ABSTRACT
The Wright brothers, Orville (1871–1948) and Wilbur (1867–1912), tested the first fixed-wing, motor-powered, heavier-than-air flying machine in 1903 on the beaches of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. By 1911 they had improved their machines to such an extent that they were able to sell them to the U.S. Army. This also involved teaching some officers how to fly. This is why, the Wright Brothers taught First Lieutenant Henry “Hap” Arnold (1886–1950) how to pilot an airplane. Arnold, a 1907 graduate of West Point, over the next four decades, would rise to be the chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps throughout World War II, obtain the rank of a five-star General of the Army, then, as the founding head of the U.S. Air Force, in 1947 become the five-star General of the Air Force—the only person to hold such exalted rank in two services. In 1946 Arnold initiated Project RAND to create a civilian organization that, under contract to the military, would undertake studies on the future role and capabilities of air power. Thus we have a direct line of continuity from the Wright brothers teaching Arnold the basics of aviation to Arnold contracting for an organization of intellectuals to continuously think about the prospects of aviation in the future. It is universally acknowledged that Arnold is the “father” of the RAND Corporation; what is less widely known is that the Wright brothers are the “grandfathers.”
