The Wright Brothers by Rowan Higgins

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The Wright Brothers

Published on Nov 18, 2015

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Wilbur Wright was born in Millville, Indiana on April 16, 1867 and died in Dayton Ohio on May 30, 1912
Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 19, 1871 and died in Dayton, Ohio on January 30, 1948
Their parents were Reverend Milton Wright and Susan Wright
They had two brothers, Reuchlin and Lorin, and one sister Katherine
There father brought home helicopter-like tops which got them interested in flight

The purpose of the invention was to fly like a bird, every flyers dream.
The inventors wanted to make long distance travel faster and easier.
After many failures and experiments, they succeeded on December 17, 1903
They made several flights that day, the longest one was 59 seconds over 852 feet.

The Wright brothers had a bicycle shop where they learned to make and repair machinery.
Their first inventions were improving bicycle design, which was very successful
They built their first glider in 1900, but it did not fly very well, and another in 1902 which wasn't much better.
They realized they didn't understand how a wing work, so they built a wind tunnel to test different wing shapes.
They couldn't find an engine light enough, so they had to build their own engine and propeller.

Flight made it possible to travel in a straight line without having to go over or around obstacles.
Flight is faster because their is so little friction against the air.
Crossing the ocean use to take days, weeks, or months by boat, and was to expensive for most people.
Now it's possible to fly anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours!

The Invention of the plane eventually led to rocket science and space flight.
The Wright Brothers were the first inventors to use modern scientific methods to study flight
The first plane the Wright Brothers sold was to the military in 1909 for $30,000
The first fatality from powered flight was Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge, killed in a crash while flying with Orville