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The First Airplane design
Sir George Cayley conceived a craft with stationary wings to provide lift and "flappers" to provide thrust. It also has a movable tail to provide control. He also engraved a drawing of this craft on a silver disk. Cayley is the first to separate the different forces that keep an aircraft in the air, and his engraving is the first recorded drawing of a fixed-wing aircraft. -
First Full Sized Glider
Sir George Cayley builds a full sized version of a glider with a wing surface of 300 square feet. An assistant makes a few tentative hops in the air, holding onto the stick fuselage. He published On Aerial Navigation, a three-part article which appeared in Nicholson’s Journal of Natural Philosophy. Its a milestone and for the first time defines the three elements required by an aircraft, lift, propulsion, and control. -
First Manned Flight
Sir George Cayley builds an improved version of his glider and convinces his coachman to pilot it. The coachman makes a wavering, uncontrolled glide of a few hundred feet across Brompton Dale, near Scarborough, England. This is the first manned flight in a fixed-wing aircraft since Abbas ibn Firnas' attempt in 875 CE. The coachman quits Cayley’s service after his one and only feat of airmanship, saying, "I wish to give notice, sir – I was hired to drive, not to fly." -
First Powered Flight Test
Jean-Marie Le Bris, a French sea caption, tests a glider modeled after an albatross. This "artificial bird" makes one short successful glide, but on the second glide it crashes and Le Bris breaks his leg.
Felix Du Temple and his brother Louis fly a model monoplane and the propellers are driven by a clockwork spring and later, a small steam engine. It takes off under its own power, flies a short distance, and glides to a safe landing. It is the first successful flight of a powered aircraft -
The Birth of Wilber Wright
Wilbur Wright is born in Millville, Indiana to Milton and Susan Wright. Milton is a "circuit preacher" for the Church of the United Brethren and will eventually lead his own sect of that faith. When later asked what he remembered about Wilbur's birth, Milton commented on the enormous size of his head.
He also recalled that Wilbur had an enormous capacity for mischief. -
The Birth of Orville Wright
Orville Wright is born in Dayton, Ohio and is the brother of Wilber Wright and 6th born child of Milton and Susan Wright -
The Beginning of The Wright Brothers
Bishop Milton Wright living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, brings home a Penaud-type helicopter for his sons. They quickly wear out the fragile toy, then begin to build their own copies. Caught working on a bat at school when he should have been studying, Orville tells his teacher that he and his brother Wilbur plan to build a large enough machine to carry the both of them into the air. But when they build a larger model, it doesn’t fly. They won't understand why until they get older. -
The First Powered Flight
Orville Wright makes the first powered flight in a fully controllable aircraft capable of sustaining itself in the air. The flight lasts just 12 seconds and stretches only 120 feet. In the next few hours, Wilbur and Orville make four flights and the longest was 59 seconds and 852 feet. After the fourth flight, a burst of wind rolls the aircraft over and smashes it. Wrights send a telegram to their father, Bishop Milton Wright, informing him of their success in the first powered flight.
