Wright Bros. Headline IMS Meet

The primary article attached here (IMSaero030710) was first published in the March 7, 1910 Indianapolis Star. It concerns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's plans for both airplane and gas balloon air shows in 1910. It also reports on the legal tussles over airplane patent rights brought to the judicial system by the Wright Brothers who felt infringed upon especially by the noted aviator Glenn Curtiss.
The article begins with a report that Roy Knabenshue,* manager of the Wright Exhibition Company, was expected in Indianapolis that day to meet with the Speedway Director of Contests Ernie Moross who had spent the previous day in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton was home to the Wright brothers. The men were discussing an aviation show that would eventually take place in June of that year.
An interesting point to the article is the legal wrangling that was going on at the time as the Wrights laid claim to patents to the airplane, more specifically to its control system. As noted in the article the Wrights were successful in enforcing their patents against fellow aviation pioneers such as Frenchman Louis Paulhan and American icon Glenn Curtiss. The qualification on their success was that Curtiss and others were also successful in using legal tactics to delay their compliance.
Aviation historians generally feel that these legal antics retarded development of the American aviation industry - so much so that the country could not produce suitable aircraft for use in World War I. Too much energy was focused - by both the Wrights and their American competitors - in dealing with the demands of judicial review. Specific to Paulhan the secondary article attached here (attachment IMSaero031110) indicates that the French pilot very much wanted to fly at the Brickyard. The article indicates that Moross was waiting on Knabenshue's next move.
The phrase "own the air" was used in the article with a quote from Moross, "According to the decision of Judge Learned Hand of the United States Supreme Court of New York the Wrights have, by virtue of the patents that have been granted them by the United States government, obtained control of the air. Judge Hand takes practically the same view as did Judge John R. Hazel of Buffalo, when he recently granted the Wrights an injunction against Glenn H. Curtiss, the American aviator."
This concept of owning the air may sound ridiculous today but in the context of the times and newness of the idea of heavier-than-air machines taking to the sky it may have sounded reasonable. Apparently the court action required violators to pay the Wrights $1,000.00 a day for time each incidence of taking flight.
The article also reported on Aero Club of America (Speedway Founder and President Carl Fisher was also president of the ACA) decisions. This document is useful in that it records that by this time no decision had been made on the location of the International Aviation Meet (awarded to the United States because of Glenn Curtiss winning the James Gordon Bennett Trophy the previous year at Rheims). The uncertainties created by the Wright litigation is cited as the reason for the delay.
Balloon races were also in demand and the ACA released a schedule of events revealed in the attached article. The International Balloon Championship was scheduled for October 17 while a National Championship was set at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September.
*More interesting info on Knabenshue.

IMSaero030710.pdf593.68 KB