Back in the US, Orville gave public demonstrations at the parade grounds of Fort Myer, near Arlington, Virginia, to fulfill the trials for the War Department. His first attempt was September 3, 1908: He flew a short distance before crashing, which he attributed to lack of practice. The next day, everything went smoothly, and he flew a total of three miles in a little more than four minutes. He repeated this feat over the coming days, giving “one sensational performance after another, breaking one world record after another” (183) for distance and time in the air.

On September 17, Orville gave another demonstration. On previous flights, he’d taken two army officers with him as passengers, and on this day he took Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge. Selfridge was the descendant of two men with acclaimed military careers and had become one of the army’s aviation experts. After three loops of the field, Orville was banking into a turn on the fourth loop when a piece of a propeller broke off and a stay wire broke loose. The wire attached to the rear rudders, and without them Orville couldn’t control the plane. It plunged from 125 feet in the air and slammed into the ground.