Wright Flyer

The 1903 Wright Flyer is the centerpiece of the Early Flight gallery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Orville Wright loaned it to the Science Museum in London from 1928 to 1948 before its transfer to the Smithsonian. It hangs above the gallery floor.

The first powered, controlled flight by Orville Wright on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, lasted just 12 seconds and covered about 120 feet. The fourth and final flight that day by Wilbur lasted 59 seconds and covered roughly 852 feet. The brothers made four flights in total.

The brothers and their mechanic Charlie Taylor designed a custom aluminum-block gasoline engine producing about 12 horsepower. It weighed roughly 180 pounds without fuel or coolant. It drove two counter-rotating pusher propellers via bicycle-style chains.

The Flyer, including the pilot, weighed about 750 pounds. Its wooden framework was covered with muslin fabric and braced with bicycle-type wires. The pilot lay prone on the lower wing to reduce drag, steering by warping the wings and moving a front rudder.