The buildings in the photo above are part of Fort Myer, a U.S. Army post in Arlington, Virginia. They face Route 50, just west of Washington, D.C.
Behind the buildings, there is a parade ground. On September 17, 1908, Orville Wright took off from there to demonstrate a Wright Brothers airplane to the U.S. Army. An Army observer, Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge, rode with him.
The plane developed mechanical problems while in flight. It crashed, and Lieutenant Selfridge became the first fatality ever in a powered airplane.
In 1909, the Wrights gave it another try at Fort Myer. Their new plane needed to pass certain tests before the Army would buy it, and the final test was a ten-mile cross-country flight carrying a passenger. This flight went better than Lieutenant Selfridge’s. It was successfully completed, at an average speed of 42.5 miles per hour.
The Army paid the Wrights $30,000 for their plane.
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Photo by the author.