The Wright Brothers - Are They Really The Inventors Of The Airplane?THE WRIGHT BROTHERS "Orville and Wilbur Wright, the sons of a midwestern minister, displayed a high mechanical aptitude even in their youth. This, coupled with investigative natures, made Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912) ideal inventors. By their early twenties they had built a printing press and designed a new bicycle, which they also manufactured. They became interested in flight by reading about the glider experiments of German aerialist Otto Lilienthal." (www.trivia-library.com)
For three years Orville and Wilbur designed, built and tested gliders on the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, N.C. and Dayton, Ohio. During the winter months at their bicycle plant in Dayton, they experimented with new shapes to their wings, and new designs for their control systems, in a wind tunnel that they also happened to have invented.
"By December of 1903, the brothers were back at Kitty Hawk with their first powered airplane, a double-winged, box kite-shaped contraption with an undercarriage attached to a stationary monorail track. On Dec. 17 Orville stretched out in the middle of the lower wing and took off on a 12-sec., 120-ft. flight. That same day, Wilbur flew for 59 sec., covering 852 ft. The tests were observed by five witnesses. The brothers continued to perfect their machine, and in 1906 they were granted a U.S. patent for their invention. However, they did not publicly demonstrate their airplane until 1908, after which they were awarded U.S. Army and French commercial contracts to manufacture them." (www.trivia-library.com)
There are other contenders to the title of Who Invented The Airplane. They are Clement Ader and Samuel Pierpont Langley and also Alberto Santos Dumont. Have a look at their claim's to the title and then decide who the undisputed title holder is. Tough decision! There is also a conclusion to this debate which can be found here.
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