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Up in the Air:
The Story of the Wright Brothers
This is a historial fiction based on the story of Wilbur and Orville Wright´s invention of the airplane. It follows the brothers from youth to Wilbur´s demonstrations of the plane in France in 1908.The 18-part serial story ran in the Daytona Beach News-Journal each Monday from January 13 through May 19 (except for April 14). Text and illustrations for the serial copyright © 2003 by Brian Floca. Sponsored in part by Inventing Flight, Dayton, Ohio. Reprinted by permission of Breakfast Serials, Inc. www.breakfastserials.com. Photos used in this section and other artwork may be copyrighted by their individual owners. Photos used are from the Library of Congress, unless otherwise noted.
Brian Floca, the illustrator of Breakfast Serials´ novel The Secret School and author and illustrator of UP IN THE AIR: The Story of the Wright Brothers, smartly identified an interesting aspect of newspaper serialization. Read an interview with Brian Floca.
For more information and activities surrounding our quest for flight we´ve found some fun sites on the Web. Many have sections for teachers, parents and students. There´s a lot going on during this centennial of flight and we hope you´ll find plenty to celebrate. Check out these web sites.
The Newspaper Connection by Chapter
Chapter 1. First Flight -- In this chapter, readers learn that the Wright Brothers began creating things when they were still in elementary school.Chapter 2. From Printing to Pedaling -- Wilbur and Orville Wright are teenage brothers living with their family in Dayton, Ohio. The brothers are heading down different paths. Orville is becoming a printer. Wilbur, the older brother, is thinking of college, far from Dayton, and far from Orville.
Chapter 3. The Flying Man -- Wilbur and Orville Wright run a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. The work suits their mechanical skills, but Wilbur wonders about what else he might do in life. The answer will come from an unlikely direction.
Chapter 4. The Problem of Flying -- Wilbur Wright´s growing interest in flying machines has led him to write the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. A response arrives a week later.
Chapter 5. Control -- Wilbur Wright has decided that the three things needed to build a flying machine are: wings that will create lift, a light and powerful engine, and a way to control the machine in the air. The first two problems Wilbur considers solved. To solve the third, he has been studying birds.
Chapter 6. Twisting and Turning -- Wilbur Wright has developed an idea for how to control a flying machine. He is ready to test his theory.
Chapter 7. Octave Chanute -- Wilbur Wright is experimenting with kites and gliders. Needing advice, he has sent a letter to the well-known engineer Octave Chanute.
Chapter 8. Kitty Hawk Bound -- Wilbur Wright is traveling from Dayton, Ohio, toward the remote spot he´s chosen to test his glider: the small town of Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Chapter 9. Kitty Hawk -- Wilbur Wright has come to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to test his glider. He has spent the night on board the Curlicue, a weathered fishing schooner now anchored in Kitty Hawk Bay.
Chapter 10. Into the Air -- In this chapter, Otto Lilienthal´s accidental death is once again on the minds of the Wright Brothers.
Chapter 11. Confidence and Doubt -- Wilbur and Orville are back in Dayton after testing a glider at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Chapter 12. Chicago -- In this chapter, the two brothers show very different ways of handling disappointments and failures.
Chapter 13. The Wrong Numbers -- Once again the brothers relied on their experience as mechanics and adapted the bicycle wheel to help test their wing designs.
Chapter 14. Everything but a Motor -- In this chapter, the Wright brothers must once again face the power of sand and wind.
Chapter 15. All These Secrets -- Wilbur and Orville are ready to add an engine and propellers to a glider, to build a true flying machine. After all the problems they have tackled, this should be the easy part.
Chapter 16. First Flight -- In this chapter the brothers made several flights- one where the plane flew 120 feet in 12 seconds and one where it traveled 852 feet in 59 seconds.
Chapter 17. A Secret to Keep -- Wilbur and Orville Wright have returned to Dayton after making the first successful powered flights.
Chapter 18. Doubts and Triumph -- Wilbur and Orville lock away their flying machine in early 1905. They won´t show it again until they have it patented and have sold the rights to it. But time is passing and other inventors, hurrying to build their own flying machines, begin to wonder, “Where is the Wright machine? What have the Wrights really done?”
Serial Story: UP IN THE AIR -- The 18-part serial story ran in the Daytona Beach News-Journal each Monday from January 13 through May 19 (except for April 14). Text and illustrations for the serial copyright © 2003 by Brian Floca. Sponsored in part by Inventing Flight, Dayton, Ohio. Reprinted by permission of Breakfast Serials, Inc. www.breakfastserials.com.
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