Wright brothers' mechanic honored at Ohio museum
7/22/2014DAYTON, Ohio — The man who built the engine for Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first powered aircraft has finally gotten his due.
It was Charles Taylor — a mechanic in the brothers’ Dayton bicycle shop — who built the engine for the airplane that first took flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903.
On Monday, a bronze bust of Taylor was unveiled at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton.
The self-taught mechanic hand-built the first airplane engine after a slew of automakers rejected the brothers’ request to build one.
The Dayton Daily News reports that the San Diego-based Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Association raised $6,000 to have the bronze bust displayed at the museum.