Top 5 Facts: Wright brothers

1. No college – Wilbur and Orville were the only members of the Wright family who didn’t attend college. Orville spent the years learning the printing trade, while Wilbur helped at the local church.

2. Lifelong bachelors – Neither of the Wright brothers married throughout their lives. Wilbur is recorded as once saying that he “did not have time for both a wife and an airplane.”

3. Child’s play – In their later lives, the Wright brothers attributed their fascination with flying machines to a small toy helicopter which their father had brought home one day from his travels.

4. Luminaries – Both of the brothers extensively catalogued their aviation experiments, leading to Wilbur Wright delivering a talk at the prestigious Western Society of Engineers in Chicago in 1901. The speech was entitled ‘Some Aeronautical Experiments’.

5. Hobby to business – In 1909 the Wright Company was incorporated with Wilbur as president and Orville as one of two vicepresidents. The company’s factory was based in Dayton, OH, and their flying field at the nearby Huffman Prairie.