WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT

April 16, 1867 - May 30, 1912 (Wilbur)
August 19, 1871 - January 30, 1948 (Orville)

The First Men to Fly

• Inventors

• Aviators

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong called his first step on the moon, "one giant leap for mankind." An even greater leap was taken on a windy December morning 66 years earlier -- when the Wright Brothers left the ground!

Count 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006, 1007, 1008, 1009, 1010, 1011, 1012. That's twelve seconds. That's how long the historic first airplane flight lasted. Just 12 seconds. The plane flew 120 feet, not even half a football field. But it was enough to prove that humans could fly. Two brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright designed and built the motor-driven machine that picked them up off the ground on December 17, 1903 and sent them soaring into the history books. What led the Wright Brothers to that historic event on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina? Well, believe it or not, it was a bicycle.

Ten years earlier, Wilbur and Orville had opened a bicycle repair shop in Ohio. The inseparable brothers had already been successful partners in the printing business. Then, as bicycles became popular in America in the 1800's, the Wright's caught "bike fever." After taking up riding for fun, they soon found themselves repairing not only their own bikes, but those belonging to friends, too. It just seemed logical to open a shop. As their repair business grew, (they eventually had four shops) the inventive brothers began designing new bicycles. They wanted to build the fastest racing bicycle in the world. Their success in building lightweight bikes, combined with their fascination with glider pilots, like Octo Lilienthal, led them to a new interest: flying.

When they were children, their father surprised them once with a toy helicopter. It was made of cork, bamboo and paper, and powered by a rubber band. They loved playing with it, and used it as a model to make their own. Years later, Wilbur and Orville claimed that their toy helicopter contributed to their interest in flying. Their first experiments with flight involved non-powered machines called gliders. They spent years learning the principles of flight before they moved on to powered aircraft. Then there were more years of study and experimentation, until Orville piloted that historic 12-second flight, with Wilbur running alongside the airplane. Three more flights took place that morning, with the brothers taking turns at the controls. The longest flight of the day was 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds. Wilbur was in the driver's seat.

Then Wilbur and Orville became rich and famous, right? Wrong! The world didn't even hear about what they'd done for another five years. Want to know why? You'll have to read their story to find out!

POWER WORDS!

"”I cannot but believe that we stand at the beginning of a new era, The Age of Flight.”"
- Orville Wright

EXPLORE!

It seems that we have always been fascinated by the idea of being able to fly. Ancient peoples dreamed of it and used flying in their myths. But we've only actually done it for a relatively short time. In 2003, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight. So, explore the history, the machines, and the men and women who have gone "up, up and away" since that December day in 1903.

You can learn more about flying and aviators from these sources:

• The National Air and Space Museum, 6th St. & Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20560 (202)633-1000 www.nasm.si.edu
• Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, 14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway, Chantilly, VA 20151 www.nasm.si.edu/museum/Udvarhazy
  
• The Wright Brothers National Memorial, 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954 (Kill Devil Hills) (252)441-7430 www.nps.gov/wrbr
• Greenfield Village, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., P.O. Box 1970, Dearborn, MI 48121-1970 (313)982-6001 or (800)835-5237, www.thehenryford.org/village/about.aspx

Henry Ford, the inventor of the Model T automobile and the man who brought the assembly line to American industry, established this park as a monument to America's great "geniuses." The Wright Brothers' home and bicycle shop have been moved completely to this historical park. Also, you'll find Thomas Edison's laboratory from Menlo Park, New Jersey. How did these historic buildings end up in Michigan? Henry Ford bought them and moved them there!

EXPLORE SOME MORE!

What would life be like if we couldn't fly? Family vacations might be closer to home; you would think twice about visiting Florida's Disney World if you had to drive there from Portland, Oregon. College and professional sports teams couldn't play the schedules they play now. Can you imagine the Chicago Bulls taking a 30-hour bus trip to play a game in Seattle? National defense would take on a whole new look. No jet fighters, no aircraft carriers, no Air Force. The space program wouldn't even exist. Brainstorm with your family and friends to list all the ways that flying has helped and harmed people. That's right, talk about the problems, too. Did the Wright Brothers do us a favor by taking off at Kitty Hawk? Or would we have been better off if they had stuck to fixing bicycles?

DIVE IN!

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman (Holiday House, 1991), 128 pages.
Illustrations include original photographs by Wilbur and Orville Wright.

To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brothers by Wendie Old (Clarion Books, 2002), 48 pages.