The 1909 Wright Military Flyer

On July 27, 1909, Orville Wright made a test flight of a contracted US Army airplane flying it for 1hour 12minutes and 40 seconds. An excerpt from the article:

"On July 26th President Taft went to Fort Meyer to watch the proceedings and was privileged to witness the aircraft ascend under its own power without use of the starting weight. A strong head wind assisted its takeoff with Wilbur running alongside to guide it.

The next day the aircraft satisfied the endurance requirement with a record flight of 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 40 seconds, covering approximately 40 miles in the process.

A course to establish the speed of the aircraft was set up from Fort Myer to Shooter’s Hill in Alexandria, Virginia, a distance of 5 miles. For the final acceptance flight, Orville Wright chose Lt. Foulois to be his passenger because he was short, slender and could read a map. After waiting several days for optimum wind conditions, Orville and Lt. Foulois made the 10-mile test flight on July 30th. The outbound lap speed was 37.735 mph and the return lap was 47.431 mph, giving an average speed of 42.583 mph. For the 2 mph over the required forty, the Wright brothers earned an additional $5,000."