Who were the Wright brothers?
Orville and Wilbur Wright were American inventors who built and flew the first successful powered, controlled airplane on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The brothers ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, where they learned about mechanics and balance. They studied birds and earlier gliders and built a wind tunnel to test wing shapes. Their key breakthrough was a system called wing-warping, which twisted the wings to control the plane's roll, along with a movable rudder.
On December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, Orville piloted the Wright Flyer for 12 seconds, covering about 37 meters. They made four flights that day, the longest by Wilbur, lasting 59 seconds and covering about 260 meters. Few people believed the news at first.
Later success
The Wrights improved their aircraft and made public demonstrations in France and the US in 1908, which made them famous. They sold airplanes to the US Army. Wilbur died in 1912, and Orville lived until 1948, long enough to see airplanes cross oceans and break the sound barrier.
Did You Know?
A piece of fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer traveled to Mars aboard NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first powered flight on another planet in 2021.