[WRIGHT, Wilbur.]

Archive concerning Wilbur Wright’s flights at the Auvours camp.

Camp d’Auvours (Champagné, Sarthe): September, 1908–14.

A remarkable archive of photographs, drawings, and other ephemera documenting Wilbur Wright’s demonstration flights of his and his brother Orville’s Model A Flyer at the Camp d’Auvours near Le Mans beginning in 1908. Although the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright had, as early as 1905, invented the first aeroplane capable of making controlled turns, their flights were carried out for three years only in the greatest secrecy. Fearing imitators, waiting for a patent, the Wright brothers refused to organize any demonstration without a purchase contract.The public - in France, especially, where aviation was on the rise - was quick to show its skepticism. In May 1908, collaborating with the United States Army, the Wrights accepted several passengers on board their aeroplane for test flights.However, it was in France, where a contract had been signed with the Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérien, that the first public demonstrations took place: while Orville continued the tests in the United States, Wilbur had a Flyer Model A transported to Le Mans. The plane took off on June 18 from the Hunaudières racecourse. The demonstrations continued throughout the summer at the Auvours military camp.In the fall, two French student pilots began their training with the engineer.They founded the Wright School in Pau, the world’s first flying school. On December 31 of the same year, Wright made his last flight at the Auvours camp, covering a record distance of 124.7 km.in 2 hours, 20 minutes and 23 seconds.This feat earned him the very first Michelin Cup.He made some 120 flights in Le Mans, setting 9 world records. “There was slight public interest but in 1908 they won the Michelin trophy in Paris and in the following year contracted to supply an airplane for the U. S. Army. The flight by Bleriot across the English Channel in 1909 brought the world’s attention to the possibilities of flight, and in a few years man rose to the use of the air as an additional medium of transportation” (Dibner). Wilbur Wright maintained throughout his life that he and his brother had ‘invented the airplane’.The question is still subject to debate today.While the Wrights did indeed design the first dirigible aeroplane and are therefore considered by most historians to be the fathers of the invention, others argue that their models, which depended on a system of rails (and sometimes a catapult) to take off, cannot claim this title.In any case, the Wright brothers, after the triumph of 1908, were quickly overtaken: in 1911, the Flyer Model A, already obsolete, was acquired by the Pittsfield Museum.

Provenance: René Jean Gresser (1908-1983), antique dealer in Le Mans and aviation aficionado (envelope with his name containing the archive).

“The death, on 10 August 1896, of German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal, from injuries suffered in a gliding accident, led the Wrights to the serious study of flight. By 1899 they had carried their theory of lateral balance (aileron control) to the point of a practical demonstration made by Wilbur, in August, using a five-foot-span biplane kite. Equilibrium was maintained and maneuver made possible by varying the air pressures at the wing tips through adjustment of the angles of attack on the two sides. With this action and an adjustable horizontal surface (elevator), later (1902) combined with the compensating action of a movable vertical rudder, they achieved control about the three axes of the airplane. The system was patented in 1906 and has been used on all airplanes ever ever since.

“Discovering–from field experiments and tentative gliding trials at kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in the summers of 1900 and 1901–that almost all existing aerodynamic data were erroneous, the Wrights designed a small wind tunnel in which, in the fall of 1901, they tested several hundred model airfoils and obtained reliable lift and drag measurements as well as many other essential aerodynamic data.

“With this knowledge, in October 1902 they began the construction of a powered of a powered airplane. The all-up weight, including pilot, was 750 pounds. The engine and propellers were of their own design and manufacture, and the propellers were based entirely on theories they originated. With this machine four successful fights were made from the level sand near the Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on 17 December 1903. The final, longest flight lasted for fifty-nine seconds and covered a distance of 852 feet; this represented about half a mile through the air.

“The Wrights devoted the next five years to improving both their invention and their skill as pilots. In 1905, with the airplane nearing the state of practical utility, they offered their patent and their scientific data to the United States War Department, which rejected the overture. Convinced that the first use of the airplane would be in war, the Wrights sought markets abroad. In 1908, after many rebuffs, they received purchase offers from a French syndicate and from the United States government. Demonstration trials in the two countries took place concurrently, with Orville flying in the United States and Wilbur in France” (DSB).

“The Wright Model A, produced from 1907 to 1909, was the world’s first series production airplane. It was slightly larger and heavier than the Wright Flyer III which had preceded it. It was a two-place, single-engine canard biplane built of a wooden framework braced with wires and covered with muslin fabric. A new system of flight controls allowed the pilot to sit upright rather than lying prone on the lower wing. The dual horizontal elevators were placed forward and the dual vertical rudders aft. The biplane was 31 feet (9.449 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet (12.497 meters). The wings had a chord of 6.6 feet, and vertical separation of 6 feet. The airplane had an empty weight of approximately 800 pounds (363 kilograms). The Model A was powered by a single water-cooled, fuel-injected, 240.528 cubic-inch-displacement (3.942 liter) Wright vertical overhead-valve inline four-cylinder gasoline engine with 2 valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 4.165:1. It produced 32 horsepower at 1,310 r.p.m. During three years of production (1908–1911) Wright “4-40” engines were built that operated from 1,325 to 1,500 r.p.m. Power output ranged from 28 to 40 horsepower. These engines weighed from 160 to 180 pounds (72.6–81.6 kilograms). Two 8½ foot (2.591 meters) diameter, two-bladed, counter-rotating propellers, driven by a chain drive, are mounted behind the wings in pusher configuration. They turned 445 r.p.m. The Wright Model A could fly 37 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour).

“On 31 December 1908, at Camp d’Auvours, 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) east of Le Mans, France, Wilbur Wright flew a 1907 Wright Flyer a distance of 124.7 kilometers (77.48 miles) over a triangular course in 2 hours, 20 minutes, 23 seconds, setting a record for duration and distance. He won the first Michelin Trophy and a ₣20,000 prize. The International Michelin Trophy was a prize given over eight years by Michelin et Cie, the French tire company, to the Aéro-Club de France, to award on behalf of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. The winner would be the pilot who by sunset, 31 December of each year, held the record which had been established by the Aéro-Club” (https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/camp-dauvours/).

The archive comprises:

• 6 galatino-bromide negatives on glass plates of photographs of the Flyer Model A in flight at the Auvours camp, including 2 plates each containing 2 photographs (178 x 125 mm) and 4 smaller plates each containing one photograph (119 x 88 mm).
• 12 photographic prints, in gelatin-bromide on different papers, of the Flyer Model A in flight at the Auvours camp (89 x 138 mm to 178 x 125 mm).Of these: 3 are printed from the 2 large double-negatives (one printed in two shades), and 5 are printed from 2 of the negatives, one of which is in 3 copies.2 photographs are printed on postcards, and 2 are captioned on the back: "Wright at the Auvours camp, September 1908" and "Wright Aeroplane / Flight of September 24, 1908 / Duration: 54 minutes 3 seconds 1/5 / Official route: 39 kilometers 95 meters / actual distance: 56 to 60 km / Wind speed: 8 meters per second / Photo by Paul Gauliard".One of the prints, protected by two glass plates under a paper mat, is captioned at the bottom of the mat "Sept. 21, 1908. Wright at the Auvours camp flies 1 hour 32 minutes / Photo by R. André" (90 x 120 mm).Small loss to one print.
• 3 photographic prints, in gelatin-bromide on different papers, crowds of curious people observing the Flyer Model A (in flight or on land).Two are captioned, on the back ("Camp d'Auvours / Wilbur Wright / 25 Sept 1908") or full-length ("31 Jan 1909 / in the center left of the photo Pylon and PLANE of WRIGHT").One is printed on a postcard, used.
• 3 original drawings: portrait of Wilbur Wright in pencil, captioned "Wilbur Wright / 6 Dec 08 / Le Mans" and signed "I Pofrane [?]";portrait of Wilbur Wright in colored pencil;caricature of Wilbur Wright, in watercolor, holding the Flyer Model A like a kite (folds tears).
• An article from the Revue générale pratique, mounted on strong paper, concerning the distance and flight time record set by Wilbur Wright on December 31: this performance earned him the first Michelin Cup.
• 4 photographic prints (3 on postcards) documenting the history of aviation in Le Mans.The 3 postcard prints bear handwritten captions: ‘Le Mans - Aviation – Weymann’s monoplane after its fall [1911]’;‘Le Mans - Aviation - Lieutenant Ducurman preparing for departure [1911]';"Le Mans - Plane of the AERO-CLUB de l’OUEST / around 1913-14’;on this last photo, the caption also specifies the names of the people present.René Gasnier, founder of the Aéro-club de l’Ouest, was Wilbur Wright’s passenger during one of the demonstrations.He was also among the students of the Wright School in Pau, the first piloting school in the world.
• Two invitation cards for a reception and exhibition organized on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Wilbur Wright's first flights (envelope addressed to Mr. Gresser preserved). • 2 small reproductions of humorous drawings by Henri Mirande.
• A glass plate negative, photograph of an engraving made after César Daly of a steam-powered aeroplane, published in the Revue générale de l’architecture et des travaux publics, vol. 4, pl.I.
• A copy of the Almanach des aviateurs for 1909 (Paris: Méricant, 1908; 72 pp., 232 x 127 mm, paperback, illustrated cover worn).Containing an illustrated history of aviation, a review of the ‘heavier than air’ race between the French and the Americans, and a guide to building an aeroplane for the apprentice engineer, illustrated with diagrams: “tout le monde peut devenir aviateur, car il n'est pas pour cela besoin d’avoir les moyens de posséder un aéroplane à moteur. Il suffit d'aimer assez l'aviation pour consacrer ses loisirs à se construire un planeur avec lequel on pourra se livrer, à très peu de frais, à toutes les expériences possible” [“everyone can become an aviator, because it is not necessary to have the means to own a powered aeroplane. You just have to love aviation enough to devote your leisure time to building a glider with which you can indulge, at very little cost, in all possible experiments”].

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Item #6291

Price: $25,000.00