''Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine'' (''Wilbur Wright and his Flying Machine'') is the German viewing market title of a short silent film made in 1909 and is considered to be the first use of motion picture

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircra ...

as filmed from a

heavier-than-air An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

aircraft. It was filmed 24 April 1909 at what is now known as Centocelle Airport, near

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, by French cinematographic company

Société Générale des Cinématographes Eclipse Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

. The events leading up to the creation of the film began in 1908 when the Wright brothers received an invitation from the Compagnie Générale de Navigation Aérienne to ship a

Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...

" Model A" airplane to France and fly it at

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

to dispel any remaining doubt that they had indeed conquered heavier-than-air flight. Since few had witnessed their earlier successes, many in Europe were skeptical about their claims. Some skeptics in the European press went so far as to claim that the stories were a "bluff." The 30 August 1908 edition of '' Le petit journal illustré'' was quoted as saying, "The experiments that Wilbur Wright is carrying out in France at the moment victoriously responded to this accusation." Among those present for the public demonstrations prior to the filming was

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...

, who would cross the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

by plane the following year. It begins with a shot of Wilbur Wright starting the engine; an unidentified assistant (quite likely his brother, Orville) is seen at the front of the aircraft. From there, shots of the aircraft in flight with Wright at the controls along with an unidentified passenger cut to shots of onlookers on the ground, presumably military and press liaisons. The aircraft is shown in side-to-side flybys as well as low-altitude passes directly toward and away from the camera. The aerial shots begin at the 1:34 mark immediately after a shot of the aircraft coming to a landing directly approaching the camera. A title card appears which reads ''Aufnahmen von der Flugmaschine aus gemacht'', or "Shots Taken from the Flying Machine." From there, the shot is of the aircraft on its launch sled as it is being prepared for takeoff. An assistant at the rear of the plane, again presumably Orville Wright, starts the engine as Wilbur Wright takes his seat at the controls. The actual onboard shots, with the camera mounted on the left lower wing near Wright's seating position begin at approximately the two-minute mark of the film as the aircraft lifts off from the launch sled. The canard,

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

and the elevator's control cord are in the foreground of the film as the Italian countryside (complete with livestock, a man on horseback and the ruins of a

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...

) passes beneath.Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine
History of the film along with the film itself at Europafilmtreasures.com ''Wilbur Wright und seine Flugmaschine'' has been restored and archived by

Filmarchiv Austria The Filmarchiv Austria ("Austrian Film Archive") is an organisation for the discovery, reconstruction and preservation of Austrian film record material: films themselves, literature about film and cinema, or film-related periodicals. With over 260, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilbur Wright Und Seine Flugmaschine 1909 films 1909 documentary films 1909 in aviation 1909 short films 1900s short documentary films French aviation films Documentary films about aviation French silent short films Wright brothers French black-and-white films French documentary films Films shot in Rome