N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

Wilbur and Orville Wright

First in Flight

Have you ever been on an airplane? You may have flown to go someplace on vacation
or to visit a relative for the holidays. Either way, you would not have been able to fly if it
had not been for Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Wright Brothers were the first to ever fly
an airplane.

The Beginning of the Wright Brothers

Orville and Wilbur were both born in the Midwest. Their parents had five children. Orville
and Wilbur were the two youngest boys. They had two older brothers, Reuchlin and
Lorin and a younger sister, Katharine. Wilbur was born on April 16, 1867 in Millville,
Indiana. Orville, the youngest Wright boy, was born August 19, 1871 in Dayton, Ohio.
The Wrights had moved around quite a bit. However, they would remain in Dayton, Ohio
for quite a while. In fact, Dayton considers their home on Hawthorn Street to be the
official home of the Wright family.

The Wright children’s parents, Milton and Susan Wright traveled quite a bit because
Milton was a minister. When he was elected Bishop of a church in Iowa in 1878 the
family moved briefly from Dayton. However, they returned to their home on Hawthorn
Street in 1885.

While the boys had relatively normal childhoods their main interest was in a toy their
father bought for them. Though there were no helicopters at this time they had been
given a top that flew in a helicopter-like fashion. The boys loved it and their interest in
flying machines started from playing with this toy.

Wilbur was an excellent student who would have graduated had a series of unfortunate
events not occurred during his last year of school. He had dreams of attending Yale
College. However, moving in the middle of his last year of school, an accident that left
him homebound with heart problems, and the illness of his mother all prevented Wilbur
from achieving this goal. His mother suffered from a disease we now have a cure for
known as tuberculosis. Wilbur took care of his mother until she died.

Orville liked to play pranks and tease in school. He was more interested in having fun so
his studies suffered. He dropped out of school in his last year to help his brother start up
their first company. Neither of the Wright Brothers finished high school or had a college
education. However, they had persistence and a good work ethic so they managed to
do well in life anyhow.

Both of the Wright Brothers were incredibly smart. Though they did not graduate they
read books all the time, enjoyed learning new things, and were constantly tinkering with
anything mechanical. This led to many little inventions which would one day lead up to
the invention of their first airplane.

1 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

The Wright Brothers: Working Together

From the time Wilbur and Orville were 18 and 22 they had formed a business
partnership. Both boys were quite inventive when it came to building anything
mechanical. Their first business was a printing company, but they did not have the
money to buy a printing press. So, they built one.

Using a broken tombstone slab and parts for buggies the Wrights built their first printing
press and soon they were in business. With the printing press the Wright Brothers were
able to print their own newspaper as well as doing odd jobs for companies and
churches around Dayton. Their printing company didn’t last very long though because
the brother’s found a new passion: bicycles.

The Wright Brothers opened a bicycle repair shop in 1893 because they’d received so
many requests from neighbors and friends to fix their bicycles. At the time, the first
bicycles had been brought over from Europe! This was the first time a bicycle had been
in the United States so they were the hottest new item you could purchase.

They had several different shop locations on the west side of Dayton. Rental and repair
wasn’t enough though. They soon began selling bicycles with stiff competition from
other bike shops all across the city making it difficult for business to continue. Their
solution was to design their own line of bicycle! In 1896, the Wright Cycle Company
released their first bicycle.

Over 300 different lines of bicycles were built by the Wright Brothers. Their two most
popular bikes were the Van Cleve which sold for $65 and the St. Claire which sold for
$42.50. Now that might not seem like a lot of money but back then it was very
expensive! The Wright Brothers had a very successful bicycle company which could
have supported them for the rest of their lives, but they wanted more.

First in Flight

Having never forgotten the wooden flying toy their father had bought them, the brothers’
interest in flying continued into adulthood. After reading about a man who rode gliders
Wilbur decided to contact the Smithsonian Institute. He was interested in finding out
about research in the area of flight.

The Wright Brothers had moved their bike shop to Third Street, a street which still exists
in Dayton today. This is where Wilbur read about flight. The brothers built gliders, flight
models, diagrams, and constructed their first power airplane in this bicycle shop. With
their knowledge of the construction of bicycles, they were able to construct the first
model airplane using similar conventions they had used to construct their bicycles.

2 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

The first plane used some of the same balancing techniques bicycles use as well as the
chain link system that turns the wheels of a bike though the chain was used in the
actual transmission of the plane. Wilber and Orville also knew that the plane had to be
strong enough to hold the weight of one of them while being light enough to take flight.

In 1903 the first plane took flight In Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Wright Brothers did
not stop there. Until 1905 they continued to tinker with their model airplanes and
attempted flight numerous times as they constantly tried to make the model better.
Today, planes are constantly improving using the same methods the Wrights used to
ensure the latest, safest materials are used in their construction and improvement.

Before flying airplanes, Wilbur reviewed material sent by the Smithsonian Institute. After
reading this information the brothers built gliders. These gliders resemble the hand
gliders which are used today. By studying the hand gliders they were able to use them
as a model for the construction of the airplane. The main problems with earlier
experimentation with flight involved finding the right wing span to keep the plane in
flight, a way to propel the plane into motion, and a way to balance the plane and control
it once it lifted into the air.

The main idea behind balancing, controlling, and lifting the plane was based on
something called wing-warping. With wind-warping the wing was angled in a way to be
lifted under the flow of air from the wind. With the warped wing span the plane could be
balanced and more easily controlled. The wing-warping was combined with something
called the Wright Kite. The kite had a wingspan of 5 feet and looked similar to the kind
of kite that you could fly in the air in the 1900’s with a box shape as opposed to the flat
kites we see today.

Wilbur tested the kite out first to see if it would fly. As he had suspected the kite lifted
easily and without much effort. After the kite was launched the first trials at Kitty Hawk
began. At first, they tested out gliders which were guided by the person flying in them.
The Wrights chose Kitty Hawk as the location because they believed the weather
conditions would be much better here then the ever changing weather in Ohio.

The weather was not as steady in Kitty Hawk as the brothers thought it would be.
However, the sandy beach at Kitty Hawk allowed them a nice place to test their
inventions. The Wright glider had limited success. When it was unattended a gust of
wind lifted it into the air. The lightweight craft slammed back to the ground causing the
glider to break into pieces.

After another failed attempt at gliders in 1900 and 1901 the 1902 version was the first
one to look like the airplane they would eventually fly. This glider had some
improvements to it such as an improved kite system, and a rudder to control the
direction of the glider. The success of this glider put the Wrights in the record books.
Not only had they done close to 1,000 glides they also soared nearly 600 feet into the
air, a first for any glider in the world.

3 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

The key to making their glider become the first airplane had to do with propulsion. They
needed a system for propulsion which would make the plane take flight. They also
added an engine to the plane to make it really fly. It was during the early part of 1903
that they constructed their first propulsion system, engine, and make improvement to
other features on the glider such as the wingspan. Their efforts paid off. On December
17, 1903 the first few flights in the history of mankind took place in Kitty Hawk. The
Wright Brothers had done it!

While the first flight was only 12 seconds long it was a major step forward in the
invention of the airplane. Later in the day both Wilbur and Orville experienced flight with
Orville going 200 feet. His flight lasted 15 seconds making it longer than the first flight.
Not to be outdone by his brother, Wilbur had the most successful flight of the day. He
soared 852 feet in the air for a record 59 seconds!

The Brothers returned to Dayton knowing they would receive the patent for the airplane.
They wanted to improve their flight time so instead of traveling all the way to Kitty Hawk
they used a local pasture outside of Dayton to test out their latest airplane in 1904. This
time they were able to fly in a complete circle and stay airborne for 1 minute and 36
seconds.

In 1905 they improved their plane even more. They had developed a plane that could
go close to 30 miles and stay in the air for close to an hour. It was time for them to sell
their airplane to a customer since the plane was now ready for flight by another. While
the Wrights focused more on the business side of flight all over the world competitors
were trying to copy their idea and be the first to actually sell their airplane. This included
Alexander Graham Bell who developed the first Canadian airplane. However, nothing
could compare to the planes the Wrights designed.

In 1908 with their patent in many European countries as well as in the United States the
Wright Brothers sold their invention to the U.S. government and other agencies across
the world willing to purchase the rights to their airplane. Wilbur headed to Europe where
he made hundreds of flights. He trained the Italian military in the art of piloting a plane.
Orville and his sister Katherine went to Germany where he trained the military as well.
Soon planes would be used in combat and divisions of the armed forces, such as the
Air Force, would be formed.

When the Wright Brothers returned home not only did Dayton celebrate but the entire
country did. In a ceremony in their home town the brothers received medals from the
United States Congress and the city of Dayton for their extraordinary efforts in
advancing flight to the point where it was. The following year their first official airplane,
the Wright Model B, was available for consumer purchase. For the next six years many
different planes were sold to the military and the public.

In 1912 Wilbur passed away. He had gotten sick with something called typhoid fever.
Orville could only stand to run the company for three more years. In 1915 he sold it
unable to go on without his brother and partner in flight.

4 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

Henry Ford bought the home of the Wrights on 7 Hawthorn Street as well as their Third
Street bike shop. They were moved up to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan and
today visitors can tour the houses. There are also many artifacts from the Wright
Brothers lives on display at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio and
around the city of Dayton.

Today, the Wright Brothers are remembered for their remarkable contribution to flight.
They are celebrated through being named for schools throughout the United States
including Wright State University and being home town heroes in the city of Dayton.

In 2003 the city of Dayton had a 100 year celebration commemorating the Wright
Brothers. The city had celebrations throughout the summer as well as numerous tours
and air shows at the local Air Force Base. Kitty Hawk had their own celebrations
marking their historic significance as the place the first flight occurred. These
celebrations just go to show that the Wright Brothers will never be forgotten for their
amazing inventions and remarkable talent.

5 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

Wilbur and Orville Wright Worksheet

Matching

1. _______ Kitty Hawk A. Place of Wilbur’s Birth

2. _______ Dayton B. Where their Father served as Bishop

3. _______ Millville C. The place the first flight occurred in

1903

4. _______Iowa D. Home of the Third Street Bike Shop

5. _______ 1902 A. The year of the 24 miles (almost 30

miles) flight

6. _______ 1903 B. First Flight occurs for 12 seconds

7. _______ 1904 C. The most successful glider flight

8. _______ 1905 D. The first circular flight occurred in a

pasture outside Dayton, Ohio

Multiple Choice

9. Wilbur was very smart. He almost attended Yale but had to stay home because:

A. His mother contracted Tuberculosis B. Of an accident that affected his heart

C. His family moved in his senior year D. All of the Above

6 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

10. The first printing press the Brothers made was made of:

A. Twine and typewriter parts B. Shoelaces and car parts

C. A tombstone slab and buggy parts D. None of the Above

11. The Wright Cycle Company was located on this street in Dayton:

A. Third B. Hawthorn

C. Second D. Main

12. After the first plane was patented who did the Brothers teach to fly their planes?

A. The Pope B. The King of Spain

C. The Military D. Alexander Graham Bell

True or False

13. Wilbur was older than Orville.

14. The Wright Brothers called Toledo, Ohio their home.

15. The Wright Brothers had successful gliders in 1900 and 1901.

16. Wilbur died of Tuberculosis in 1912.

17. Orville graduated from Yale College.

7 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

18. The first flight was 12 seconds long on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

19. Alexander Hamilton was a successful inventor who heard about the Wright Brothers’
success and tried to replicate their flight patterns in Canada.

20. The Wright Brothers made many contributions to flight which affect how we do
things today.

8 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb

N am e___ _____ ___ ___ __ ___ ___ __ __ D ate_ ______ __ ___ ___ __

Answer Key

1. C
2. D
3. A
4. B
5. C
6. B
7. D
8. A
9. D
10. C
11. A
12. C
13. True
14. False
15. False
16. False
17. False
18. True
19. False
20. True

9 Copyright 2005 InstructorWeb