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The First Powered Flight – 1903 By June 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright had finished designing and building their powered machine. The Flyer had a wingspan of a little more than 40 feet (12 meters), a surface area of 510 square feet (47 square meters), and weighed 625 pounds (283 kilograms). They constructed as much of the Flyer as they could in Dayton, Ohio; then shipped the parts to Kitty Hawk for final assembly .
Orville puts together a wing of the 1903 Flyer in the newly constructed hangar. The brothers left for Kitty Hawk on September 23 and arrived at their camp at Kill Devil Hill two days later. While they waited for their shipment to arrive, they repaired the old hangar and built a new workshop. After the shipment arrived, it took the Wrights three weeks to assemble the Flyer. While they were doing this, they continued to practice gliding using their 1902 glider , gliding for longer times and increasing their ability to control the craft.
The weather was horrid—cold and stormy. Nevertheless, they worked on and finished assembling the Flyer in early November. On November 5, they tested the motor. The results were not good. The engine ran roughly and did not work as expected. Its excessive vibrations damaged the propeller shafts, which had to be sent back to Dayton for repair. In Dayton, Charlie Taylor, their machinist, rebuilt them and shipped them back to Kitty Hawk. They arrived two weeks later.
The 1903 Flyer and camp buildings at Kill Devil Hill, November 24, 1903. They tested the engine again on November 28. Once more they had problems with a cracked propeller shaft. This time, Orville went back to Dayton to make new propeller shafts of solid spring steel. It was December 11 before he returned to camp. By this time, they had lost a lot of time with repairs and were far behind their schedule. They decided to forget about testing the Flyer as an unpowered glider. They would begin testing it with its engine immediately.
The 1903 Flyer and camp buildings at Kill Devil Hill, November 24, 1903. The Flyer was ready for flight on December 12, but the winds were too light to take off. They did not attempt a flight on Sunday, since they had promised their father they would not fly on the Sabbath. Their first attempt at powered flight would take place Monday, December 14.
With the help of the Kill Devil Hills Life Saving Crew, they hauled the machine up the slope to where it would take off. They tossed a coin to see who would fly. Wilbur won, climbed aboard the Flyer, and lay prone on it. After a somewhat difficult start, the craft began to move down its rails and then rose from its track. But Wilbur had miscalculated and had turned upward too soon, not realizing the effectiveness of the elevator. The Flyer climbed a few feet, stalled, and then settled onto the ground near the foot of the hill. The machine was damaged slightly. Nevertheless, it had left the ground under its own steam—a promising start. Both Wilbur and Orville were sure that the machine would fly.
Repairs took two days, and the machine was ready again late on December 16. December 17 dawned with a strong wind blowing from the north and rain beating down. The rain stopped, but the wind kept blowing. Wilbur estimated that it was at least 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour). The brothers waited until after 10 AM, hoping that the wind would die down a little. When it did not, they decided to go ahead anyway. They sent a signal to the men from the Life Saving Station to come and help them haul the Flyer to their staging area up the hill.
Orville checks the Flyer before its takeoff. It was Orville’s turn to fly, and he climbed aboard the Flyer. The Flyer was released from its restraining wires and began to move down the rail into the wind. It rose quickly—again they had underestimated the effectiveness of the elevator. The machine pitched up and down for 12 momentous seconds and then landed—with the machine and the pilot intact except for one damaged skid. It had flown 120 feet (36.6 meters) from the end of the rail. For the first time, a powered flying machine had taken off from level ground, traveled through the air, and landed under the control of its pilot.
The beginning of the first flight, December 17, 1903. Not satisfied, the brothers wanted to try again. They repaired the cracked skid, and at about 11:20 AM, Wilbur made the second flight—traveling about 175 feet (53 meters).
Readying the Flyer for its first flight on December 14, 1903. With the help of the life saving crew, they carried the Flyer back to its starting point and tried again. Twenty minutes later, Orville made the third flight and landed about 200 feet (61 meters) from his starting point. The fourth flight took off around noon with Wilbur at the controls. The flight began like the others—with the Flyer pitching upward and down. After about 300 feet (91 meters), Wilbur got it under control and began traveling on a fairly even course. He proceeded this way until he was around 800 feet (244 meters) out. Then the Flyer began bucking again and suddenly plunged into the ground. The front rudder frame was badly broken, but the main frame was intact. It had traveled 852 feet (260 meters) in 59 seconds.
As the men were carrying the plane back to its starting point—ready for another try—a sudden gust of wind grabbed one wing and lifted it up. One of the life saving crew, John T. Daniels, tried to seize the spars, but could not. The machine turned over on him. Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt, but the plane was destroyed. It had accomplished a milestone, but would never fly again. The brothers would ship the remains home to Dayton.
After lunch, the Wrights telegraphed their father with their news. “Success four flights thursday morning # all against twenty one mile wind started from Level with engine power alone # average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 [sic] seconds inform Press home ####Christmas.”
A page from Orville Wright’s diary, December 17, 1903.
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