Who Invented Airplane

Whright Brothers

Many people worked on various kinds of gliders and other planes over the years, so no one person invented the airplane. The Wright Brothers of Dayton, Ohio, are generally recognized as making the first powered aircraft flight (but see below).

On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers launched the first successful air flight at Kitty Hawk, NC, flying over the location four times. Orville flew the first flight, Wilbur having encountered difficulties in his own attempt on December 14. On May 22, 1906, the brothers received a patent for their design of the first airplane, or "Flying Machine." The flight and plane changed the ideas of transportation around the world, even though their prototype only flew for a few seconds. Worldwide, inventors began building many different types of powered aircraft. 

Before the Wright Brothers flight

Frenchman Clement Ader (1841-1925) flew a steam-powered bat-winged plane in Paris in 1890. It is accepted that the aircraft, EOLE, took off, reaching a height of 20 cm (8 inches), and flew uncontrolled for approximately 50 m (160 ft). This was 13 years before the Wright Brothers' famous flight. Ader is known for his prescient suggestions regarding ships used as airfields (the aircraft carrier). 

Prior to this, in 1848, John Stringfellow from Chard, Somerset, England, achieved the first unmanned powered flight using a steam-powered monoplane called The Flying Machine. Its steam engine made it impractically heavy, and it was limited to very short flights inside a hangar.
Orville Wright (1871-1948), the American inventor and Wilbur Wright (1867-1912), the American inventor


                                       

                                      Wright Brothers' Flying Machine

Orville Wright & Wilbur Wright - First Piloted & Powered Airplane

"Flight is possible to man...[and] I feel that it will soon cost me an increased amount of money if not my life". - Wilbur Wright Co-Inventor of the first engined airplane.

Orville Wright (1871-1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) had requested a patent application for a "flying machine" nine months before their first successful flight, they were that confidant.

As part of the Wright Brothers' systematic practice of photographing every prototype and test of their various flying machines, they had persuaded an attendant from a nearby lifesaving station to snap Orville Wright in full flight. The craft soared to an altitude of 10 feet, traveled 120 feet, and landed 12 seconds after takeoff. After making two longer flights that day, Orville and Wilbur Wright sent a telegram to their father, instructing him to inform the press that manned flight had taken place. This was birth of the first real airplane.

What is an Airplane?

Most of us only have to look up into the sky to see an airplane, and many of us have traveled by airplane to places that would have taken much longer by any other means of transportation. An airplane by definition is an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets.


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