How the Wright Brothers Failed and Failed Again In Order to Create the World’s First Airplane

How Wilbur and Orville Wright became inspired tinkerers who created the first flying machine

The first powered, controlled, and sustained flight was achieved in 1903 with Orville at the controls and Wilbur running alongside the plane to help maintain balance. John T. Daniels

Standing near the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur Wright took a coin from his vest pocket. It was a sunny, warm day on December 14, 1903. After four years of experimenting with gliders and flying machines, the day had come. The flip of a coin with his brother, Orville, would determine who would make the first controlled flight in a heavier-than-air, motorized airplane, known as the Wright Flyer.

An attempt would have been made a day sooner, but the brothers had promised their father, Milton Wright, a Protestant clergyman, that they wouldn’t fly on a Sunday. They had also promised him that they wouldn’t fly together. At 1:00 p.m., the final adjustments were complete, and the brothers stood next to each other as they said a prayer. The coin was flipped, and Wilbur, the older brother, climbed into the cockpit.