The Wright Sister

When aviators recall one of the most memorable dates in aviation history, December 17, 1903, they should tip their hats to the sister who helped them slip the surly bonds of Earth. Katharine Wright's contributions to aviation are relatively unsung, but she helped in ways her two more famous brothers could not have done without.

Although Katharine was younger than Wilbur and Orville, she was the family's primary caregiver from the age of 15, following the death of their mother to tuberculosis. Despite this, she graduated with a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College at a time when only 15% of undergraduate degrees were awarded to women. 

Both her intelligence and care served vital roles in the advent of the airplane. Katharine's work, first as a teacher and later running the family bike shop when Orville and Wilbur increasingly spent time testing their aircraft, helped bankroll her brothers' aerodynamics research and cover their cost of living.

After a failed flight test killed a passenger and left Orville with significant injuries, Katharine not only quit her job to care for him, but she also managed to extend a contract with the U.S. Signal Corps., despite officials' concerns following the accident.

As Orville and Wilbur continued to build a business alongside their aircraft, Katharine quickly became integral to its success, managing business inquiries, offers, and relationships with reporters. She even learned French to better represent the Wright Company to dignitaries and business contacts in Europe, negotiating business proposals and answering questions at the airfields where her brothers conducted flight tests.

When Wilbur passed away in 1912, Katharine joined the Wright Company's board, helping the company navigate the blowback from multiple fatal accidents in its early aircraft and several patent infringement lawsuits from inventors alleging Orville and Wilbur had stolen their idea. She even went toe-to-toe with the Smithsonian when it claimed that Samuel Langley was the inventor of the airplane.

Katharine's fighting spirit carried over into the women's suffrage movement. By 1914, she became the president of Dayton’s Young Women’s League, organizing events and marches throughout the city.

Katharine Wright set the stage for the next generation of aviators in more ways than one. And when she became the third woman to fly in an airplane, she too slipped the surly bonds of Earth and took her place in the transition of human technological evolution of which she was an integral part.