Wilbur and Orville Wright: The First AirplaneWilbur and Orville Wright were the American inventors who built a small flying machine powered by an engine. In doing so, they proved that it was possible to fly without the help of gas-filled balloons. Wilbur Wright was born in 1867 near Melville, Indiana, and his brother Orville was born four years later in Dayton, Ohio. Growing up, the brothers enjoyed experimenting with mechanical things. Later on, they began designing a flying machine of their own, drawing on ideas they had developed through earlier experiments with a toy helicopter, kites, the printing machine and bicycles. Before long, they needed somewhere to test their theories about flight. The location with the best wind conditions appeared to be a stretch of sandy land on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina. It was known as Kill Devil Hill, and it lay near the town of Kitty Hawk. At Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers carried out numerous tests with gliders, which taught them how to solve a great many problems. By the autumn of 1903, Wilbur and Orville had designed and built an airplane powered by a gasoline engine. Its wings measured 12 meters from end to end, and, including the pilot, it weighed about 340 kilograms. On December 17th, 1903, the brothers made the world's first flight in an engine-powered machine that was heavier than air. With Orville at the controls, the plane covered 36 meters and stayed in the air for 12 seconds. The two brothers went on to make three more flights that same day. Only four other men witnessed these first flights, and one of them took photographs. Few newspapers, however, paid any attention to the event. In fact, almost five years passed before the Wright brothers became famous. In 1908, Wilbur traveled to France, where he gave demonstration flights at heights of 90 meters, and a French company agreed to start producing the brothers' flying machine. While Wilbur was in France, Orville was making successful flights in the United States, where the War Department agreed to buy one of their planes. Almost overnight, Wilbur and Orville became world heroes. Yet fame was not what they were looking for. They went back to Dayton, where they kept improving their airplanes and taught many others to fly. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912. Orville continued designing and inventing until his death many years later, in 1948. Today, the Wright brothers' first airplane can be seen at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. After looking at the brothers' small plane, visitors can walk to another part of the museum to see space vehicles and a rock collected from the moon. The world has changed enormously since Wilbur and Orville Wright began the modern age of flight more than a hundred years ago.
