Airplanes: How Man Conquered Flight

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was not sustained, and the airplane brushed the ground
over a distance of 160 ft. Inventors continued to pursue the dream of
sustained flight. Between 1891 and 1896 German aeronautical engineer Otto
Lilienthal made thousands of successful flights in hang gliders of his own
design.
American aviators Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright of Dayton,
Ohio, are considered the fathers of the first successful piloted heavier-than-
air flying machine. Through their scientific research and engineering, the
Wright brothers put together the combination of critical characteristics that
other designs of the day lacked -- a relatively lightweight powerful engine; a
reliable transmission and efficient propellers; an effective system for
controlling the aircraft; and a wing structure that was both strong and
lightweight.
At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, Orville
Wright made the first successful flight of a piloted, heavier-than-air, self
propelled craft, called the Flyer. That first flight traveled a distance of
about 120 ft. The distance was less than the wingspan of many modern
airliners, but it represented the beginning of a new age in technology and
human achievement. Their fourth and final flight of the day lasted 59
seconds and covered only 852 ft. The third Flyer, which the Wrights
constructed in 1905, was the world’s first fully practical airplane. It could
bank, turn, circle, make figure eights, and remain in the air for as long as the
fuel lasted, up to half and hour on occasion.

Early Military and Public Interest

The airplane, like many other milestone inventions throughout history, was not immediately recognized for its potential. During the 1900s, prior to World
War I (1914-1918), the airplane was relegated mostly to the county-fair circuit,
where daredevil pilots drew large crowds but few investors. One exception was the United States War Department, which had long been using balloons to ob...