# What happened to the Wright Brothers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990 "2015-01-04T23:35:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/1 "2015-01-04T23:35:01Z")
Hello Everyone, What ever happened to the Weight Brothers? Why isn’t there a major aircraft company with the Wright name? One would think that hey would have emerged as the leader in aviation. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/2 "2015-01-04T23:46:08Z")
> [@](#): > > The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them on 22 November 1909 in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing on their invention of the practical airplane… > The Wright Company concentrated its efforts on protecting the company’s patent rights rather than on developing new aircraft or aircraft components, believing that innovations would hurt the company’s efforts to obtain royalties from competing manufacturers or patent infringers. Wilbur Wright died in 1912, and on October 15, 1915, Orville Wright sold the company, which in 1916 merged with the Glenn L. Martin Company to form the Wright-Martin Company. > **[Wright Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Company)** > > The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright brothers, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing on their invention of the practical airplane. The company maintained its headquarters office in New York City and built its factory in Dayton, Ohio. > The two buildings designed by Dayton architect William Earl Russ and built by Rouzer Construction for the W... Following more mergers it ended up as part of Curtiss-Wright, which very important through World War II. But:“Curtiss-Wright failed to make the transition to design and production of jet aircraft, despite several attempts.” > **[Curtiss-Wright](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright)** > > The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and various supplier companies, the company was immediately the country's largest aviation firm and built more than 142,000 aircraft engines for the U.S. military during World War II. > It no longer makes aircraft but does make many related components, particularly... ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/3 "2015-01-04T23:48:47Z")
they had the Wright Company. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/4 "2015-01-04T23:50:14Z")
Wilbur died young. Orville lived to be sort of an “elder statesman” of aviation, but wasn’t much of a businessman, had sense enough to know it, and sold the company in 1915 for enough to continue to live comfortably on. Eventually, the Wright Company was bought out by Curtiss, and Curtiss-Wright continues to exist to this day: [http://www.curtisswright.com/home/default.aspx](http://www.curtisswright.com/home/default.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/5 "2015-01-04T23:56:19Z")
They did start a business building planes and training pilots. However, they planes, at that stage, were not much more than prototypes and test beds with little or no commercial or military value. They also spent a lot of time and effort defending their patents regarding their plane, although other developments superseded their patents. Wilbur only lived another nine years after the first flight, dying of Typhus in 1912. Orville had no real stomach for business and soon sold his shares of the Wright company and went into semi-retirement. The Wright company eventually focused on engines and survived for several decades as a major player in the aircraft engine industry, their engines powering a large number of U.S. bombers in WWII, (although no fighters, that I recall–maybe the F4F?) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/6 "2015-01-05T00:01:25Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Hello Everyone, > > What ever happened to the Weight Brothers? Well, with that name they would had trouble taking off. 🙂 As **PastTense** reported a lot had to do with concentrating on patents rather than manufacturing and continuing with the development, this article goes more into that: > **[The Airplane Business](https://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Wright_Story/Airplane_Business/Airplane_Business_Intro.htm)** > > the Airplane Business. Part of the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company, a virtual museum of pioneer aviation, the invention of the airplane, and man's first flights. In essence, the Wright brothers were like the Steve Wozniak of Apple, the one that designed the Apple computer, but the Wrights did not have a Steve Jobs to drive the business. > [@](#): > > October 1910 - The Wrights brought their new Model B to the first international air show to be held in the United States, at Belmont, New York. They also unveiled a single-seat, clipped-wing version they called the Model R - the “R” was for “racer”. With a powerful V-8 engine, it could fly in excess of 70 miles per hour and with it, the Wrights hoped to snatch the Gordon Bennett trophy for speed away from Curtiss . It wasn’t to be. Walter Brookins crashed the Model R in a trial flight, and the trophy went to English pilot Claude Graham-White. This marked the end of the Wright’s perceived technological superiority in airplane design. So they lost the confidence of investors and then the US government did not finance the airplane industry like it was happening in Europe, it also did not help that only too late the Wrights dropped the idea that the airplane was going to be used mostly for sports and not for war. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/7 "2015-01-05T00:21:43Z")
As others noted, they did stick around but couldn’t make it in the newly formed aircraft business world by themselves. However, even though they are very famous today, they are still some of the least appreciated scientist/inventors of all time. There are still claims floating around that they weren’t the ones to make the first stable, powered flight. That hardly matters even if it was even proven to be technically true. They were very methodical and were virtually guaranteed success given the way that they approached the problem of flight. They made major innovations in engine design and developed basic airplane control surfaces. They also pioneered the use of research tools like the wind tunnel. Most people know them by their famous photo launching Flyer I on its successful flight attempt but they did not stop there. Airplane technology was inevitable around that time and a number of people made similar aircraft shortly after 1903. What is less know is that they were working on new aircraft the entire time and had already developed several new generations of aircraft before their invention was widely acknowledged. They developed and flew their aircraft mostly around Dayton, OH in the most secrecy possible until other inventors started making counter-claims about being the first true aviators. The Wright Brothers had to finally give a completely public demonstration where they literally flew rings around the competition because their aircraft at that point was fully functional and could do anything a small plane today could do (Flyer I from just a few years before was a nightmare to launch or control at all). There was an interesting fight that involved the Wright Brothers, the Smithsonian and Samuel Pierpont Langley. For many years, Langely was credited by the Smithsonian as being the inventor of the first powered flight even though he did no such thing. It took a very long time for them to even be recognized as the true inventors of the airplane. In other words, if you went back to 1905 or so, they still wouldn’t have been very notable people in the popular press and even less so in the business world. They still made some business success despite their true interests but it wasn’t enough to carry forward to this day. ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/8 "2015-01-05T01:00:10Z")
They flew too close to the sun. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/9 "2015-01-05T01:03:45Z")
What’s the current consensus of opinion of the importance of Wilbur (who died early) vs Orville? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/10 "2015-01-05T01:19:59Z")
A portrait of Orville & Wilbur is printed on every US pilot’s license. So that’s one place they ended up; in a lot of back pockets & purses. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/11 "2015-01-05T01:24:58Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > What’s the current consensus of opinion of the importance of Wilbur (who died early) vs Orville? According to the very comprehensive book I just finished, [Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies,](http://www.amazon.com/Birdmen-Wright-Brothers-Curtiss-Control/dp/034553803X) Wilbur had the theoretical brilliance, and Orville was an excellent craftsman who built the various models with great precision and high quality, as well as being the better pilot. Wilbur had the stronger personality, while Orville was content to let Wilbur take the lead. Both of them had a type of tunnel vision that convinced them that any innovation by anyone else was simply theft of their original ideas, and a moralistic streak that drove them to fight in the courts for years, suing Martin, Curtiss, et al for what amounted to total control over the aircraft industry. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/12 "2015-01-05T02:43:42Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Both of them had a type of tunnel vision that convinced them that any innovation by anyone else was simply theft of their original ideas I think this is a hard statement to support. Their belief that certain aircraft innovations infringed on their patents was based on factual analysis, not tunnel vision - and was largely borne out by legal judgments. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/13 "2015-01-05T03:28:23Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Wilbur died young. Orville lived to be sort of an “elder statesman” of aviation, but wasn’t much of a businessman, had sense enough to know it, and sold the company in 1915 for enough to continue to live comfortably on. Eventually, the Wright Company was bought out by Curtiss, and Curtiss-Wright continues to exist to this day: > > [Curtiss-Wright Corporation | Home](http://www.curtisswright.com/home/default.aspx) I believe the amount he sold it for was \*\*\*a cool 1915 million dollars! \*\*\*Also he lived all the way to just past the end of WWII (i.e. he saw & knew the significance of an atomic weapon delivered by aircraft). Also the Wright Company is known more for aircraft \*engines \*than entire airplanes. ---
**Author:** ![agilpro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@agilpro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agilpro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/14 "2015-01-05T05:01:39Z")
Wilbur died on May 30, 1912 of Typhoid fever and Oriville died on January 30, 1948 of a heart attack. Neither married and both are buried in the family plot in Dayton OH. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/15 "2015-01-05T05:06:44Z")
They might not have what it took to move into jets but they were the first pilots with the wright stuff. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/16 "2015-01-05T05:07:48Z")
Related question, what was the best plane the brothers built? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/17 "2015-01-05T05:14:15Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The Wright company eventually focused on engines and survived for several decades as a major player in the aircraft engine industry, their engines powering a large number of U.S. bombers in WWII, (although no fighters, that I recall–maybe the F4F?) During the early part of WWII, my dad was a civilian working for the US Navy Bureau of Air as an Inspector at the Columbus, OH Curtis-Wright plant. At the time, they were building Curtis SB2 Helldivers, a carrier capable dive bomber that was used from 43 to 45. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/18 "2015-01-05T05:45:20Z")
> [@agilpro](#): > > Neither married and both are buried in the family plot in Dayton OH. Goddamn! They _were_ fucking Geniuses! ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/19 "2015-01-05T06:25:56Z")
As mentioned by others, they spent a lot of their time fighting to defend their patents. As a result, the majority of aviation development happened overseas in Europe, not hampered by that dispute. The Wrights realized the problem was control, and developed a technique called “wing warping” to control the aircraft. Simple weight shifting (like hang gliders) was insufficient for controlling a heavy aircraft with an engine. The Wrights’ patent included “and other methods” so they would sue builders like Curtiss over ailerons, a technology that obviously scaled up to larger, more solid aircraft. As a result, it’s no surprise the Europeans were flying multi-engine enclosed aircraft, enclosed cockpits, and many other advances, while at the start of WWI the best the US had was not much different than the original Wright planes. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990/20 "2015-01-05T09:55:29Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I believe the amount he sold it for was \*\*\*a cool 1915 million dollars! \*\* Not true. The Birdman book cited in this thread lists it at $1.5 million (which would be vastly more in 2015 dollars). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-wright-brothers/708990.md?page=2)