Lazarski Aviation Academy
December 17, 1903 marked the beginning of aviation in the world. On this day Wilbur, the elder of the Wright brothers, traveled more than 36 meters in an airplane of their own design. It was first airplane flight. It didn’t take long for the Wrights’ invention to find commercial applications.
The Flyer I was 6.43 meters long and 2.74 meters high. The wingspan of the Wright brothers’ plane was 12.29 meters. The whole thing weighed 270 kg. The four-cylinder engine provided 12 horsepower. This was enough to not only rise above the ground on December 17, 1903 and cover a distance of 36.6 meters in 12 seconds, but most importantly – to land successfully.
This is why, even though it was not the Wright brothers’ first flight, it was the December 17 attempt that was considered successful and made history. The creators of this success could not have realized that they had initiated an evolution that would change the world.
The first airplane flight in our history
David McCullough in his book titled. “The Wright Brothers” (Black Publishers, 2018) writes about it this way:
“It was an undoubted success, and even more than that. On that cold, windy day in 1903, something happened on the Outer Banks in less than two hours that marked a turning point in history and the beginning of worldwide changes of a magnitude that witnesses to the event could not even have imagined. With the help of a machine constructed at home, Wilbur and Orville Wright demonstrated conclusively that man was capable of flying.”
What did it look like? With help comes an excerpt from the same book.
“Everything was ready. Instead of wasting time discussing which of them should fly first, the brothers simply flipped a coin. Wilbur won, so he was the one who crawled through the trusses between the propellers and lay flat on his belly next to the engine. His hips were laid in a softly padded ‘cradle’ controlling the twisting of the wings through the movements of his torso, while his head was up, looking ahead over the altitude rudder by which the machine’s position could be controlled. Orville grabbed the vertical strut at the end of the right double wing so the plane wouldn’t lose its balance as it descended the track. And then they took off. Orville ran as hard as he could, holding the wing until he could no longer keep pace with the speeding machine.”
The Wrights took turns making several more flights on December 17. It took Orville and Wilbur as long as four years to prepare for the historic day. Later, they spent years battling in the courts with other claimants to the title of aviation pioneers for the precedence. As McCullough writes, they brought nine lawsuits in the US, while they were sued three times. Each time, the Wrights won in the courts.
In the fields and hills of Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, there is still a monument commemorating the feat of the Wright brothers’. The town also has a museum dedicated to them. Why did they choose this place, although they came from and lived in Dayton, Ohio? Strong winds and soft sand were key, as well as privacy during their tests.
Oldest airport and oldest airline in the world
As early as 1909, the oldest airport in the world still operating today – College Park, Maryland – was launched. It was there that Wilbur Wright trained two U.S. Army officers, for it was the United States that was the first customer for the Wright brothers’ aircraft. That same year, Wilbur’s Flyer III aircraft circled the Statue of Liberty in New York.
While Orville was showing the plane to the U.S. Army, Wilbur presented it at shows in Europe, including Paris.
The first airline began operations in 1913. It carried freight and mail in Florida on Tampa Bay. In 1919, the Royal Dutch Airline Company was established, still operating today under the KLM brand. It is this national carrier that boasts the title of the world’s oldest continuously operating airline to this day.
Aviation at Lazarski University
We encourage you to explore the intriguing world of modern aviation by reading our blog and enrolling in aviation majors at Lazarski Aviation Academy at Lazarski University.
