Wright Brothers to Louis-Ferdinand Ferber 4-Nov-1905

Captain Ferber,

Chalais, Meudon, France

Dear Sir,

We have received your letter of October 21st, and hasten to extend congratulations to you on the great success you have achieved. Perhaps no one in the world can appreciate the greatness of your performance as fully as ourselves. It is indeed a great step to have passed from the gliding machine, with its easy control, to the discovery of methods sufficiently powerful and efficient to give mastery of the unruly motor machines. After the experiences of men of such great ability as Langley, Maxim, and Ader, who spend years of time and millions of money without any result, we had not believed it possible that we should be in danger of being overtaken within five or ten years at least. France is indeed fortunate in finding a Ferber. We extend felicitations the more heartily because we do not believe that your success will decrease the value of our discoveries. For when it becomes known that France is in possession of a practical flying machine other countries must at once avail themselves of our scientific discoveries and practical experience. With Russia and Austria-Hungary in their present troubled condition and the German Emperor in a truculent mood, a spark may produce an explosion at any minute. No government can take the risk of waiting to develop practical flying machines independently. To be even one year behind other governments might result in losses compared with which the modest amount we shall ask for our invention would be insignificant.

But even though France already has reached a high degree of success, it may wish to avail itself of our discoveries, partly to supplement its own work; or, perhaps, partly to accurately inform itself of the state of the art as it will exist in those countries which buy the secrets of our motor machine.

Under the present circumstances we would consent to reduce our price to the French government to one million francs, the money to be paid only after the genuine value of our discoveries has been demonstrated by a flight of one of our machines in the presence of official representatives of the government a distance of not less than fifty kilometers in not more than one hour of time. The price would include a complete machine, instruction in our discoveries relating to the scientific principles of the art, formulas for the designing of machines of other sizes, speeds, etc.; and personal instruction of operators in the use of the machine. Insamuch as the work of teaching would require personal attention, we would necessarily be compelled to give precedence in time to those who secured the first engagements.

Very respectfully yours,

Wilbur & Orville Wright

Note

The French government did not accept this offer, but Wilbur Wright did eventually perform a similar demonstration in France to satisfy his contract with the Compagnie générale de navigation aérienne.

Source

• Dollfus & Bouché, 1942, Histoire de l'aéronautique, p. 176 ; facsimile of original with French translation

Sender	Wright Brothers
Recipient	Louis-Ferdinand Ferber
Date sent	4-Nov-1905
From location	Dayton, Ohio
To location	Chalais-Meudon
Communication type	letter
Language	en
Refers to flight?	1
Tech fields	airplane, navigation, piloting, finance, military
Length (in words)
Full text available