 
The Wright Brothers
Wilbur and Orville Wright began studying
aeronautics in 1896 while building bicycles in Dayton, and built their first
"flying machine" in 1903, after years of extensive study, research,
and planning. Their dedication allowed them to solve one of the most complex
technological problems of their day.
Wilbur was born in Indiana in 1867, and Orville was
a native Ohioan, born in 1871 in Dayton. Their childhood home encouraged
education and reading. Orville once explained that the two brothers "were lucky enough to grow
up in a home environment where there was always much encouragement to children
to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused their
curiosity." While education was a priority, Orville and Wilbur were
actually the only members of their family who did not receive a high school
diploma or attend college.
 Love of flight began at an early age for the Wright brothers. Their father
traveled frequently on business and in 1878 was said to have brought home a
rubber band powered toy helicopter for the boys. Apparently the boys enjoyed
taking it part, redesigning it, and rebuilding. This would have been the first
powered aircraft that they built as a team.
In 1900, the team began carefully designing their first full scale
aircraft, designed to carry a man. When the model was complete, they
contacted the U.S. Weather Bureau for advice on a good location to build and
test their aircraft. Based on feedback, they chose Kitty Hawk, on the
Outer Banks of North Carolina. The
wind tunnel was developed when their Kittyhawk tests
showed them that available airfoil theory was incorrect, and they had to develop
their own. It took several years for the brothers to rework their
design for success.
 On December 17, 1903, they reached their goal of
controlled, powered flight. It was a
chilly day with winds gusting at 22-27 miles per hour. They delayed their
flight a bit due to the high winds and then decided to go for it, but with a
goal of staying reasonably close to the ground. That first flight lasted only 12
seconds. They had flown a distance of 120 feet with a ground speed of 6.8 miles
per hour and an airspeed of 30 miles per hour. Orville perhaps describes it
best: "This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in
the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by
its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction
of speed, and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it
started." After a few repairs, three more flights were accomplished on that
first day of air travel. The fourth flight damaged the plane significantly, and
it was never flown again. But the efforts of the Wright brothers helped found the U.S. aviation
industry.
Did you know?
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Some
believe the Wright Brother's greatest contribution to flight was the
development of flight controls.
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Orville sold the U.S. Army its first airplane and trained the first
well-known pilots to work in America.
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