Follow the Flight Path

In 1904-1905, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew here along a path that curved gently to the right, retracing flights made within a pasture marked by seven tall flag poles at its corners. The brothers tried to remain inside this field out of respect for property boundaries, and because their 700-pound flying machine, which had no wheels, was hard to drag back to the launch rails. During the first of three trials, they found they had begun a circle with too large a radius to stay within the limits of the small field where they were operating, so they landed each time without accident rather than pass beyond the field's boundaries.

Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio · United States