Wilbur Wright                     The Wrights’ “Flyer” making its first flight          Orville  Wright Before 1903 people had flown in hot-air balloons and in motorless gliders, but—leaving aside one or two claims that are not officially accepted—until that year no one had ever flown in a power-driven, heavier-than-air machine, or aeroplane. Two American brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, invented and tested the first practical aeroplane. On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright made an initial flight of 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Within a year the brothers had built a craft that could stay aloft, and turn and bank. Other aircraft soon followed, and within a few years aeroplanes were carrying mail, crossing the English Channel, and fighting in World War I.

The Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop in Dayton, as it appears today in the Wright State  University Museum.	An illustration showing Wibur in the 1901 glider which was not as succesful as they had  hoped.
	On December the 17th 1903, the propellers whirred and the motor spluttered into life.It was 10:30am. Orville released the break cable and the FLYER trundled forward on the 43-kph wind.  Wilbur and a few lucky onlookers cheered as Orville worked the controls. The FLYER rose into the air, to the agreed height of 3-5 metres. It lurched up and down. But it was flying! After 12 seconds, the craft landed 37 metres  from its take-off point. It had taken off from level ground and flown in a controlled, sustained way under its own power - the first true flight.
After the death of Wilbur in 1912, Orville Wright became president of the American Wright Company. Three years later he sold his stock in the company for over $500,000.  He subsequently worked as an engineering consultant.
	A diagram showing the Wright flyer.