Wilbur & Orville Wright

     Wright, Orville and Wilbur , American brothers, inventors and aviation pioneers who achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight (1903) and built and flew the first fully practical airplane (1905).
     Early years. The sons of a bishop of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the Wright brothers displayed from their earliest years unusual mechanical intelligence and talent. Mostly self-taught, they began designing and building printing machinery, then went into the business of selling bicycles later of designing and manufacturing them. It was the income from this business that supported them during the early years of their aeronautical experiments.
     The Wrights arrived on aviation at the most opportune moment. Aerodynamics, structural engineering, engine design, and fuel technology had all reached a stage of development at which they could be welded together to produce a practical flying machine. The Wrights, hardworking, persistent, and gifted with outstanding mechanical talent, were ideally suited to achieve the final conquest of the air.
     Wilbur first became interested in the ideas of mechanical flight after reading of Ottto Lilienthal's successful gliding experiments in Germany and then of his crash and death in 1896. But it was not until 1899, after observing how buzzards keep their balance in the air, that Wilbur realized that in order successfully an airplane must operate on three axes. Like a bird, a flying machine must be able to bank to one side or the other, to climb or descend, and to steer to right or left and, if necessary, perform two or all of these operations simultaneously.
     To the Wrights, flight control was of great concern. They had observed that buzzards controlled their movement in roll by twisting their wings. So, when the brothers built their first machine in 1899-- a biplane kite-- they fitted it with wings that could be mechanically twisted. One side could thus produce more lift and the other simultaneously less; which enabled the craft to bank for a turn or to roll back to a level position if disturbed the wind. Apart from being the first to make a powered airplane fly, the Wright's achievement of three axis control was their most significant contribution to aerodynamics and practical flying.
     Before attempting powered flight, they decided master gliding flight and built three biplane gliders in 1900, 1901, and 1902. The first of these gliders was flown at Kitty Hawk, N.C., and the others at the Kill Devil Hills, five miles to the south. They developed the last glider to a state of full controllability: it had a forward elevator for up-and-down control, a rear rudder for turning right or left, and "wing warping," or helically twisting for control in roll. Into the building and testing of these gliders went an immense amount of theoretical and experimental work, including testing in a wind tunnel, in Dayton, which the Wrights carried out in the course of their researches.

     Before they could build and fly their first powered plane, two formidable difficulties had to be overcome. First, they had to design and construct efficient propellers, which did not exist at the time; and second, they had to design and build a suitable engine because the automobile engines of the day were far too heavy.
     First powered flight. They completed their powered machine, "Flyer 1" (now popularly called the "Kitty Hawk"), in 1903 and made history's first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flights from level ground without any assistance at takeoff at the Kill Devils Hills on the morning of Dec. 17, 1903. The first lasted 12 seconds; the last, 59 seconds covered 852 feet of ground, but, because of a head wind, the second flight actually covered more than one half mile of air distance.
     An improved "Flyer II," equipped with a new engine, was flown at Huffman Prairie near Dayton in 1904. In 1905 came "Flyer III" the world's first practical airplane, which could turn, bank, circle, fly figure eights with ease and stay airborne for more than half an hour.
     Because of exasperating and fruitless dealings with the United States Army which refused to believe that the Wrights had a successful airplane to sell and also in fear of industrial espionage, the brothers refused to fly again until they were offered a fair financial arrangement ,either by the government or a private company. As a result, they never once left the ground between Oct. 16, 1905, and May 6, 1908 but in that period they built several new aircraft and engines.
     News and illustrations of the Wright gliders directly precipitated the birth of modern aviation in Europe. At last, in 1908, the brothers were able to conclude an agreement in Europe for the production of Wright airplanes under license; in the United States, the army agreed to take a Wright machine if it passed trials to conducted by Orville.
     After a few secret practice flights in the United States, Wilbur made the first public flight of the new machines at a racecourse near Le Mans, France, on Aug. 8, 1908; he continued his exhibition flights at Auvours nearby, to the end of 1908. In those five months Wilbur made more than 100 flights, was airborne for more than 25 hours, took passengers up on some 60 occasions, and made 7 flights exceeding hour's duration, ending with a record flight of 2 hours and 20 minutes.
     In the United States, meanwhile, Orville began making equally spectacular flights in September at Ft. Myer, Virginia; but on September 17 his machine suffered mechanical damage in flight and crashed, injuring Orville and killing his passenger, Lieuteniunt T.E. Selfridge.
     Assessment.   Between them, the brothers had revolutionized the primitive practice of European aviation of the time and shown the world how to control an airplane in the air. In 1909 the brothers consolidated their triumphs when Wilbur again made exhibition flights in France and Italy. Orville returned to Ft. Myer with his newly built machine and easily won the U.S. Army contract with this, the world's first military airplane. He went on to Germany and demonstrated brilliantly with another Wright machine.
     The Wrights continued to dominate world aviation until the end of 1909, building their machines in both Europe and the United States. Although improved Wright machines continued to appear and make excellent flights in 1910 and 1911, European competition eventually surpassed them.
     Wilbur died of typhoid in 1912, but Orville lived on to make valuable contributions to aeronautics until 1948. Both the brothers died bachelors; aviation had been their only passion. Their father's obituary tribute to Wilbur may fittingly be applied to both of these remarkable men: A short life, full of consequences. An unfailing intellect, imperturbable temper, great self-reliance and as great modesty. Seeing the right clearly, pursuing it steadily, he lived and died.