ORVILLE CONVINCES THE ARMY HE CAN FLY.
Black and white photograph, 3½ x 9½ inches, with inkstamped credit on verso of Harris & Ewing and photo agency information.
Orville's first demonstration to the Army of a 2-man "Heavier-than-air Flying Machine" was on September 3, 1908, at Fort Myer, VA. Over the next two weeks several records were set, but on the 17th a crash seriously injured Orville and killed his passenger Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge.
The Wrights went back to the drawing board, and returned to Fort Myer the following summer with an improved aircraft, the Wright Military Flyer. The present image shows Orville in flight with spectators below, on July 30, 1909, when he averaged a speed of 42.58mph over a flight distance of 44 miles. With these results, the Army agreed to pay the Wright brothers $25,000 for the Wright Military Flyer with a bonus of $2,500 for each mile per hour over 40mph.