Essay about The Wright Brothers

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On December 17, 1903 brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the worlds first powered, heavier than air aircraft. Meaning that they were the first to fly an aircraft that was manned and could be controlled while in the air unlike a balloon or blimp which, which are operated by gases rather than lift and cannot be controlled while in flight. The first flight lasted 12 seconds and travelled a distance of 120 feet, which may sound very short but was actually an amazing accomplishment for this time. On that same day the Wright brothers managed to make three more historic flights. On the Fourth and final flight of the day Wilbur made the most spectacular flight so far. He flew the aircraft for a total of 59 seconds and a distance of 852 feet before the aircraft was damaged and they were forced to return to their home in Dayton, Ohio. Although the brothers were extremely successful they didn’t get there over night. It took a long period of trial and error before the brothers were finally able to accomplish their historic achievements. On April 16, 1867 near Millville, Indiana older brother Wilbur was born. Four years later Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio on august 19th. Orville and Wilbur had two older brothers Reuchlin and Lorin; they also had a younger sister named Katharine. Their mother and father, Susan and Milton Wright, raised the four boys and one girl in Dayton, Ohio where Milton was an editor for a newspaper published by the church. Milton was also a minister, which caused the Wright family to move from place to place, but they always returned to their old home in Dayton. The wright family was raised in an environment where knowledge was very important and they were taught to peruse their interest. Another very important aspect of the Wright family was reading. All members of the family had a very deep passion for reading and they even had two libraries in their home in Dayton. Many people believe the Wright’s passion for reading may have been part of what sparked Orville and Wilbur’s interest in aviation. Another key part in their interest was a toy that their father gave to them in 1878 when they were the ages of seven and eleven. The toy was a flying machine made of bamboo, cork, and paper. This toy was made by a French man named Alphonse Penaud. The toy worked much like a modern day helicopter. It had two blades on top which when spun by a rubber band would cause it to fly. The brothers repeatedly tried to build their own toy much like this but the bigger it got the more flying capabilities it lost. Eventually they gave up on these flying toys and began building kites. (Wright-house.com) Not long before Wilbur was going to graduate high school he suffered from a facial injury during a hockey game. The injury, all though it was not considered serious at the time, resulted in Wilbur not being able to continue his education. Because of this he was not able to go to Yale as he had previously hoped. He continued his education by himself by reading in his father’s massive library. A few years later Orville and Wilbur took what they had learned about journalism from their father and started their own newspaper, “West Side News”. Not long after that they decided to go into the printing business where they would all types of articles and flyers for other people. Their newspaper and printing business was successful but it was not what they truly desired to do. After several years passed the boys decided to return to their true passion of mechanical design. They agreed to open up the Wright Cycle Shop in Dayton, Ohio. The two brothers had always had a huge passion for mechanical parts and devices and were always fascinated by the way things worked. This passion is what drove Orville and Wilbur to start designing bicycles. They chose bicycles because at this time bicycles were the most innovative and complex machines around and the Wrights wanted to be the best of the best. Although they were very good repairman and
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