Wright State archivist featured in Ohio public radio story on Katharine Wright

Katharine and Orville Wright, along with others, walking across Tempelhof Field in Germany in 1909. (Photo courtesy of Wright State University’s Special Collections and Archives)

The often-overlooked story of Katharine Wright — the sister who kept her famous brothers soaring — was spotlighted on The Ohio Newsroom.

Toni Vanden Bos, head of Special Collections and Archives at Wright State University, shared how Katharine Wright’s determination and leadership were essential to Wilbur and Orville’s success.

“She was the unsung hero, really, of the story,” Vanden Bos told The Ohio Newsroom.

When the Wrights’ mother died, a 15-year-old Katharine stepped in to run the household — cooking, cleaning and caring for her brothers so they could focus on their experiments in flight. Later, she gave up her own teaching career to nurse Orville back to health after a crash during a demonstration flight.

Once her brothers took to the skies, Katharine traveled with them to Europe, helping to sell the Wright Flyer to investors, charming reporters and connecting with the public — work her shy brothers couldn’t have done alone.

“She took all that anxiety of the social demands of selling a flyer, making those networks with people. She took all of that off from Wilbur and Orville, which was significant,” Vanden Bos said.

Alongside her brothers, she was awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest merit, for her contributions to aviation.

Katharine’s role, however, was largely forgotten as flight moved into the mainstream.

“You can’t miss her in the photographs and so forth, but she didn’t get as much acclaim in the history books,” Vanden Bos said.

Listen to the story at ideastream.org.