When people think of the Wright brothers, they often think of the first powered flight in human history on December 17, 1903, in Katie Hawk Beach, North Carolina, flying the Aviator 1 glider. However, behind the success of the legendary brothers, there is also a lesser-known key figure - their sister Katherine Wright, who is rarely mentioned in history.
Three inseparable Wright siblings
Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1874, Catherine was the youngest of five children of Bishop Milton and Susan, and the only daughter in the family. In 1889, her mother, Susan, died of tuberculosis, and at the age of 15, Catherine took on the burden of running the household. At the same time, she assisted her father, who was a frequent evangelist, in managing his teaching and finances.
At that time, the two older brothers of the Wright family had left home to earn a living, and only Wilbur and Orville were still living with Catherine. The relationship between the three brothers and sisters is very good and inseparable. In 1892, Wilbur and Orville partnered to open a bicycle shop.
Despite her household chores, Catherine was at the top of her studies. "Catherine was the only child in the Wright family to go to college – the only child in the Wright family to go to college – advocating that women should be well educated in order to produce good male citizens in the future. Sarah Fisher, director of the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland, said.
After graduating from Oberlin College in 1898, Catherine returned to Dayton to teach Latin and English in high school, while continuing to run the household chores, freeing up her two older brothers to concentrate on airplane experiments. As a bachelor who never married, without the careful care of his sister, the Wright brothers' career may not be sustainable.
In September 1900, Wilbur and Orville made their first trip to Katie Hawk for gliding experiments, and the following summer they visited again. In July 1901, the two published their preliminary findings in a scientific journal. In September of the same year, Wilbur, the author of the article, was invited to Chicago to give a lecture to the Western Society of Engineers.
Wilbur had always been a lover of words, and at first she was going to refuse, but it was Catherine who "nagged him to go", and she also helped Wilbur choose the most decent clothes in Orville's closet to make him look decent when he showed his face in front of the engineers, and although the Wright brothers did not make their first successful test flight until two years later, Catherine had confidence in them from the beginning. In the letter, she told her father that Wilbur's participation in the conference would give him the opportunity to meet some scientists, and that he might benefit greatly. What an understatement it turned out to be.
This speech became one of the most important in the history of aviation, and Wilbur's speech made the Wright brothers famous.
Catherine is behind the scenes
In the years that followed, Catherine taught and ran her family, while supporting her two older brothers in their aviation careers. Together with her eldest brother, Lorraine, she also helps out in her brother's bike shop.
However, an accident on September 17, 1908, changed everything completely. On the same day, Orville crashed during a test flight at Fort Meyer in Arlington, Virginia, killing Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, an Army aviation expert who was traveling with him, and seriously injuring him himself. When Catherine heard the news, she immediately asked for leave and rushed to her brother's sickbed to take care of her. During Orville's seven weeks in the hospital, she stayed on her feet, and then accompanied him back to Dayton in a wheelchair to recuperate.
In December of the same year, Wilbur, who was far away in France to promote aircraft, wrote to Catherine, suggesting that she accompany Orville to Europe and act as their "social manager". A month later, when Orville was back enough to travel, Catherine officially resigned from her teaching position, and the siblings set off for Europe together.
In a foreign country, Catherine's means of communication are indispensable. She is outgoing and warm-hearted, while Wilbur and Orville are more introverted and don't express themselves well, and Catherine is there to help them connect. While the two older brothers were busy greeting European diplomats, royalty and other inventors, she would explain to ordinary people in an easy-to-understand way about the feats they had just witnessed. In general, Catherine wears many hats in Europe, including "social secretary, hostess, promoter, diplomat and spokesperson for her brother".
In June 1909, less than a month after returning from Europe, the Wright siblings left for Washington, D.C., to attend President Taft's ceremony to present the Wright brothers with the American Flying Club Medal. Taft called Catherine "the most important member of the Wright family" at the meeting, acknowledging her moral support and social guidance for her brother.
Aside from those high-profile public events, many of Catherine's contributions to her brother take place behind the scenes. Back in 1901, when Wilbur and Orville began setting flight records, she set out to archive them.
Thankfully, some of Catherine's frequent correspondents also kept decades of correspondence, telegrams, and other documents, including her close friend, aviation journalist Earl Findlay. He treasured his correspondence with Catherine between 1915 and 1928. The letters began with Wilbur's untimely death at the age of 45, three years after his death from typhoid fever in 1912. The letter shows Catherine's efforts to strengthen her brother's place in history.
Much of the early correspondence revolved around Catherine lobbying Orville to work with Findlay to write an accurate and comprehensive biography of the Wright brothers. She also gave a detailed account of the progress of Wright's patent infringement lawsuits and the debate between Orville and the Smithsonian Institution over who invented the first flying airplane from 1915 to 1942.
Catherine herself was not interested in patents, but by keeping the materials on her brother's behalf, she was able to support Orville and his attorneys in patent disputes, ensuring that their inventions were not infringed, and it was with her help that it was the Wright brothers who were the first to achieve powered flight in the modern sense.
The saga continues
Although Catherine was once in the public spotlight, she was soon reduced to a footnote to the sibling saga, and was even completely forgotten. In recent decades, however, this has begun to change.
For example, the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland has had a dedicated exhibit on Catherine since March 1989. Highlights include the lace gown she wore to President Taft in 1909, photographs and some personal belongings. Catherine illustrates the many possibilities for women in aerospace careers, and visitors can see that there are more opportunities for women to thrive in this field today.
The Dayton Historical Society has also opened a section dedicated to the Wright Brothers National Museum, where visitors can learn more about the Wright family's history by learning about Catherine's important role in the lives and careers of the two older brothers.
In 2011, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution officially recognizing Catherine's significant contribution to the Wright brothers' achievements. The resolution states that she provided indispensable support during her brothers' aircraft experiments and was critical to their ultimate success.
In 2013, the University of Dayton named Catherine's name to the library in its honor. Director Kathleen Webber said, "Today, when people walk into the Kathleen Wright Library, her name is a constant reminder of the important role women can play in science and engineering. ”
For the intimate trio of the Wright siblings, Wilbur is the theorist and inventor, Orville is the engineer and pilot, and Catherine is their backing and right-hand man.
As Wilbur said before his death, "If there were no Catherine, there would be no airplane." ”