Who were the Wright Brothers?

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Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912) Wright are two Ohio brothers credited with inventing modern flight. Though they made their living as bicycle shop owners and repairmen, the brothers had an interest in mechanic flight going all the way back to when they were kids; they would often tell a story of their father bringing home a toy glider which they eventually broke because they played with and studied it so much! In fact, it was creating their own line of bicycles that finally inspired them to dive into their flight research.

On December 17, 1903, on the beach at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, Orville piloted their original model of an engine-driven glider (the first working airplane!) into the air for twelve seconds, flying over 120 feet (35.5 meters). Four flights total were made that day, with Wilbur taking over the controls for the last one and flying 852 feet (260 meters) in 59 seconds.

Thanks to the Wright brothers, their inventions and research began a competition between the United States and every major country in Europe to begin their own flight programs. Though this information was first used for World War I a decade later, modern-day flight would be nowhere near as advanced if the Wright Brothers hadn’t inspired these countries to first consider it.

Unlike other scientists at the time, the brothers didn't focus their on trying to build a bigger and more powerful engine — this would actually work against them, since it would become that much harder to get the plane off the ground. Instead, they studied aerodynamics and did experiments with wind tunnels to better understand how air would flow around airplane wings, which is why their models were so successful. (They also ended up inventing their own lightweight, high-powered engine later on as well!)

Did you know?
You probably can't imagine a world without airplanes now, but did you know that only four newspapers reported on the Wright's flight when it happened? It didn't get greater press coverage because many people believed that the incident was either heavily exaggerated or completely made up!