Beschreibung:

WRIGHT, WILBUR and ORVILLE. Typed letter signed ("Wilbur and Orville Wright per O. Wright") with autograph postscript, to the journalist Carl Dienstbach, Dayton, Ohio, 17 November 1905. Two pages, 4to, on imprinted stationery of the Wright Cycle Company, both pages with small clean tear at central horizontal fold, first leaf with two small burn holes affecting two words, minor soiling. "THE FLIGHTS AT KITTY HAWK WERE SEEN BY NEARLY ALL THE MEN AT THE U.S....LIFE SAVING STATION...." An interesting letter in which the Wrights, responding to widespread belief that their flights at Kitty Hawk and Dayton were hoaxes or journalistic fantasy, cite independent witnesses to the historic flights. "A good deal of doubt seems to exist in Europe as to whether there is any truth in the reports that have been made concerning our flights of 1903 and 1904; and it is not at all surprising, under the circumstances, since there has never been any account of any one having seen them, except the inventors themselves. There have been a number of witnesses to every flight we have made in the last three years. The flights near Kitty Hawk [North Carolina] were seen by nearly all the the [ sic ] men at the U.S. Kill Devil Life Saving Station, who viewed the flights through a glass [a telescope]. The flights in 1904 [at Huffman Prairie] were witnessed by the farmers on the surrounding farms, besides a number of citizens of Dayton, whom we had invited. Mr. A.I. Root...was also present a number of times, and wrote an account of what he saw for his journal, 'Gleanings in Bee Culture,' for January 1st, 1905. "The longer flights were witnessed by a number of citizens of Dayton, among whom were Mr. Torrance Huffman, President Fourth National Bank; Mr. C.S. Billman...and Mr. Edgar W. Willis....If you or the Editor of your journal [the Aeronautische Mitteilungen] with to make a personal investigation of the matter, we have no doubt that any of these gentlemen would take pleasure corroborating the fact that they were present when flights of fifteen to twenty-four miles were made. We would not want their names published, as theyt would no doubt be flooded with inquiries. None of these gentlemen have any financial interest in our machine, either directly or indirectly...." As a postscript, Wilbur adds: "We are sending you under separate cover [a] copy of Gleanings [in Bee Culture] of Jan. 1st 1905." Published in Kelly, Miracle at Kitty Hawk, pp. .