The First Flight

December 17 would mark the day aviation was born. On that day in the year of 1903, the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, who designed and built the very first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered aircraft, the Wright Flyer (also known as Flyer I or 1903 Flyer ), made their very first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their successful invention of a powered aircraft would pave the way in the world of aeronautics and aviation and their invention is also responsible for today's turbine-powered Boeing flights and next generation fighter planes and also change the face of transportation completely.

After their successful invention of the 1902 Glider, which had yaw control and was recorded for successfully gliding over six hundred feet and staying in the air for over 25 seconds, Wilbur and Orville immediately started designing the Flyer I, the very first powered aircraft. Incorporating similar designs from the Glider, the Wright Brothers, who had trouble finding a suitable engine for the airplane, commissioned one Charlie Taylor to design and build one from scratch. As with the Glider, the pilot of the Flyer had to lie flat on his stomach while flying the aircraft, as it reduced drag.

The Wright Brothers very first attempt to fly the Flyer was made on December 14 1903. The brothers decided that a gravity-assisted takeoff had the best chance of success so after moving the Flyer to Big Kill Devil Hill, Wilbur attempted to make history as the first man to ever pilot a powered aircraft, but after pulling on the controls too sharply, the aircraft came down, failing to fly. The Wright Brothers did not give up and after repairs were made to the aircraft and with strong winds averaging 20mph, they attempted another go at flying the Flyer on December 17, 1903.

Instead of another gravity-assisted takeoff, the Wright Brothers pointed the aircraft in the direction of the wind and used wind-assisted takeoff instead, with Orville at the controls. With a flight time of only 12 seconds and covering a distance of 120 feet, history was made. The Wright Brothers had successfully completed the very first powered flight. Throughout the day, several more flights were made and the last flight recorded on December 17 had the Flyer, piloted by Wilbur, flying over 850 feet. The very same day, the controls for the Flyer broke but hopes of repairing the aircraft were dashed when a strong gust of wind flipped the aircraft over on its end and damaged the aircraft beyond repair.

Despite claims by the Wright Brothers they created the very first flying machine, there were actually several other aviators who created experimental aircrafts and made short flights prior to the Wright Brothers’ attempt with the Flyer, particularly the efforts of Gustave Whitehead, but the Wright Brothers claimed theirs was the first that had proper control over the aircrafts. The Wright Brothers faced much controversy amongst the Europe community and even the Smithsonian Institution who then refused to acknowledge Wilbur and Orville as the inventors of the very first powered flight but since then, they are generally credited as the inventor of the world’s first successful airplane and the inventors of the aerial age of today.