Hawk. They looked near Dayton for a level place for fl ying. After a few days of searching the Wrights found a suitable ninety-acres pasture, often called “Huff man Prairie,” that belonged to Torrence Huff man, a Dayton bank president. He allowed them to use it free — provided they didn’t run over his cows. Charlie and the Wrights built a hangar to house the airplane and moved into the new facility on April 20, 1904. Charlie took care of the fi eld and facility while the Wrights were going around the country and world. He was the fi rst airport manager. In a 1948 interview Charlie said that he had “always
wanted to learn to fl y, but I never did. The Wrights refused to teach me and tried to discourage the idea. They said they needed me in the shop and to service their machines, and if I learned to fl y I’d be gadding about the country and maybe become an exhibition pilot, and then they’d never see me again.” How prophetic those last words were! The Wrights were trying to sell the aircraft to the
military and started to do demonstration fl ights on September 3, 1908. Orville fl ew and Charlie kept the aircraft in good fl ying condition. On September 17, Charlie was slated to fl y with Orville, but before the fl ight, larger propellers were installed to compensate for the heavier weight of the two men. At the last minute, Charlie was replaced by Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, a 20-year-old West Point graduate from San Francisco. During the fl ight Orville heard a strange noise. He looked around but didn’t see anything. However, he decided to shut the engine down and land. Suddenly, there were two large thumps and the aircraft shook violently, as Orville tried to control aircraft to the ground. About 20 feet from the ground the aircraft started to correct itself, but it was too late. The aircraft hit the ground, killing Lieutenant Selfridge and badly injuring Orville Wright. Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge became the fi rst passenger casualty in a powered aircraft. After the accident, Charlie investigated the crash scene and found the new propellers that they put on before the fl ight had delaminated. Charlie reported his fi ndings to Orville, who was in the hospital recovering from his injuries. Charles was the fi rst person to investigate a powered fatal accident fl ight. Charles Taylor continued to work with the Wright
brothers until 1911. At this time an adventurer and a pilot, Calbraith Perry Rodgers, wanted to make the fi rst continental fl ight across the United States. He purchased an aircraft from the Wright brothers and enough parts to build two more aircraft. Orville realized that the aircraft would not last more than 1,000 miles without being properly maintained, so he lent Charlie to Rodgers knowing that he would be the only one that could keep the plane fl ying for that distance successfully. Charlie sent
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