Flyer I
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk on North Carolina's Outer Banks, Wilbur and Orville Wright completed history's first flight in an engine-powered, pilot controlled aircraft. It was named Flyer I, the aircraft, designed and built in their Dayton, Ohio bicycle factory, had a wingspan of 40 feet, weighed 625 pounds and was powered by gasoline-fueled, 170 pound, 12 horse-power engine. Piloted by Orville, it flew at an altitude of 10 feet for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. It was the first of four flights that day, the fourth and longest was WIlbur's 59 second, 852 foot effort.
The Plane
The 1903 Wright Flyer was constructed of spruce and ash covered with muslin. The framework "floated" within fabric pockets sewn inside, making the muslin covering an integral part of the structure. This ingenious feature made the aircraft light, strong, and flexible. The 1903 Flyer was powered by a simple four-cylinder engine of the Wrights' own design.
To fly the airplane, the pilot lay prone with his head forward, his left hand operating the elevator control. Lateral control was achieved by warping the wing tips in opposite directions via wires attached to a hip cradle mounted on the lower wing. The pilot shifted his hips from side to side to operate the mechanism, which also moved the rudder.
Length: 6.4 m (21 ft)
Height: 2.8 m (9 ft 3 in)
Inscription on the 1903 flyer at the Smithsonian Institution
The original Wright brothers Aeroplane, the world's first power-driven, heavier-than-air machine in which man made free, controlled, and sustained flight invented and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright flown by them at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina December 17, 1903 by original scientific research the Wright brothers discovered the principles of human flight as inventors, builders and flyers they further developed the aeroplane, taught man to fly and opened the era of aviation.
