The Wright Brothers sold their first airplane to the United States Army in August 1909.

Their initial airplane (Model A) was tested at Fort Myer, Virginia on August 20th 1908. After a series of successful test flights, the plane crashed on the 17th of September 1908, severely injuring Orville Wright and killing his passenger, Lt. T. Selfridge.

Despite the disaster, the military was convinced the Wright Brothers had designed a capable airplane and extended their contract for one more year.


The Wrights designed another craft, the Wright Military Flyer. The Military Flyer differed from the Model A in that it had a rather shorter wingspan, longer propellers, set higher off the ground, and had a different gear ratio in the power transmission. These changes were made to increase the speed of the craft. The motor was identical to the one used the year before, however produced slightly additional horsepower as a result of modification.
The footage is from the original test flight in July 27, 1909.


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