People had dreamed of flying for many years. The United States Army was
trying to develop an airplane in 1903, but the plane wouldn't fly. The
New York Times wrote that maybe in
1 million to 10 million years they might
be able to make a plane that would fly.
Only eight days later two men
were successful in flying the first manned
plane. They were Wilbur Wright and his younger brother, Orville. They had made a propeller-driven airplane and it had stayed in the air for
12 seconds! It was called the Wright Flyer. They made three more
flights that day at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Only five people were there to see the flights, and very few newspapers even wrote a story about it.
The first plane they had built was a glider that measured 16 feet from wing tip to wing tip. It cost them $15 to build it. The gasoline-powered plane they flew at Kitty Hawk cost them less than $1000 to build.
They learned to love to "tinker" from their mother. She was always
fixing and repairing things. The boys earned money by making home-made
mechanical toys. When bicycles became popular, they opened
a bicycle shop.
They studied birds and how they flew. They contacted other people who
were trying to fly. They made a wind tunnel at their shop to test different
kinds of wings.
Wilbur and Orville Wright
They continued to improve their planes, and five years later Orville
remained in the air for one hour and two minutes. A few days later
he had an accident in his plane. He had several broken bones and his
passenger died. This was the most serious accident they ever had.
After Wilbur died of typhoid fever in 1912, Orville continued to work alone. He
sold his interest in the Wright Company and retired three years later.
The original plane that flew at
Kitty Hawk was placed in a Science Museum
in London in 1928. Twenty years later, the museum sent the plane back to
the United States. It can now be seen at the National Air Museum in
Washington, D.C.
This biography by Patsy Stevens, a retired teacher, was written in 2001.
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Dictionary
From
Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster
(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə)
propeller
Pronunciation: prə-'pel-ər
Function: noun
: a device consisting of a hub fitted with blades
that is made to
turn rapidly by an engine
and is used especially for propelling
airplanes and ships
typhoid fever
Function: noun
: a disease that is caused by a bacteria, is characterized
especially by fever, diarrhea, weakness, headache,
and an
inflamed intestine, and is passed
from one person to another in
dirty food or water
original
Function: adjective
relating to or being the origin or beginning : FIRST,
EARLIEST
tinker
Function: verb
.... to repair or adjust something in an unskilled or experimental
manner
Research Links
The Wright Brothers, First Flight, 1903accounts from Eye Witness to History
The Wright BrothersPeople and Discoveries, PBS
First Flightpioneers in flight
The Wright Brothersbiography with audio version
Wright Brothers Photographyfrom Paperless Archives
Orville Wright and Flight (audio)
Flight in 1909 (audio)
Wright and Lilienthal (audio)
Taylor's Engine (audio)
The Wright Brothers' Propellers (audio)
Thomas Selfridge (audio)
A Vision of Flight (audio)
An Egyptian Model Plane (audio)
Maxim's Airplane (audio)
Testing Airplane Propellers (audio)
Engines of Our Ingenuity.
The Wright Brotherslesson planning article from Education World
At biography.com search for The Wright Brothers.
Scroll the panel for the "Video & Audio Results".
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Library
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The Wright Brothersby Janet Dorfman (selected pages)
The Wright Brothers, Kids Can Readby Elizabeth MacLeod, Andrej Krystoforski (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothers, Graphic Biographiesby Kerri O'Hern, Gretchen Will Mayo, Rebekah Isaacs (selected pages) Order
here
The Wright sister: Katharine Wright and her famous brothersby Richard Maurer (selected pages) Order
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Wee and the Wright Brothers (Fiction)by Timothy R. Gaffney, Bernadette Pons (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothers' Gliderby Gerry Bailey, Karen Foster (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothers (Bio Graphics)by Joe Dunn (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothersby Susan E. Hamen (selected pages)Order
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The Wright Brothers and the Airplane (Weekly Reader)by Monica L. Rausch (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothers: First in Flightby Tara Dixon-Engel, Mike Jackson (selected pages) Order
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"Are We There Yet? The Wright Brothers' National Memorial Parkby Sandra Taylor-Miller (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk (Reader's Theater)by Alan Kramer (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothers: Two Brothers, One Dream: Let's Flyby Carole Marsh (selected pages) Order
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From The Wright Brothers To The Treaty Of Versailles: The Early 1900s To 1919by Sean Sheehan (selected pages) Order
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The Wright Brothersby Lola M. Schaefer (selected pages) Order
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Using Biographies in the Classroomby Garth Sundem, Shell Education,
See Sample pagesOrder
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The Wright Brothersby Ginger Wadsworth (selected pages)
The Wright Brothersby Kitty Shea (selected pages)
The Wright Brothers, People to Knowby Jonatha A. Brown (selected pages)
The Wright Brothers and the Airplaneby Xavier Niz (selected pages)
The Wright brothers: how they invented the airplaneby Russell Freedman, Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright (selected pages)
The Story of the Wright Brothers (coloring book)by Bruce LaFontaine (selected pages)
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