Wright brothers (V2)

After the 1905 flying season, the Wrights contacted the United States War Department, as well as governments and individuals in England, France, Germany, and Russia, offering to sell the flying machines. They were turned down time and time again - government bureaucrats thought they were crackpots; others thought that if two bicycle mechanics could build a successful aeroplane, they could do it themselves. But the Wrights persisted, and in late 1907, the U S Army Signal Corps asked for an aircraft. Just a few months later, in early 1908, a French syndicate of business people agreed to purchase another. Both the U S Army and the French asked for an aeroplane capable of carrying a passenger. The Wright brothers hastily adapted their 1905 Flyer with two seats and a more powerful engine. They tested these modifications in secret, back at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, for the first time in several years. Then the brothers parted temporarily - Wilbur to France and Orville to Virginia.