In your article in Sunday’s Pilot on CDR J.T. Cotner you stated that Wilbur Wright made the first flight on Dec. 17, 1903. That is incorrect.

Orville made the first flight. The brothers alternated flights, and the first flight that day was Orville’s turn. Wilbur made the second flight approximately an hour later at 11:20 after repairs were made on the machine.

Paul Dunn got it right in his article on the Opinion page but I’d rather quote from the “horse’s mouth.”

According to the Dec. 17, 1903, diary entry of Orville Wright as contained in Volume One of “The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright” published by McGraw-Hill.

Lawrence E. “Mac” McCullough