The Wright brothers’ first successful flight, 1903. Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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On 17 December 1903, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright made controlled powered flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their aircraft, the Wright Flyer, used a lightweight petrol engine and propellers, but their crucial achievement also involved control. Through experiments with gliders and a homemade wind tunnel, they developed ways to manage roll, pitch and yaw. Orville piloted the first flight, which lasted only 12 seconds. Later that day Wilbur flew much farther. Aviation developed rapidly in the decades that followed, transforming travel, warfare, trade and human ideas about distance.
