The White Wing demonstrated the trial-and-error nature of early plane design. Initially, the group didn’t connect the plane’s steering mechanism to the wheels, making control impossible on the ground. Baldwin had hoped that the plane’s aerial rudders would prove sufficient for the purpose. Once this was corrected, the AEA made a series of flights in May. Selfridge, back from duty, flew some of them and entered the history books as the first United States officer to fly an airplane.

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Now it was Curtiss’s turn. He was already adept at the public relations game and wanted to capitalize on the media attention surrounding a competition sponsored by Scientific American. The magazine offered a trophy to the first aviator who publicly piloted a craft for a distance of one kilometer. When the Wrights declined to participate, Curtiss gladly took up the challenge and picked July 4 to do it.

On that day the AEA rolled out the June Bug, a Curtiss design powered by his own 25-horsepower motor. Curtiss flew the craft for more than a mile, easily winning Scientific American’s contest. "We all lost our heads, and shouted and I cried and everyone cheered and clapped," wrote Bell’s daughter, Daisy. Bell and the Association must have felt invincible, given their remarkable progress. In the span of four months they had successfully launched three different aircraft. Most importantly, they had done so without injury.

The Wright brothers were less impressed. They had been willing to let the AEA use their patents for basic research but nothing beyond that. "We did not intend to give permission to use the patented features of our machines for exhibitions or in a commercial way," Orville warned in a letter to Curtiss.

While the AEA was busy grabbing headlines, the Wrights were preparing to demonstrate their machines to the military. Wilbur traveled to France to dazzle European audiences, while Orville remained in the United States for a series of flights at Fort Myer in September. His improved Wright airplane had seats for two fliers positioned over the central frame, but initially Orville flew alone and stabilized the craft with ballast in the empty seat. Almost daily he set new endurance records, climaxing with a flight of 74 minutes and 20 seconds on September 12. The army wanted to see how the craft performed with a passenger, so Orville took Lieutenant Frank Lahm and Major George Squire up on separate flights. Each trip was flawless, although one of the propellers cracked on September 9. Orville had two larger replacement blades sent down from Dayton, and his mechanics installed them.

Although Selfridge was obviously the army’s most experienced aviator, Orville was distinctly unhappy about flying with him. "I don’t trust him an inch," he wrote to Wilbur. "He is intensely interested in the subject, and plans to meet me often at dinners, etc. where he can pump me. He has a good education and a clear mind. I understand that he does a good deal of knocking behind my back." Nonetheless, on September 17 Orville took Selfridge aloft for that fatal flight.

ONCE EXTRICATED FROM the wreckage, the two injured airmen were carried on stretchers to the post hospital. Wright had sustained a fractured thigh and several broken ribs on his right side. Although his injuries were serious, he recovered after a long convalescence. Selfridge wasn’t so lucky. A combination of a fractured skull and internal injuries proved fatal. He died that night. America’s first military pilot had become the airplane’s first fatality.

In France, Wilbur was shocked at the news and tortured by guilt. "The death of poor Selfridge was a greater shock to me than Orville’s injuries, severe as the latter were," he wrote to his sister, Katharine. "I felt sure ‘Bubbo’ would pull through all right, but the other was irremediable." Wilbur, the older brother, also felt that he was somehow responsible. "I cannot help thinking over and over again ‘If I had been there, it would not have happened.’"

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