Wright brothers – Wilbur and Orville

Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1905, when they were 34 and 38 years old

Wright brothers were American aviation pioneers. They designed, built, and flew the first airplane, in 1903.
Wilbur was born on April 16, 1867, in Millville, and Orville was born on Aug. 19, 1871, at Dayton. Wilbur and Orville were the sons of Milton Wright, a Christian minister.
The boys helped their father, who edited an evangelical journal called the Religious Telescope. Later, they began a paper of their own, West Side News.
In 1892 they opened the Wright Cycle Shop in Dayton.
The brothers were interested in the art of flying. In 1896 they became interested in gliders. They designed and tested their own models and gliders, built their own engine.

In 1901, the Wright brothers built a wind tunnel, the first in the United States, and here they tested over 200 models of wing surfaces.
On December 17, 1903 they made the world’s first manned, powered flight in a heavier-than-air craft. The first flight lasted only 12 seconds. The Wrights continued to make improvements. By 1905 they could stay in the air for about 40 minutes.
On May 22, 1906, they received a patent for their flying machine.
In September 1908, they demonstrated their contract airplane.

In 1909 the Wrights formed the Wright Company. The company built airplanes in Dayton. It had its own flying field and flight school. In 1910 the brothers also started the Wright Exhibition Company but closed it a year later, after several employees had died in crashes.
Wilbur died on May 30, 1912 in Dayton. Orville was depressed. In 1915 he sold his rights to the firm. He lived quietly in Dayton, conducting experiments on mechanical problems.
Orville died of a heart attack on January 30, 1948 in Dayton.
The story of the Wright brothers was filmed several times. In addition, the brothers appeared in several films as secondary characters, there are documentaries, animated and educational films about aviators, their inventions and flights.
Siblings played the role of Wright brothers in two films. In the film Wilbur and Orville: The First to Fly (1973) Stacy and James Keach played the main roles, in the family comedy Around the World in 80 Days (2004) Owen and Luke Wilson played the lead roles.
As heroes of the second plan brothers also appear in the film Conquest of the Air (1936), Young Einstein (1988) and some others.