Orville Wright, Aviation Pioneer and SAE Champion

Orville Wright was not only an aviation pioneer who is considered one of the most important and influential men of the 20th century. He was an active member and avid supporter of SAE.

Wright was one of the early aviation pioneers (along with Glenn Curtiss, Elmer Sperry, and Glenn Martin) who, in 1916, helped merge the American Society of Aeronautic Engineers into SAE, giving the society a leadership role in aerospace.

Wright became a member of SAE when his application was one of 63 approved at the December 14, 1916 Council Meeting of the Society of Automobile Engineers in Detroit.

He was a strong proponent of the value of SAE membership to the aviation community. In 1916, he wrote a letter to another leading aviation industry figure, Charles R. Wittemann of the Wittemann-Lewis Aircraft Company, extolling the benefits of SAE membership.

"As your name does not appear on the roster of the Society of Automotive Engineers, I suspect that the advantages of membership have not been presented to you," he wrote.

"The work covered by the SAE is of such value that everybody identified with the industry should take out membership."

On July 17, 1918, Wright was honored at the "Orville Wright Dinner of the Society of Automotive Engineers" in Dayton, Ohio. Nearly 1,000 members and guests attended the dinner, including: then-SAE president Charles Kettering; future SAE president Charles M. Manly; Major-General W.L. Kenly, director of military aeronautics of the United States Army; and Dr. S.W. Stratton, director of the Bureau of Standards.

"The speeches were received with utmost enthusiasm," reported an article printed in the 1918 SAE Transactions. "Those present realized they were taking part in a historic occasion. The guest of honor, Mr. Wright, was introduced and bowed in response to a tumultuous ovation."

The printed program for the dinner included reprints of the historic articles "Some Aeronautical Experiments" by Wilbur Wright (1901), "The Wright Brothers' Aeroplane" by Orville and Wilbur Wright (1908), and "How We Made The First Flight" by Orville Wright (1913).

In 1924, the Wright Brothers Medal became the first SAE award ever presented.

Orville Wright died on January 30, 1948. The original plane that he and brother Wilbur flew near Kitty Hawk in 1903 is in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

As SAE approaches its 100th anniversary, it is appropriate to recognize Orville Wright, who not only changed history, but helped build and promote SAE.