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Wilbur Wright, [Diary Entry], May 1908

Text from Diary
1-3 Navigate This Item 6-7

[4 May 1908, Monday - Wilbur Wright Diary, Kill Devil Hills, NC]

[Page 22 cont.]

Fair N. 4 m. Afternoon about 7-5 m.

We mounted the magneto & got things ready for engine tests. Some trouble was experienced in getting the engine started owing to the fact that the cap to gasoline tank was airtight almost and kept a back pressure on the gasoline, thus preventing it from feeding fast enough. We ran the engine four times, the runs being about 3 min., 5 min., 12 min., and 15 minutes. It ran each time without any stop of its own accord. [...]

[Page 23]

[...] we have plenty of power for one man and that is all we care for at first. A telegram from Mr. Alexander congratulates us—we suppose on the fake report of a flight. This would indicate that the report has been cabled abroad. We have not yet seen the report.

Weather Data for 4 May 1908


[5 May 1908, Tuesday - Wilbur Wright Diary, Kill Devil Hills, NC]

[Page 24]

Cloudy. N.E. 8 m. 11 a.m. 9-11 ½ m. Afternoon drizzling.

We put on the tail and its adjuster and reset the front rudder framing & rudder in place. In the afternoon we ran the machine out of the shed and Orville practiced the operation of the new wing-twisting handles in a wind of 8 or 9 meters per sec., the machine standing on the rail. About noon Mr. Salley, a Norfolk reporter, came over from Manteo with another Capt. Midgett, a nephew of the Walter Midgett of the Kill Devil Life Saving Station. He had been instructed by one of the New York papers to investigate the reports sent out several days ago of some sensational flights, one of which was said to have extended out over the ocean a distance of ten miles. It drizzled more or less during the afternoon

[Page 25]

and rained some during the night.

Weather Data for 5 May 1908


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Citation: Diary entry, May 1908. Diary of Wilbur Wright, Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
 
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