Making of ‘The First Powered Flight of the Wright Brothers’ Flyer 1’ (by John Thomas Daniels, 1903), 2013

The story behind the photograph…

On 17 December 1903, in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, John Thomas Daniels (1873–1948) captured an image of the first flight of a powered aeroplane, as achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright (in the photograph, Orville is piloting the plane, with his brother running alongside). It was the first photograph Daniels had ever taken; he had never even seen a camera before. The Gundlach Korona 5 × 7-inch glass-plate view camera was owned by the Wright brothers, who were keen to memorialize the occasion and to have a record in case of future patent claims. Daniels, a member of the local Life-Saving Station, was so enthralled by the moment of flight that he almost forgot to squeeze the shutter-release bulb, as Orville – having set up the tripod and focused the camera – had instructed him to do. On its fourth flight that day, the plane was caught by a powerful gust of wind and crashed. Several weeks later, back in their native Ohio, the brothers developed the iconic plate. Daniels died on 31 January 1948, one day after Orville Wright.