First powered aircraft built by the Wright brothers
Wright Flyer
Seconds into the first airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903
Role
Experimental airplane
Type of aircraft
National origin
United States
Manufacturer
Wright Cycle Company
Designer
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Number built
1
Developed from
Wright Glider
Developed into
Wright Flyer II Wright Flyer III
Career
Other name(s)
Kitty Hawk, Flyer I, 1903 Flyer
Manufactured
1903
First flight
December 17, 1903, 120 years ago[1]
Owners and operators
Wright Brothers
Last flight
December 17, 1903
Flights
4
Status
Preserved and displayed at the National Air and Space Museum[2]
The Wright Flyer (also known as the Kitty Hawk,[3][4]Flyer I or the 1903 Flyer) made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903.[2] Invented and flown by brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, it marked the beginning of the pioneer era of aviation.
The aircraft is a single-place biplane design with anhedral (drooping) wings, front double elevator (a canard) and rear double rudder. It used a 12 horsepower (9 kilowatts) gasoline engine powering two pusher propellers. Employing 'wing warping' it was relatively unstable and very difficult to fly.[5]
The Wright brothers flew it four times in a location now part of the town of Kill Devil Hills, about 4 miles (6 kilometers) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The airplane flew 852 ft (260 m) on its fourth and final flight, but was damaged on landing, and wrecked minutes later when powerful gusts blew it over.
The aircraft never flew again but was shipped home and subsequently restored by Orville. The aircraft was initially displayed in a place of honor at the London Science Museum until 1948 when the resolution of an acrimonious priority dispute finally allowed it to be displayed in the Smithsonian. It is now exhibited in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
^"Telegram from Orville Wright in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to His Father Announcing Four Successful Flights, 1903 December 17". World Digital Library. December 17, 1903. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
^ ab"Wright Brothers". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
^Smithsonian Air and Space museum collection (click on Long Description)
^Orville Wright note
^Howard S. Wolko (1987). The Wright Flyer: An Engineering Perspective. National Air and Space Museum. pp. 12–13, 23, 32. ISBN 9780874749793.
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