The Wright Brothers
The Wright Brothers were Wilbur and Orville Wright, and the first people to successfully fly a plane. Wilbur Wright was born on April 16th, 1867. The brothers fascination with flight began "in 1878, Wilbur’s dad Milton brought the brothers toy “helicopter” which the boys later pointed to as an event that sparked their interest in aeronautics (Bettman)". Wilbur was widely regarded as a genius, and taught himself lmost everything he needed to know to achieve flight. Wilbur died in 1912 at the age of 45. Orville was on August 19th, 1871. Orville dropped out of high school in order to start a printing company, with a printer Wilbur and Orville built. Later, the brothers opened a bicycle shop, and Orville's abilities as a mechanic became readily apparent through his work with bicycles as well as the various models of planes the brothers constructed. The Wright brothers took turns flying the planes, and it was Orville who piloted the first successful flight. Orville died in 1948 at the age of 76.
The Flight and the Journey
The first successful flight was in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17th, 1903. This is 4 years after the Wright Brothers began their journey, which took multiple steps to get to the first successful flight. In 1899 the Wright Brothers began to look into the knowledge already uncovered regarding aeronautics, which was not much, "Until [the 1800s], few trained scientists or mechanics thought [aeronautics] a sensible undertaking (The Wright brothers)". In 1900, the Wright Brothers began working with gliders. Starting with kites, and working their way up to gliders that a person could pilot. This is when the Wright Brothers began experimenting with aerodynamics, trying to figure out what actually works to get someone off the ground. The Brothers' 1900 glider had moderate success, but had issues generating lift. In 1901, the Wright Brothers attempted to improve upon their 1900 glider, to do this, they increased the size of the wings and the curvature of the airfoil. This was not successful, however, as the glider still had lift problems, but it also controlled worse than the 1900 glider. In 1902, the Brothers' made yet another glider, this one performed vastly better than the 1900 and 1901 gliders. Generating more lift, and having better control than any of their previous gliders. It was also at this point in time that the Brothers' had accumulated all of the data that they needed to construct a successful flying machine. In 1903, the Brothers' figured out a way to propel their flying machine. A propeller, in conjunction with the aeronautical knowledge they had accumulated led the Wright Brothers to the first successful flight of a self powered machine in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17th, 1903. The culmination of years of work, trial, and error, finally resulted in the first successful flight, making history. After the first successful flight, the Wright Brothers' continued to do work with planes, lengthening their flight time, and making a more practical airplane, which they achieved in 1905. 1905 was also the end of the Wright Brothers' experimental period.
Works Cited
Bettmann. The official licensing site of the Wright brothers. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from The Official Licensing Website of The Wright Brothers, http://wrightbrothers.info/
The Wright brothers. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/index.cfm
History Channel Logo. Retrieved December 6, 2016, from https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/750388643697664001/DBMQldhb.jpg
The Wright brothers. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/index.cfm
History Channel Logo. Retrieved December 6, 2016, from https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/750388643697664001/DBMQldhb.jpg