|
The Wright Brothers
Wilbur and Orville Wright
loved to invent things. As young boys they made toys and
kites that they sold to friends. They attended school
regularly, but learned about science and mechanics from reading
and working with tools. In 1892 they decided to go into
business together. They opened a shop in Dayton, Ohio, where
they rented, sold, and built bicycles.
At about this time a man
named Otto Lilienthal was working on trying to find a way for
human beings to fly. Liliental was killed in a glider
accident in 1896. The Wright Brothers decided to continue
with his experiments of trying to find a way to fly.
Wilbur and Orville Wright
began to test double-winged gliders in 1900. They designed,
built and tested over two hundred models to determine the best
wing design. Finally they designed one on which the pilot
would lie down flat on his stomach. They tested their design
one thousand times over three years on the sand dunes near Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina. During this time they were becoming very
good pilots.
On December 17, 1903,
Orville and Wilbur Wright wheeled the new invention onto a beach
at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Powered by a small engine,
the airplane coasted across the sand, lifted off, and flew a total
of one hundred and twenty feet into the air before landing.
Orville and Wilbur Wright
are remembered as the "fathers of flight." The
beach at Kitty Hawk is a national historical monument.
|
