The History: Wilbur replies to Octave Chanute's letter of August 17, 1903. He thanks Chanute for the information on the glides of Chanute's 1896 double-decked machine.

Wilbur explains to Chanute why he was interested in these records. Wilbur would like to compare the Wrights' glides against the glides of other experimenters. Of course, everyone has a different machine! What is the best way to compare? Wilbur believes comparing the following information for different machines under the same wind conditions would be useful:

• the slowest speeds in which flight could be achieved
• the fastest speeds in which flight could be achieved
• the range and best angle of descent
• averages of these numbers
• the number of successful consecutive glides.

In particular, Wilbur believes the number of successful consecutive glides a machine can achieve indicates good machine controls.

"Having been delayed beyond expectation", Wilbur tells Chanute that he and Orville plan on leaving for Kitty Hawk about September 20th.

The "delay" was due to events related to their father. A minister had embezzled funds from the church. Bishop Wright felt that this person should be dismissed and possibly prosecuted. Other church members wanted to keep the matter quiet to avoid embarrassment and a scandal.

Instead they tried to remove Bishop Wright from office. In early August, 1903 at a church conference, Bishop Wright was served a court injunction (order). Wilbur left Dayton to be with his father and assist in his defense. Bishop Wright was expelled by a majority of the church elders. However, a week later a judge ordered a damage suit against the conference in response to this unjustifiable injunction.

Quotation from the book The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Volume 1 by M. McFarland.