Before the Wrights built anything, they read. In May 1899 Wilbur wrote to the Smithsonian Institution and asked for its publications about flight. The Smithsonian recommended a history of aviation by Octave Chanute, Progress in Flying Machines, published in 1894. From their reading, the Wrights believed that Otto Lilienthal had been the most successful researcher before them. They thought he had collected the most reliable data, particularly his calculations on air pressure.

Lilienthal, of Germany, made nearly 2,000 manned glider flights. His wings had a gentle curve for lift. His only means of control was shifting his weight. In 1896 Samuel Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, flew a steam-powered model called an aerodrome. It was the first large-scale heavier-than-air machine to fly, but it had no steering capability.

The Wrights also chose their test site with care. They asked the U.S. Weather Bureau about places with the right wind. Its records showed Kitty Hawk was the sixth-windiest station in the country. It sits on the Outer Banks, a chain of barrier islands more than 175 miles long. The islands are separated from the mainland by sounds up to 30 miles wide. They are subject to severe storms and high winds.

In 1901 the Wrights built a wind tunnel to test wing shapes. They wrote down their test results on scraps of wallpaper. In 1902 their best glide went more than 600 feet and lasted 26 seconds. They steered by wing warping, which twisted the tips of the wings in opposite directions with lines the pilot pulled. They also thought of their propellers as rotary wings.

Their first try at powered flight, on December 14, 1903, failed. Wilbur lifted the airplane at too sharp an angle, which caused a stall and a hard landing that damaged the elevator. Three days later, on December 17, the first flight lasted 12 seconds. The second went 175 feet in 12 seconds, the third went 200 feet in 15 seconds, and the fourth, flown by Wilbur, went 852 feet in 59 seconds.

Wilbur and Orville sent their father a telegram. It said, in part, "Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from level with engine power alone." Samuel Langley's two full-size aerodromes had failed that fall. The second attempt came just nine days before the Wrights' successful flight.

Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever on May 30, 1912, at age 45. Years later, a piece of cloth the size of a postage stamp from the Wright Flyer's wing was attached to the Mars helicopter Ingenuity. On April 19, 2021, Ingenuity made the first powered aircraft flight on a world other than Earth.

Words to know

• aerodrome: Langley's flying machine
• aviation: human flight
• stall: lost lift
• elevator: pitch flap
• typhoid: serious illness