Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the
first successful flight in history of a self-propelled,
heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered,
propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered
120 feet on its inaugural flight.

Orville and Wilbur Wright grew
up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation after
learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal
in the 1890s. Unlike their older brothers, Orville and Wilbur did not
attend college, but they possessed extraordinary technical ability and
a sophisticated approach to solving problems in mechanical design. They
built printing presses and in 1892 opened a bicycle sales and repair
shop. Soon, they were building their own bicycles, and this experience,
combined with profits from their various businesses, allowed them to
pursue actively their dream of building the world's first airplane.

After
exhaustively researching other engineers' efforts to build a
heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the
U.S. Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider
tests. They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North
Carolina's Outer Banks, which offered steady winds and sand dunes from
which to glide and land softly. Their first glider, tested in 1900,
performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901, was more
successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested
nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs. The
brothers' systematic experimentations paid off––they flew hundreds of
successful flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty
Hawk. Their biplane glider featured a steering system, based on a
movable rudder, that solved the problem of controlled flight. They were
now ready for powered flight.

In Dayton, they designed a
12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of
machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it. They
transported their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of
1903, assembled it, made a few further tests, and on December 14
Orville made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled
during take-off and the plane was damaged, and they spent three days
repairing it. Then at 10:35 a.m. on December 17, in front of five
witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the air,
staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 120 feet. The modern aviation
age was born. Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and
Orville alternately flying the airplane. Wilbur flew the last flight,
covering 852 feet in 59 seconds.

During the next few years, the
Wright brothers further developed their airplanes but kept a low
profile about their successes in order to secure patents and contracts
for their flying machines. By 1905, their aircraft could perform
complex maneuvers and remain aloft for up to 39 minutes at a time. In
1908, they traveled to France and made their first public flights,
arousing widespread public excitement. In 1909, the U.S. Army's Signal
Corps purchased a specially constructed plane, and the brothers founded
the Wright Company to build and market their aircraft. Wilbur Wright
died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville lived until 1948.

The historic Wright brothers' aircraft of 1903 is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.