Wilbur Wright making flight demonstrations in Le Mans, France 1908
At the end of 1905 the Wright Brothers decided that they had a flying machine that worked. They set about selling their invention at this point. Because the United States government and American press had ignored what the Wrights had accomplished, Wilbur was invited to make his first public flight demonstrations in France, and he accepted the invitation. The airplane was shipped to France before Wilbur arrived and was damaged by customs inspectors. Wilbur spent two months assembling and repairing the plane before making his first flight demonstration on August 8th at the Hundaudieres racecourse in Le Mans. In the summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to go to France and create additional images for this series. Fifteen years later Le Mans would be the center of auto racing with the first 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. I was lucky to be in France the week of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 2019. On Fridays before the weekend race the track is open to the public. This is an image I made on the racetrack at the first hill right out of pit lane. The historic photograph is Wilbur flying at the Hunaudieres horse racetrack Le Mans in 1908. One thing I liked about this photograph I chose to go with the historic photograph are the people on the track with cameras. A few of them look like they could be pointing their cameras at Wilbur flying overhead. The quote I used is from a speech he gave to the Area Club of France when they gave him their gold medal.
“It is not really necessary to look too far into the future. We have seen enough already to see that it will be magnificent. Only let us hurry and open the roads.” Wilbur Wright at Aero Club France 1908