Wright Brothers Airplane

A Wright brothers airplane hangs inside the National Air and Space Museum. It is the original plane that made the first powered flight.

On December 17, 1903 the Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard.

With Orville Wright as pilot, the airplane took off from a launching rail and flew for 12 seconds and a distance of 120 feet.

The airplane was flown three more times that day, with the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, alternating as pilot. The longest flight, with Wilbur at the controls, was 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds.

The Flyer, designed and built by the Wright brothers, was one step in a broad experimental program that began in 1899 with their first kite and concluded in 1905, when they built the first truly practical airplane.

The basic problems of mechanical flight, lift, propulsion, and control were solved in the Wright design.