Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park issued the following announcement on Dec. 04.
Did you know that Orville Wright flew in Germany? In the summer of 1909, Alfred Hildebrandt, a German journalist who had covered the Wright brothers’ flights in France, invited Wilbur and Orville to come give flying demonstrations in Germany. The brothers accepted the invitation and decided that Orville should be the one to fly in Germany, since Wilbur had done all the flying in France. Orville and Katharine travelled to Germany and arrived in Berlin on August 19, 1909.
They were warmly welcomed, and Orville spent the summer and fall flying demonstrations around Berlin, in front of crowds of as many as 200,000 people! In October, Orville took the Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm up for a short flight, and Orville later shared that he was so happy with the flight, that after it ended the Prince gave him his tie pin with a W on it! While in Germany, Orville also set several altitude and endurance records. He and Katharine also took time to travel around the country, visiting Frankfurt and other cities as well.
Image: Orville standing at a flying field with Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and Hart O. Berg in 1909, courtesy of Wright State University Special Collections & Archives.
#DaytonAviation #AviationHistory #TravelWright #NPS #FindYourPark
Original source can be found here.
Source: Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
Alerts Sign-up