For accessibility information on this site use accesskey "0"
Skip Navigation and go straight to the main content or use use accesskey "s"

The Aeroplane
Wilbur (1867-1912) and Orville Wright (1871- 1948)
1903
Submitted by: Geoff Howard
ArchitectureFood ProductOffice Accessory
Control SystemFurnitureProduction System
Domestic ProductGadgetStructures
EngineeringGraphics ProductTools
FashionMaterialsTransport

Image


It appears that the Chinese discovered many of the fundamental concepts of aviation in the first Millennium and certainly had developed man-lifting kites early in the second between the 6th and 13th centuries AD. Leonardo da Vinci recorded many aeronautical devices between 1452 and 1519 and in 1783 the Montgolfier brothers achieved manned flight in a hot air balloon over France. In England, Sir George Cayley experimented with models and observed birds in flight to establish many of the features of an aeroplane and published them in 1809-10. Other inventors such as Otto Lilienthal (1848-96) experimented with gliders and Australian, L.Hargarve invented the box-kite in 1893. In 1903, the American brothers Wilbur (1867-1912) and Orville Wright (1871- 1948) made the first powered aeroplane flights.