Wright Brothers Research Paper

The Wright Brothers are known for building, testing, and flying the first successful airplane, and their many accomplishments have changed transportation on earth. Their fascination with flight began when they received a toy airplane from their father, and the brothers spent the rest of their lives working to create a controlled flying machine. After working in a bicycle shop for many years, Wilbur and Orville concluded that a flying machine required balance in motion, just as a bicycle does. With this basic understanding, the brothers were able to create and test different types of gliders, eventually resulting in the first successful airplane in 1903. The Wright Brothers are significant to U.S. history because they created a revolutionary
breakthrough that changed the world and had meaning to all people.???
Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867, and his brother, Orville Wright was born on August 19, 1871. The brothers grew up in Dayton, Ohio, with a love for science and the determination to invent something of their own one day. Others in the town often mistook the brothers as identical twins because the two boys were “virtually inseparable”, living, working, and eating together almost every day. Wilbur and Orville also had very similar characteristics such as the same grey-blue eyes, straight handwriting, and voices so similar that when standing in a different room, others had difficulty distinguishing which Wright was talking. They both worked six days a week in their bicycle shop, and were the most productive when working together. The Wright Brothers did not try to compete with one another: “They [were] equal in their inventions, neither claiming any superiority above the other, nor accepting any honor to the neglect of the other” (Freedman 6). The Wright Brothers are often admired for their modesty, persistence, and unyielding determination. Despite many similarities that drew the brothers closer together, they were different in many ways.
Wilbur lived “in a world of his own” and often got lost in thought. He was also the more studious one, and was largely self-taught because of his great memory. In public, attention was often on Wilbur: “He was an exceptional public speaker and lucid writer, which seemed out of context for someone so often silent, and though reluctant to speak in public, when he did his remarks were invariably articulate, to the point, and quite often memorable” (McCullough 19-20). Orville had two personalities: he was talkative and amusing at home, but in public he was extremely reserved, shy, and sensitive to criticism. However, Orville was the more gentle and optimistic of the two, making him a natural entrepreneur. It was Wilbur’s idea first to build a flying machine, but Orville’s excitement and positivity is what carried out the
plan. In 1889, Orville decided to build his own printing press out of scrap metal he found at a junkyard.
He had spent two summers working for a local print shop, where he became interested in industrial sciences. Orville published his own newspaper called West Side News, and Wilbur joined the business as the newspaper’s editor. In the 1890s, a bicycle trend was sweeping the nation, and people of all ages were riding them. Locals knew the Wright Brothers as skillful mechanics and would often ask them for bike repairs. In 1892, Wilbur and Orville open a bike shop of their own and formed the Wright Cycle Company. The brothers started off repairing and selling bicycles, but later built and sold their own models out of custom-made parts. However, in 1899, the Wright Brothers discovered a new
fascination. After the death of Otto Lilienthal, a German glider enthusiast, Wilbur and Orville grew curious about aeronautics and began studying aviation. After the brothers got a basic understanding of aeronautics, they concluded that creating an airplane would require three basic principles: “It would need wings that could lift it into the air, a power plant to propel it through the air, and a means of controlling the machine in flight” (Freedman 28). In addition, balance and control were two main factors needed in order for the plane to fly. After observing birds and the way they fly, the brothers noticed that birds change the angle of their wings in order stay balanced and controlled. With this in mind, Wilbur and Orville began experimenting with biplane gliders, which resembled a kite. When Wilber worked the controls, the kite was able to move left and right, and up and down, and the brothers knew they were on the right track to creating a flying machine. The Wright Brothers spent the next two years testing and experimenting larger, more advanced gliders in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Each trial led them closer to their goal: “They designed each successive aircraft based on established data, tested it to determine how it performed (or why it didn't perform as expected), and then redesigned and built anew. By 1902, they had built a wing with sufficient lift, had developed innovative "wing warping" to deal with roll control and - after testing numerous rudder and elevator configurations - had found an adequate means of controlling pitch and yaw” (Romito). On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers made history when they accomplished the first controlled flight, lasting 12 seconds. The brothers worked hard for the next two years redesigning their aircraft, and by October 1905, they had created the world’s first practical airplane. Wilbur and Orville changed transportation worldwide. Their invention sparked an age of new technology,