Orville+and+Wilbur+Wright

Orville and Wilbur Wright ** Orville and Wilbur Wright did not only change America, but they changed the entire world. They helped pave the way to new inventions such as the helicopter, the jet plane, and the Concorde. They showed everyone that man could fly, with the help of just one machine.
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In Dayton, Ohio, on an April day in 1867, Wilbur Wright was born. Four years later, on August 19, was the birth of his brother Orville. When they were young, their father, Bishop Milton Wright gave them a flying toy they called “the bat”. It worked on a bamboo stick, a rubber band, and paper wings. Each time they launched it off, they would both be amazed.

They worked in a small bicycle shop. During the winter, when biking season was over, the two would think about flying. They knew man could supposedly fly, as they knew from Otto Lilienthal. Otto Lilienthal was a man from Germany, who astonished crowds all over the world by flying on his hang glider. But the Wright Brothers wanted to make a machine that was powered by an engine, and would stay in the air for a longer period of time. In 1899, they built a kite for research. They used it to test something called wing-warping, which would turn a plane.

The only thing was that Dayton was not windy enough for the kite to fly. So they asked the U.S. Weather Service what the windiest place in America was. The answer to that question was Kitty Hawk, NC. Kitty Hawk was a small fishing beach, a few miles away from Kill Devil Hills. This would be where they tested their gliders and planes. In 1900, they built a glider instead of another kite. But just to be safe, they flew it as a kite at first. When they tried to use it as a glider, Wilbur made a few flights, although the glider was pushed around by the wind. After Wilbur got out, the wind picked up the glider and smashed it into the ground! They left the mess that was once a glider on the beach when they left. Orville and Wilbur built another glider in 1901 that was twice as large as the one from the previous year. But the controls seemed worse, and Wilbur crashed when turning. They were angry, and they thought man would never fly. But they did return with the 3rd and final glider in 1902. This glider had a tail, in a vertical position. A hip cradle adjusted the tail to help steer. In 1903, the Wright brothers built something that wasn’t just a glider. They didn’t just think they were ready, but they knew they were ready to build the first airplane. Samuel Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was using the engine in the new automobiles to try to power his aircraft, but the Wright Brothers knew that engine was too heavy, and they needed an engine at least 60 pounds lighter than that. Langley’s aircraft crashed and burned upon takeoff. To make their plane, they tested different wing and propeller types in their very own 6-foot long wind tunnel. After they found the best wings and propellers, they made the plane out of spruce wood, wire, and muslin.

They brought the 700-pound airplane with an engine that was the right size and weight back to Kitty Hawk, along with its takeoff track. On the cold, windy day of December 17, Orville Wright stepped into the Wright Flyer, and started the plane up. Wilbur was running beside him and John Daniels, from the lifesaving station at Kitty Hawk, was ready to take a picture with Wilbur’s camera. The plane lifted into the air, and it took off at a sharp upward angle. Orville fixed the pitch too much and it was aiming down. Orville pushed the elevator lever up, and then down. Those were some of the most important 12 seconds in history. Wilbur died of typhus on May 30, 1912. Orville lived to see the atomic bomb and the jet plane, but died in 1948. An inscription on the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills reads:

“IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR BY THE BROTHERS WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT. CONCIEVED BY GENIUS. ACHIEVED BY DAUNTLESS RESOLUTION AND UNCONQUERABLE FAITH.”

 Many new inventions have been made after the Wright Brothers’ time. But that day in 1903 will never be forgotten.

Works Cited Busby, Peter, and David Craig. __First to Fly How Wilbur and Orville Wright Invented the Airplane__. New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2003. "Orville & Wilbur Wright." __Harcourt__ __School__ __Publishers__. 03 June 2009 . Krensky, Stephen. __Taking Flight The Story of the Wright Brothers__. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's, 2000.