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Ohio inventions and firsts · Invention · 1903

Powered, controlled airplane

Wilbur and Orville Wright built the 1903 Flyer at their Wright Cycle Company in Dayton; the four flights of December 17, 1903 (longest 852 ft in 59 s) were near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their 1906 patent covers wing-warping lateral control with a rudder.

At a glance

Year
1903
By
Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright
Company
Wright Company
Place
Dayton (designed and built); first flight at Kitty Hawk, NC, Montgomery County ZIP 45402 · Dayton · Montgomery County
Patent
US 821,393 US 821,393 (filed Mar 23 1903, granted May 22 1906)

The story

People had dreamed of flying for centuries, but nobody had managed a machine that carried a person, lifted itself into the air under its own power, and could be steered once it was up there. Two brothers who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton set out to solve all three parts of that problem, not just the first one.

They built the 1903 Flyer at the Wright Cycle Company in Dayton. The wings were framed in spruce, with ash for the curved parts. Their shop mechanic, Charlie Taylor, built the engine: a gasoline motor of about 12 horsepower that weighed 180 pounds. The propellers were about 8.5 feet long and made of spruce. The whole machine had a 40-foot wingspan and weighed 605 pounds empty.

The test flights were not in Ohio. On December 17, 1903, near Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina, the Flyer made four flights. The first, flown by Orville, went 120 feet in 12 seconds. The fourth, flown by Wilbur, covered 852 feet in 59 seconds. The Flyer never rose more than about 10 feet off the ground.

What the brothers could protect, and did, was how the airplane was controlled. Their 1906 U.S. patent covers coordinated roll and yaw control, which the sources describe as a principle still used on virtually every fixed-wing airplane. Other inventors, including Whitehead and Santos-Dumont, have their own supporters, so the question of who was first is still argued.

The original Flyer now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., after a long dispute that kept it in London for years until its return in 1948. The work that made it possible, though, was done in Dayton, and the Dayton sites below are the best places to see how.

Timeline

  • 1890-1895: The brothers run a job-printing business on the second floor of the Hoover Block, before turning to bicycles. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1903: The Wrights build the Flyer at the Wright Cycle Company; Charlie Taylor builds the engine. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1903-12-17: Four flights near Kill Devil Hills; the longest, by Wilbur, is 852 feet in 59 seconds. (Kill Devil Hills, NC) source
  • 1906: The brothers receive their wide U.S. patent on coordinated roll and yaw control. (Washington, D.C.) source
  • 1948: The original Flyer returns from London and goes to the Smithsonian Institution. (Washington, D.C.) source
  • 1990: The Wright Cycle Company building and Huffman Prairie are named National Historic Landmarks. (Dayton, OH) source

What it changed

  • The 1906 patent covers roll and yaw control, which the source says is used on virtually every fixed-wing airplane today.
  • The first four flights covered 120, 175, 200 and 852 feet, in 12, 12, 15 and 59 seconds.
  • The Wright Cycle Company building survives in Dayton as part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

Why it matters

First sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air flight; the invention and engineering were Ohio work.

Who gets the credit is disputed

The Ohio claim. The Wright brothers designed and built the 1903 Flyer in Dayton at their cycle shop. Their 1906 patent covers wing-warping control with a rudder, and supporters call it the first sustained, controlled, powered flight.

The other claims. The four flights of December 17, 1903 took place near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, not in Ohio. Supporters of other pioneers, including Whitehead and Santos-Dumont, contest who flew first.

Places in Ohio to see

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.