Orville Wright, 1897

Before the big moustache

Wilbur Wright, 1897

Wilbur at age 30

Wilbur, 1897

Wilbur working in the bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio

Early accident, 1900

Crumpled glider wrecked by the wind on Hill of the Wreck (named after a shipwreck)

Glider, 1900

Left side view of the 1900 Wright glider before installation of forward horizontal control surface, flying as a kite, tipped forward; Kitty Hawk Lifesaving Station and Weather Bureau buildings in background to the left

Camp at Kitty Hawk, 1900

Closeup view of the Wright brothers’ tent at Kitty Hawk

Wilbur on glider, 1901

Wilbur Wright in prone position on glider just after landing, its skid marks visible behind it and, in the foreground, skid marks from a previous landing; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Glider being flown as kite, 1901

Wilbur at left side, Orville at right; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Back to the drawing board, 1901

Wright brothers rebuilding their glider in a wooden shed erected in July to serve as a workshop and to house the glider in bad weather, August, 1901; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Whoops, 1901

Orville at left wing end of upended glider, bottom view; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Time-out for local fauna, 1901

Sand crab; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Working with the glider, 1901

Side view of glider flying as a kite near the ground, Wilbur at left and Orville at right, glider turned forward to right and tipped downward

Piloting the glider, 1901

Side view of Wilbur Wright piloting a glider in level flight almost overhead, moving to left, showing bottom wing and elevator

Getting inspiration

Otto Lilienthal glider, 1895 (from a magazine or newspaper)

October, 1902

Start of a glide; Wilbur in motion at left holding one end of glider (rebuilt with single vertical rudder), Orville lying prone in machine, and Dan Tate at right; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

October, 1902

Wilbur gliding in level flight, single rear rudder clearly visible; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Kill Devil Hill, 1902

Wilbur gliding down steep slope of Big Kill Devil Hill; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

In the shop, 1903

Powered 1903 machine in the shop

Damaged machine, 1903

Wilbur in prone position in damaged machine on ground after unsuccessful trial of December 14, 1903; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

First flight, December 17, 1903

First flight, 120 feet in 12 seconds, 10:35 a.m.; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

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The Wright Brothers invented and built the world’s first successful airplane and made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on 17 December 1903. They are officially credited worldwide through the Fu00e9du00e9ration Au00e9ronautique Internationale, the standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. The Wright Brothers later developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft through the invention of flight controls.

May 1904

Wilbur and Orville Wright with their second powered machine; Huffman Prairie, Dayton, Ohio

August 1904

Flight 19: Orville piloting, covering a distance of 356 feet, machine close to the ground; Huffman Prairie, Dayton, Ohio

September 1905

Side view of flight 41, showing the machine traveling to the right, with double horizontal rudder in front and double vertical rudder behind, as Orville flew 12 miles; Huffman Prairie, Dayton, Ohio

October 1905

Rear view of flight 46, Orville shown flying at a high altitude over Huffman Prairie, Dayton, Ohio.

Wright Flying School, 1910

Series of flights from May through July, just after the opening of the Wright Flying School, probably Orville acting as instructor; Simms Station, Dayton, Ohio

Exterior view of the Wright Company factory; Dayton, Ohio, 1911

The Wright Company was incorporated on November 22, 1909. The factory was completed in November 1910 and a duplicate building was erected in 1911. The buildings continued in use until the Wright Company was sold, October 15, 1915.

Motor, 1911

Magneto side of the Wright four-cylinder motor used in 1911

Inside the airplane, 1911

Close-up view of airplane, including the pilot and passenger seats

Sister, Katherine Wright, 1915

Katharine Wright, wearing a leather jacket, cap, and goggles, aboard the Wright Model HS airplane with Orville, 1915

Orville's best friend, 1917

Scipio, a St. Bernard dog Orville acquired in March, 1917

Meeting Charles Lindbergh, 1927

Orville Wright, Major John F. Curry, and Colonel Charles Lindbergh, who came to pay Orville a personal call at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. June 22, 1927 [Wilbur died in 1912]

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Charles Lindbergh famously piloted the first non-stop flight between New York and Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis in May 1927.

January 1928

Underside view of the Wright brothers’ reconstructed 1903 motor

January 1928

Rear view of the Wright brothers’ four-cylinder motor as installed in their 1903 airplane