Wright brothers biography

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited with building and flying the first heavier than air aeroplane. They achieved the first recorded flight on 17 December 1903. Over the next 10 years they continued to develop the aircraft making a significant contribution to the development of the modern aeroplane.

Their particular contribution was in the effective control of an airplane, through their three-axis control system. This basic principle is still used today. It was for this control mechanism that they received their first US patent 821,393.

Achievements of the Wright Brothers

• 1903 - first powered aircraft Flight
• 1905,- built airplane that could fly for more than half an hour at a time. I
• 1908 - Orville Wright made the world's first flight of over one hour at Fort Myer, Virginia, in a demonstration for the U.S. army, which subsequently made the Wright planes the world's first military airplanes. 
• 1908 - Wilbur made over 100 flights near Le Mans, France; the longest one, on Dec. 31, a record flight: 2 hours, 19 minutes.

Their first application for a patent in 1903 was rejected. In 1904, they hired a patent attorney and they received their first patent. However, other aviators attempted to circumnavigate the Wright brothers patents, leading to painful and costly legal battles in the courts.

In the last two years of his life from 1910 to 1912, Wilbur played a key role in the patent struggle. His family felt this contributed to his premature death from typhoid fever in 1912.

The brothers never married. Wilbur once quipped he "did not have time for both a wife and an airplane. Orville Wright died of a heart attack at age 77. 

The original Wright Flyer rests in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. with the inscription.

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