What is utterly fascinating is that the Wright Brothers two well funded competitors, Alexander Graham Bell and Samuel Pierpont Langley, both quit after the first flight. Both of them wanted to be first and when they couldn't do that they walked away from what they both surely should have seen would be the birth of a huge high growth industry.
They definitely could have gone back to the lab and with the map the Wright's provided have gone on to build a better plane. In fact Alexander Graham Bell's chief assistant Glenn Curtiss did exactly that creating what ultimately became the larger company Curtiss-Wright corporation.
> What is utterly fascinating is that the Wright Brothers two well funded competitors, Alexander Graham Bell and Samuel Pierpont Langley
I've seen this conclusion drawn about Langley before. And it seems like a great anecdote for underscoring the idea that motivation is key.
At least, until you consider some other facts:
- Langley had a long and pretty distinguished career in physics before looking at aviation, indicating some innate dedication. And he did research in flight (and had success with models) for 12 years before he ever became a well-funded competitor to the Wrights.
- Langley was almost 70 years old at that point and he died three years later. I'm not sure why that isn't the go-to explanation for why he didn't keep going and participate in industry.
- Langley also apparently is recorded to have remarked to Rudyard Kipling that he didn't think he'd live to see the airplane happen, but that he was certain that it would happen. This is not exactly the mark of someone whose only motivation in participating was an attachment to personally being first.
They definitely could have gone back to the lab and with the map the Wright's provided have gone on to build a better plane. In fact Alexander Graham Bell's chief assistant Glenn Curtiss did exactly that creating what ultimately became the larger company Curtiss-Wright corporation.