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The Wright brothers inaugurated the aerial age with the world's first successful flights of a powered heavier-than-air flying machine. The Wright Flyer was the product of a sophisticated four-year program of research and development conducted by Wilbur and Orville Wright beginning in 1899. After building and testing three full-sized gliders, the Wrights' first powered airplane flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, making a 12-second flight, traveling 36 m (120 ft), with Orville piloting. The best flight of the day, with Wilbur at the controls, covered 255.6 m (852 ft) in 59 seconds. John Daniels was a crew member at the Kitty Hawk lifesaving station who took a photograph of the first flight that day.
NASM.2014.0003
bulk 1906
Paul, John, and Eugene Keferl, Gift, Year received, 2013
0.25 Cubic feet (1 box)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This donation is a photomechanical reproduction enlargement ( 17 1/8 inch by 10 3/4 inch ) of the Wright Brothers drawing of their flying machine Patent No" 821,393 sheet one (original date March 22, 1903- patent date May 22, 1906). The patent has been expertly removed from the frame and restored to a presentation level. The dimensions of the framed patent are 18.25 inches by 26 inches.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
No restrictions on access.
Wright Brothers Photomechanical Reproduction, Accession 2014-0003, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Aeronautics
Wright (Brothers) 1903 Flyer
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Patents