'Higher, Orville, Higher!'

On May 25, 1910, after six-and-a-half years of flying and with full confidence in their skills and machines, the Wright brothers brought their 81-year-old father here for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Late that afternoon Wilbur sat on the wing next to Orville in the only flight the brothers ever took together, despite a promise to their father that they would never do so, a promise he relented on just that once. Then their father, Milton Wright, climbed up next to his youngest son for the first time, and during the flight he leaned close to Orville's ear and shouted above the roar of engine, propellers, and slipstream, "Higher, Orville, Higher!"

Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio · United States