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Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright built and flew the first airplane in human history. The brothers were engineers and tinkerers who founded the Wright Cycle Company in Dayton, Ohio in 1892. While the bicycle business sustained them, they began to experiment with kites, gliders and other flying machines, always with an eye to creating a powered machine that could carry a man aloft. Their first successful flight, with Orville at the controls, took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on 17 December 1903. The plane covered 120 feet in about 12 seconds; a short flight, but enough to make history. Others had flown in balloons and gliders, but the Wrights' creation was the first in a manned, motor-powered, heavier-than-air craft.
“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, at full speed, above all obstacles, on the infinite highway of the air.” - Wilbur Wright “We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity.” - Orville Wright
The Wright Brothers' first flight is featured on the back of the North Carolina quarter, released by the U.S. Mint in 2001. The invention of the airplane made traveling much easier. People were able to live in different states, and be able to travel back home much faster. Example- You could work in one state and live in another. Because back in the old days, families lived very close to one another, now grandparents can live farther away, and still be able to travel to see their families.
In 1899, after Wilbur Wright had written a letter of request to the Smithsonian Institution for information about flight experiments, the Wright Brothers designed their first aircraft: a small, biplane glider flown as a kite to test their solution for controlling the craft by wing warping. Wing warping is a method of arching the wingtips slightly to control the aircraft's rolling motion and balance. The Wrights spent a great deal of time observing birds in flight. They noticed that birds soared into the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver. They believed that they could use this technique to obtain roll control by warping, or changing the shape, of a portion of the wing.
•Born: 16 April 1867 (Wilbur) and 19 August 1871 (Orville) •Birthplace: Millville, Indiana (Wilbur) and Dayton, Ohio (Orville) •Died: 30 May 1912 (Wilbur) and 30 January 1948 (Orville) •Best Known As: Inventors of the airplane
Wilbur & Orville Wright... First in Flight!
To the left is Wilbur Wright, and below him Orville Wright.
By: Daizysha Brown
