FIRST AIRPLANE FLIES:

December 17, 1903

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first
successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft.
Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed
aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.Orville and
Wilbur Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation
after learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal in
the 1890s. Unlike their older brothers, Orville and Wilbur did not attend
college, but they possessed extraordinary technical ability and a sophisticated
approach to solving problems in mechanical design. They built printing presses
and in 1892 opened a bicycle sales and repair shop. Soon, they were building
their own bicycles, and this experience, combined with profits from their
various businesses, allowed them to pursue actively their dream of building the
world's first airplane.After exhaustively researching other engineers' efforts
to build a heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the
U.S. Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider tests.
They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North Carolina's Outer Banks,
which offered steady winds and sand dunes from which to glide and land softly.
Their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested
in 1901, was more successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where
they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs. The
brothers' systematic experimentations paid off--they flew hundreds of successful
flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty Hawk. Their biplane
glider featured a steering system, based on a movable rudder, that solved the
problem of controlled flight. They were now ready for powered flight.In Dayton,
they designed a 12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of
machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it. They transported
their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of 1903, assembled it, made
a few further tests, and on December 14 Orville made the first attempt at
powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged,
and they spent three days repairing it. Then at 10:35 a.m. on December 17, in
front of five witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the
air, staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 120 feet. The modern aviation age
was born. Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and Orville
alternately flying the airplane. Wilbur flew the last flight, covering 852 feet
in 59 seconds. During the next few years, the Wright brothers further developed
their airplanes but kept a low profile about their successes in order to secure
patents and contracts for their flying machines. By 1905, their aircraft could
perform complex maneuvers and remain aloft for up to 39 minutes at a time. In
1908, they traveled to France and made their first public flights, arousing
widespread public excitement. In 1909, the U.S. Army's Signal Corps purchased a
specially constructed plane, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to
build and market their aircraft. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912;
Orville lived until 1948.The historic Wright brothers' aircraft of 1903 is on
permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.