Dawn of Powered Flight

On December 17, 1903, two obscure brothers from Dayton, Ohio, shared the thrill of controlled powered flight for the first time, and the world was never quite the same again. Four times that December morning, the Wright Flyer lifted from the sands of Kitty Hawk and flew into a 25-mile per hour wind under the control of one brother then the other.

On the best of these flights, Wilbur Wright traveled 852 feet, and achieved the age-old dream of sustained, powered flight at last. Although not immediately celebrated, the Wright brothers' accomplishment soon sparked a worldwide enthusiasm for aviation.

As early pilots competed for glory and prize money, they established new records in speed, distance and altitude. Names like Wright, Curtiss, Bleriot and Deperdussin headlined the newspapers as they challenged one another with their aerial exploits. If witnesses were lucky, they might see Lincoln Beachey daring to loop-the-loop or they might catch a glimpse of Cal Rodgers passing overhead in his Vin Fiz flyer enroute to California.

By the end of aviation's first decade of powered flight, in 1913, man had established himself in his new element. His invention - the airplane - could cross continents and channels as well as the Alps. By 1914, airplanes could climb to 20,000 feet, travel as fast as 127 miles per hour and cover 635 miles non stop. The worldwide roster of flyers grew quickly from the two Wright brothers in 1903 to more than 2,000 aviators ten years later.