Experiments with Flight: Wright Brothers National Memorial

After walking the field that Orville and Wilbur Wright flew over on December 17, 1903, I wanted to see the process the brothers went through to develop the 1903 Wright Flyer.

Eric & I walked to the

Visitors Center to learn

about Orville & Wilbur

Wright's experiments

with flight.

Orville & Wilbur Wright

ran a bicycle repair shop

in Dayton, Ohio.

They honed their mechanical

skills there.

The business provided the funding necessary for aviation experiments.  According to Ed Sines, a friend, Orville and Wilbur spent about $1,000.00 on all their experiments from 1899 to 1903.

Photos taken at the

airfield show the 

living quarters.

Orville & Wilbur learned

a lot by building & flying

their glider in 1902.

This is a replica.

They flew the glider 1,000 times in the fall of 1902.  After conquering free flight, Orville and Wilbur started work to solve the problems of powered flight.  They looked at car engines, but didn't find one that would meet their needs at a reasonable cost.

The brothers built a 200

pound engine to power

the propellers of their

plane.

The gas tank & water

reservoir that cooled

the engine on the

1903 Flyer.

This is a replica.

Everything was ready...

Orville flew the first powered

airplane on December 17, 1903.

The brothers took turns for three flights that followed. Wilbur piloted the fourth and longest flight was 59 seconds long and covered 852 feet.