First Flight
On the morning of December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright took turns piloting and monitoring their flying machine in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Orville piloted the first flight that lasted just 12 seconds and 120 feet. On the fourth and final flight of the day, Wilbur traveled 852 feet, remaining airborne for 59 seconds. That morning, the brothers became the first people to demonstrate sustained flight of a heavier-than-air machine under the complete control of the pilot.
They built their 1903 glider in sections in the back room of their Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop. That afternoon, the Wright brothers walked the four miles to Kitty Hawk and sent a telegram to their father, Bishop Milton Wright, back home in Dayton:
Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas.
Telegram, Orville Wright to Bishop Milton Wright, announcing the first successful powered flight. December 17, 1903. (Wright Brothers Papers). Manuscript Division
Through their own research and experimentation, and by studying the attempts of other would-be pilots, the Wright brothers knew that heavier-than-air flight was possible. They corresponded frequently with engineer Octave Chanute, a friend and supporter of their work. On May 13, 1900, Wilbur wrote a letter to Chanute expressing his ambition to fly:
For some years, I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible to man. My disease has increased in severity and I feel that it will soon cost me an increased amount of money if not my life.
Letter, Wilbur Wright to Octave Chanute, concerning the Wright brothers’ aviation experiments. May 13, 1900. (Octave Chanute Papers). Manuscript Division
The U.S. Army saw potential in the new technology and signed a contract with the Wright brothers in 1908. Their new Military Flyer was successfully tested in 1909.
Learn More
The Library of Congress is rich in resources on flight.
- See the Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress for a look at digital images that document the lives of the Wright brothers including correspondence, scrapbooks, drawings, and their own collection of glass-plate photographic negatives.
- The Octave Chanute Papers reside in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. View the finding aid for more information. Selected correspondence between Chanute and the Wright Brothers is included in the online presentation of materials from the Wright Brothers Papers
- Search Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers to follow the progress of the Wright Brothers in their quest to conquer flight. Start with a sample of articles found in Wright Brothers: Topics in Chronicling America.
- Read Alexander Graham Bell’s June 26, 1906, letter to Mabel Hubbard Bell on “the flying machine of the Wright Brothers of Dayton Ohio.”
- Library of Congress digital collections have numerous images of airplanes–ranging from early planes to World War II aircraft. Search, for example:
- Panoramic Photographs
- Gottscho-Schleisner Collection
- Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
- The Detroit Publishing Company collection holds many views of Dayton that were taken during the years that the Wright brothers resided there.
- Read Americans’ stories of flying by searching on airplane in the collection American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1940. See, for example, the 1939 interview “An Air-Minded Family” in which Mrs. Edwards describes her family’s obsession with planes sparked by her husband’s passion for flying.
- Search on airplane or flight in the pictorial collections for a wealth of images. Also explore the Tissandier Collection which documents the early history of aeronautics with an emphasis on balloon flight in France and other European countries. Subjects include general and technical images of balloons, airships, and flying machines; also includes portraits of famous balloonists.
- Learn more about one of Orville Wright’s high school friends, the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
- Explore the L’Aerophile Collection which includes materials related to the Wright Brothers. For example, see the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum’s online exhibition, The Wright Brothers: The Invention of the Aerial Age which includes images from this collection