At the turn of the 20th Century, the race was on to create and build the world’s first successful heavier-than-air flying machine. On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright succeeded. They flew their “Wright Flyer” from a beach near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

The process leading to this successful flight was long and tedious. From 1899 through 1903, the Wright brothers conducted numerous tests. They developed and refined several theories on aviation, too. First, in 1899, they tested some of their aeronautical theories on kites. In 1900, they began testing them on gliders. Then, they progressed on to the construction of the plane and engine. They named the plane the “Wright Flyer”.

Finally, at 10:35 am on the morning of December 17, 1903, Orville Wright took off from the sandy beach of Kitty Hawk. The first flight was 120 feet long and lasted just 12 seconds. The plane flew at 6.8 mph. Both Wilbur and Orville Wright flew twice each on that day. They learned how to fly and control the airplane as they went. On the fourth and final flight of the day, with Wilbur at the controls, the airplane’s 59-second flight traversed 852 feet.

Over the course of the next several years, the Wright brothers continued to construct new planes, improving on both design and especially control systems.