How We Invented the Airplane

Orville Wright, 1871 - 1948 Orville Wright was born in 1871 in Dayton, Ohio. He is less well known than his older brother, Wilbur, but had as much influence in the creation of the first airplane as did his brother. Orville was in fact, the first to fly the Wright's airplane and have a successful lift-off, traveling 120 feet.

It was during the years between 1900 and 1903 that the Wright Brothers developed the first working airplane. Their first two gliders had not worked as designed, and the Wrights were beginning a critical shift that would enable them to discover the reason. "The Wright Brothers Aeroplane" appeared in Century magazine in 1908, after Wilbur had made his flights in France.

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