Wilbur Wright's Last Interview?

Byron R. Newton wrote an article in 1938 for U. S. Air Services magazine, of his recollections of a meeting with Wilbur Wright in Manhattan just weeks prior to Wilbur's death. If Newton's account is accurate, this would be a record of Wilbur Wright's last interview. Newton had been the aviation editor of the New York Herald beginning in 1907, and in May of 1908, he was amongst the spy's at Kitty Hawk observing the Wright's flights from afar. (1) 

 

J. H. Hare of Collier's Weekly photo of news reporters waiting for the Wright's flights in May of 1908 at Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. The brothers were amused as they knew the reporters were there, and they would have been welcomed to come meet the Wrights. Image courtesy of Wright State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives.

 

Newton, recalled (2) , "I remember so distinctly the last talk I had with Wilbur Wright and how he startled me with the outline of things to be disclosed just a little way ahead. It was on the occasion of his return from his last trip abroad in the summer of 1912. I had arranged to meet him at the old Manhattan Hotel in 42nd Street, as he came from the ship. We sat on an upper balcony and for two hours, looking down into the busy street, he outlined to me what he expected to see develop both in civil and military aviation in the future. It impressed me then as something almost too fantastic and incredible to grasp, but most of those predictions have since materialized before our eyes."

"I remember that he spoke with evident sadness and regret of the tardiness and indifference of our own country in aviation. He told me of the greater interest in France and other European countries and looked with much misgiving on the plight of the United States, should we be drawn into a war with no equipment for air fighting. He was profoundly opposed to war, but seemed to have a premonition of its coming and even at that period realized that the next great conflict would be largely fought in the air."

"He seemed to feel that the great problem of motor-driven aircraft was solved and that nothing now remained but the development and refinement for the fundamental principle. He gave to me a most amazing picture of the size and speed of airplanes that would soon be traversing the skies, and all this he regarded merely a matter of natural development sure to come."

"Strange to say, he told me at that time that the most interesting, and eventually important, phase of aerial development would be motorless flight. He had a sheaf of drawings and figures he had made on the voyage while observing the soaring flight of sea gulls. He described to me how a gull with motionless wings would pass a ship moving at thirty knots an hour and against a thirty-mile wind. "That," said he, "is our next important problem, and when I get back home Orville and I will go at it." He told me much of their long study and experiments in gliding prior to using a motor and said the secret of the soaring bird was now the real challenge to mankind."

"As we talked that day I made notes of some of these things but as I left him he said, "please don't print any of the things I have said about what is going to happen in the air. It won't do any good and it may do harm. People believe what they see, and they'll soon be seeing all these things, so , let 'em wait."

"A few weeks after that Wilbur Wright passed into the eternal shadows but his wonderful dream has come true."  

Byron Rufus Newton died March 20th, 1938, a month after his article appeared in the U. S. Air Services publication.  Up to the time of his death, Newton had been serving as Tax Commissioner in New York. He earlier had served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Wilson administration (1913-1916), and Collector of the Port of New York during WWI (1917-1921). (1)

Unfortunately, Newton's account contains a number of contradictions due to his remembering incorrectly the timing of an event 27 years earlier. Newton remembers "It was on the occasion of his [Wilbur's] return from his last trip abroad in the summer of 1912. I had arranged to meet him at the old Manhattan Hotel in 42nd Street, as he came from the ship." Wilbur died May 30th, 1912, in the Spring. Newton could not have met Wilbur in the Summer of 1912. Wilbur did not return from abroad on a ship in the Spring or Summer of 1912. The last trip abroad had been in 1911. Newton likely confused a Summer of 1911 meeting he had with Wilbur, when Wilbur would have returned to New York in August, coming from a ship. 

In 1911, Wilbur had left Dayton March 12th, heading to New York, and then to Paris. Wilbur would return to New York in early August. Orville left Dayton for New York August 2nd, with the brothers returning together to Dayton on August 10th. (3)

Their father Milton wrote to his grand-niece Grace Frazier August 15th, saying, "Wilbur got home from Europe, the 10th of this month, after an absence of five months. He looks well and healthy. He weighs one hundred and sixty-two pounds. Orville weighs about ten pounds less. Katharine is quite well. Lorin's are all well. Lorin and Netta took a trip to Machinac [Mackinac] Island, Michigan, and were gone some nine days. They caught many fish. Orville has had the care of the Wright Company's business this spring and summer. It is not as good as last year by considerable. Saturday, a meet at Chicago began. Orville went to look after the Wright's Company's part in it. It will last over a week. They entered about a half dozen machines, and put a man on each machine. They took no part in last Sunday's exhibit. They give good wages to the men they employ, but these men often get the swelled-head, and think they ought to have immense money. They are not running their own but the Wright Company's business. This is a New York Company, of which they own about one-third share. It must pay the Company its cost, in about ten years. It is not likely to be over profitable business...." (4)

Wilbur would travel from Dayton to New York numerous times after this trip abroad, but he would not leave the States again. September 7th, Wilbur left again for New York concerning a lawsuit, and returned October 1. Lorin Wright had also just returned to Dayton from Kitty Hawk, having taken a Wright soaring machine there for use by Orville. 

Byron Newton had written of Wilbur, ""Strange to say, he told me at that time that the most interesting, and eventually important, phase of aerial development would be motorless flight. He had a sheaf of drawings and figures he had made on the voyage while observing the soaring flight of sea gulls. He described to me how a gull with motionless wings would pass a ship moving at thirty knots an hour and against a thirty-mile wind. "That," said he, "is our next important problem, and when I get back home Orville and I will go at it." (2)

Milton, in a letter dated October 13, 1911 to grand-niece Grace Frazier, wrote, "After I came home, Wilbur went [to] St. Louis, but has now gone to  New York. Lorin and Orville, Horace and Mr. Ogilvie, went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for a two weeks outing, or more. Horace was greatly excited, but did not give the least manifestation of it. He did not sleep a wink in the sleeper. Lorin took a glider, with no engine, for the sport of gliding, and to demonst[r]ate how birds soar on upward trends of air...." (5)

Orville, Lorin, Horace (Lorin's son), and Alexander Ogilvie left Dayton October 7th, 1911 for Kitty Hawk for some soaring experiments, with Orville eventually soaring in a motor-less craft for 9 minutes, 45 seconds; a world record that stood for nearly a decade. Orville, Horace, and Alexander returned to Dayton October 31st, with Lorin returning the next day. Wilbur was not able to spend time at Kitty Hawk with the others, as he had duties in St. Louis, New York, and Dayton, though he had hoped that "when I get back home Orville and I will go at it."

 

Group photograph, Kitty Hawk, October 1911. As per description on corescholar, seated from left to right, Horace, Orville, and Alexander. Standing left to right, Lorin, Van Ness Harwood, not identified, Arnold Krockman, not identified, and John Mitchell. Some press photos have misidentified Van Ness Harwood as Wilbur Wright; however, Wilbur was not able to attend this outing. The creation date of the photo is indicated as October 1, 1911. This is incorrect, as Orville, Lorin, and Horace left Dayton for Kitty Hawk on October 7th. The photo would date mid to later October. Image courtesy of Wright State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives.

 

While the others were in Kitty Hawk, on October 9th, Wilbur headed for St. Louis, returning to Dayton October 11th, and then left for New York that same day. He returned to Dayton October 15th. Wilbur again left for New York City November 13th, returning on November 22. On December 3, Wilbur left for New York, and returned December 12. (3)

Wilbur wrote in January of 1912, "During the past three months most of my time has been taken up with law suits and I have been away from home most of the time. I am hoping to be freed from this kind of work before another year has ended. It is much more pleasant to go to Kitty Hawk for experiments than to worry over law-suits....." (6) 

With the new year, Wilbur left for New York on January 11th, returning to Dayton January 22nd. He left again for New York January 26th and returned January 31, leaving the same day for Chicago. He was back home February 2nd. March 4th, he left for Washington and New York. His trip then took him to Augusta March 23rd, and then to home sometime after. (3)

Milton Wright wrote in his diary entry of April 18, 1912, "...Wilbur started to New York to make a contract with the Aero Club." (7)

Wilbur withdrew $100 from their checking account and left Dayton for New York by train on April 18th to meet with the Aero Club. 

Before Wilbur could return to Dayton, he was asked to go to Boston for a deposition. (8) He returned to Dayton April 30th.   

Milton, on April 30, 1912, wrote, "...Wilbur and Orville arrived at home on Wright Company's automobile at 8:00 from Flying grounds. Lorin came with accounts...." (1)

On May 2, Milton wrote that "Wilbur began to have typhoid fever..."  (1)

 

Byron Newton's interview most likely occurred the day Wilbur returned to New York City from Paris in early August of 1911. It is then likely he again met with Wilbur just weeks prior to Wilbur's death, during Wilbur's New York visit the week of April 18th, 1912. After meeting with Wilbur, Wilbur would have then been taken to Boston where he ate the fateful meal that resulted in Typhoid and his eventual death May 30th. 26 years later, Newton remembers meeting with Wilbur weeks prior to his death (not something one would forget), but confused the content of the discussion with that of what occurred August of 1911.

  

The history continues with.....

Wilbur Wright's Final Flight 

 

  

Copyright 2025-Getting the Story Wright  

 

Notes:

1. U. S. Air Services, April 1938, "Byron Rufus Newton And Other Editorials". 
2. U. S. Air Services, February 1938, "Little Flights Here and There", Byron R. Newton. 
3. Dates of departure and return as recorded by Milton Wright in Diaries 1857-1917 Bishop Milton Wright, 1999, Wright State University.  
4. Milton Wright to Grand-niece Grace Frazier, letter dated August 15, 1911. Author's collection.
5. Milton Wright to Grand-niece Grace Frazier, letter dated October 13, 1911. Author's collection.
6. Wilbur Wright letter to M. W. de Hevesy, January 25, 1912.
7. Diaries 1857-1917, Bishop Milton Wright, Wright State University, 1999.
8. "The Wright Brothers and their Genetic Susceptibility to Typhoid Fever", John D Bullock and H Bradford Hawley, Wright State University, January 6, 2025. EC Microbiology Research Article E Cronicon Open Access. "Albert E. Fey, an attorney with the Fish and Richardson law firm would later say: "A little known fact is that we dragged him to Boston for a deposition, where he became ill. He never recovered." Source listed as Grimaldi JV. "After historic flight, Wright went to court". The Washington Post (2003).