demonstrated it, or at least the press would have ferreted out the news. As the editors of Scientific American note early in 1906:
Unfortunately the Wright brothers are hardly disposed to publish any substantiation or to make public experiments, for reasons best known to themselves. If such sensational and tremendously important experiments are being conducted in a not very remote part of the country on a subject in which almost everybody feels the most profound interest, is it possible to believe that the enterprising American reporter, who, it is well known, comes down the chimney when the door is locked…. would not have ascertained all about them and published them long ago?
Considering the Wrights’ penchant for secrecy, it is not surprising that they disdained the aviation exhibitions that have been hosted with increasing frequency in the earliest years of the twentieth century. Not only do they shun these events as participants; they normally choose not to attend them as observers, either. But they will make an exception for Baldwin’s demonstration. After all, in 1906, Baldwin is arguably the most famous outdoor attraction in the world. In this seminal period in the earliest days of aviation, he has performed death-defying aerial feats around the world—in North America, Europe, and the Far East. Whether ascending in one of his airships or jumping from impossible heights with a parachute, “Captain Baldwin’s name,” as one newspaper report put it, is “always a promise of thrills.”
On the first day of Baldwin’s visit, as the crowd begins to gather at the fairgrounds for his air show, the weather looks increasingly ominous. The wind has picked up enough that spectators are bracing themselves against it; men are quite literally holding on to their hats while women in the crowd attend their billowing skirts. It looks to Curtiss far too windy to attempt a flight. But the portly Baldwin, looking much like a circus ringmaster in tall boots, a dramatic dark cape, and bowler hat, seems to be measuring the gusty wind against the size of the growing crowd. He is torn. The wind will make it nearly impossible to control the dirigible but he has surely taken greater risks in the past. He decides to make the ascent despite the wind and clambers into the pilot’s catwalk to start the dirigible’s engine.
Curtiss has yet to recognize them but, sure enough, the Wright brothers have moved prominently to the front of the crowd to watch Baldwin’s flight. They stand straight-backed, and side by side, decked out, as always, in neatly starched collars and fully buttoned suit jackets.
Almost immediately after Baldwin is launched, it is clear to all that the strong gusts are too much for the airship. The crowd watches dumbfounded as Baldwin and his craft begin to drift swiftly and inexorably away from the fairgrounds.
Curtiss and other assistants on hand immediately set out on a run. The Wrights, who by this time have had a good deal of experience with airborne mishaps, gamely skirt the cord roping off the spectators and join Curtiss and the others to try to recover the vast runaway airship, its tethering lines now dragging and flailing below.
What an improbable scene, like one of those parlor games where figures from history are imagined together in farfetched situations. As complete strangers, Curtiss and the Wrights run beside one another across the open fields of the Dayton fairground in common pursuit of a wayward aircraft.
The restraining ropes are quickly recovered, but the wind is so strong it takes the hard work of Curtiss, Wilbur Wright, and several others to tame the unruly dirigible. And as they tug the cumbersome airship back to its prominent spot at the fairground, a grateful Baldwin, disembarking none the worse for the ride, thanks them all for their indispensable and speedy assistance. After the strange ordeal, the Wright brothers formally introduce themselves to Curtiss as he catches his breath. And
Unfortunately the Wright brothers are hardly disposed to publish any substantiation or to make public experiments, for reasons best known to themselves. If such sensational and tremendously important experiments are being conducted in a not very remote part of the country on a subject in which almost everybody feels the most profound interest, is it possible to believe that the enterprising American reporter, who, it is well known, comes down the chimney when the door is locked…. would not have ascertained all about them and published them long ago?
Considering the Wrights’ penchant for secrecy, it is not surprising that they disdained the aviation exhibitions that have been hosted with increasing frequency in the earliest years of the twentieth century. Not only do they shun these events as participants; they normally choose not to attend them as observers, either. But they will make an exception for Baldwin’s demonstration. After all, in 1906, Baldwin is arguably the most famous outdoor attraction in the world. In this seminal period in the earliest days of aviation, he has performed death-defying aerial feats around the world—in North America, Europe, and the Far East. Whether ascending in one of his airships or jumping from impossible heights with a parachute, “Captain Baldwin’s name,” as one newspaper report put it, is “always a promise of thrills.”
On the first day of Baldwin’s visit, as the crowd begins to gather at the fairgrounds for his air show, the weather looks increasingly ominous. The wind has picked up enough that spectators are bracing themselves against it; men are quite literally holding on to their hats while women in the crowd attend their billowing skirts. It looks to Curtiss far too windy to attempt a flight. But the portly Baldwin, looking much like a circus ringmaster in tall boots, a dramatic dark cape, and bowler hat, seems to be measuring the gusty wind against the size of the growing crowd. He is torn. The wind will make it nearly impossible to control the dirigible but he has surely taken greater risks in the past. He decides to make the ascent despite the wind and clambers into the pilot’s catwalk to start the dirigible’s engine.
Curtiss has yet to recognize them but, sure enough, the Wright brothers have moved prominently to the front of the crowd to watch Baldwin’s flight. They stand straight-backed, and side by side, decked out, as always, in neatly starched collars and fully buttoned suit jackets.
Almost immediately after Baldwin is launched, it is clear to all that the strong gusts are too much for the airship. The crowd watches dumbfounded as Baldwin and his craft begin to drift swiftly and inexorably away from the fairgrounds.
Curtiss and other assistants on hand immediately set out on a run. The Wrights, who by this time have had a good deal of experience with airborne mishaps, gamely skirt the cord roping off the spectators and join Curtiss and the others to try to recover the vast runaway airship, its tethering lines now dragging and flailing below.
What an improbable scene, like one of those parlor games where figures from history are imagined together in farfetched situations. As complete strangers, Curtiss and the Wrights run beside one another across the open fields of the Dayton fairground in common pursuit of a wayward aircraft.
The restraining ropes are quickly recovered, but the wind is so strong it takes the hard work of Curtiss, Wilbur Wright, and several others to tame the unruly dirigible. And as they tug the cumbersome airship back to its prominent spot at the fairground, a grateful Baldwin, disembarking none the worse for the ride, thanks them all for their indispensable and speedy assistance. After the strange ordeal, the Wright brothers formally introduce themselves to Curtiss as he catches his breath. And
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