A childhood toy helicopter planted the seed of a lifelong obsession

McCullough traces the Wright brothers' fascination with flight back to a small toy given to them as children by their father, Bishop Milton Wright — a rubber-band-powered model helicopter built from a design by French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Pénaud. The boys played with it until it broke, then built their own replacements, an early sign of the tinkering instinct that would define their adult lives.

McCullough emphasizes that neither Wilbur nor Orville pursued formal higher education; Wilbur's plans for college were derailed by a serious injury and family circumstances, while Orville left school before graduating to work on printing and later bicycles. What they had instead was an unusually close, intellectually stimulating household atmosphere, encouraged by both parents, that rewarded curiosity, reading, and building things with their hands over formal credentials.

McCullough uses this origin story to undercut any notion that the brothers were destined by pedigree or education for aeronautical greatness — their early advantage was simply a household that took tinkering seriously.

Takeaway: sometimes the most consequential education is a broken toy and permission to keep taking things apart.