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The Wright Brothers Essay

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The Wright Brothers The world was changed on December 17, 1903 when Orville Wright flew the first airplane for a period of 12 seconds. Orville, born in 1871 and his brother Wilbur, born in 1867 grew up in Dayton Ohio with two other brothers, Reuchlin and Lorin and one sister Katherine. They grew up in a loving family, which helped the brothers with the success in their future. Many people are not aware that much of their knowledge that went into the makings of the airplane came from their mother Susan and the bicycle repair shop they owned. Interestingly, Wilbur and Orville were not the men who first thought of flying. In the 16th century, Leonardo de Vinci had thoughts of a “flying machine” that was ahead its time, though …show more content…

As for Orville, he did not enjoy or excel in school, as had his brother. He was an average student. He was problematic, and his behavior caused him to drop out of high school in his junior year. He developed aspirations to start a printing press firm. The brothers built their own press with cheap parts, and used it to print their own newspaper as well as other printing jobs. Their attempt at the firm was unsuccessful, so the boys bought a bicycle shop in 1893. This bike shop became a place where much thinking and production towards aviation took place. The Wright Cycle shop opened in 1893. They made bike repairing their own business. After three years of this business they made their own bikes called Van Cleves and St. Clairs. They moved their store 6 times before they converted their store into machinery shop for their manufacturing business. The men of aviation before the Wright brothers had little but significant impact on the process of building the airplane. George Cayley lived in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. He was one of the first men to understand that “to fly is not to imitate the flapping wings of a bird but to use rigid wings.” This was a very important idea that proved to be true for the future. Europeans were at work to beat the Americans in building the first heavier-than-air plane. Otto Lilienthal, a German engineer, experimented with hang gliders. His main focus was on a fixed-wing glider not on a

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