the Virginian Pilot didn't get their story from the telegraphers leaking the news from the telegram the Wrights sent their father after 2:00 p.m. This is what the Wrights and their historians claim, but the truth is, the Life Savers, the telegraphers, and Harry Moore never told the Wrights the real story in order to protect each other and their sources.

 To be continued.