3
2
1
Wright's
First Flight
Relive the Wright Brothers' first manned,
powered, and controlled flight.
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
Learning to Fly
1899-1902
1899 - 1902
Learning to Fly
The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, crafted gliders in their Dayton, Ohio bicycle shop, refining wing designs, structural elements, and control systems. They conducted tests at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to understand the fundamentals of aerodynamics and control.
If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds; but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial." ~Wilbur Wright




Learn
More
Scroll
1903
The Wright Flyer
The brothers integrated their experiements and enlisted the help of their bicycle shop mechanic, Charlie Taylor, to design and construct a lightweight engine. A launch system, consisting of an A-frame tower and track was also constructed. The first airplane, the Wright Flyer, was ready for its first flight.
After running the engine and propellers a few minutes to get them in working order, I got on the machine at 10:35 for the first trial. The wind, according to our anemometers at this time, was blowing a little over 20 miles (corrected) 27 miles according to the Government anemometer at Kitty Hawk.
Excerpt from Orville Wright's Diary
On slipping the rope the machine started off increasing in speed to probably 7 or 8 miles. The machine lifted from the truck just as it was entering on the fourth rail. Mr. Daniels took a picture just as it left the tracks.
Excerpt from Orville Wright's Diary
December 17, 1903
First Flight

Time: 0 seconds

Speed: 0 mph

Elevation: 0 feet

Distance: 0 feet

I found the control of the front rudder quite difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center and thus had a tendency to turn itself when started so that the rudder was turned too far on one side and then too far on the other. As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about 10 ft. and then as suddenly, on turning the rudder, dart for the ground. A sudden dart when out about 100 feet from the end of the tracks ended the flight. Time about 12 seconds (not known exactly as watch was not promptly stopped).

After dinner we went to Kitty Hawk to send off telegram to M.W. (Milton Wright).
Excerpts from Orville Wright's Diary

First flight summary paragraph...
July 20, 1969
To the Moon
66 years after the Wright Brother's first flight, pieces of the original 1903 Wright Flyer made their longest flight yet. Along with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, a small portion of the original propeller and muslin wing fabric landed on the surface of the Moon.