Wilber was born April 16, 1867in New Castle Indiana, and Orrville was born on Aug 19, 1871 in Dayton Ohio. After moving around the family finally settled in Dayton Ohio in 1884. The brothers were bicycle manufacturers. The bicycle business supported them and was the only source of income for their flying experiments.

They had only a basic education, but they taught themselves engineering and aerodynamics. At the start the brothers made a decision to master the control of gliders before attempting powered flight. Wilber and Orville Wright were the first men to make powered, sustained, and controlled flights in an airplane.

When they made the first powered machine in 1903, they were forced to design and build their own 12-horsepower engine. Their achievements are all the more remarkable because they built successful propellers. The first airplane, called " The Flyer", made the first powered flights at Kill Devil Hills on Dec. 17, 1903. The best of their 4 flights lasted 59 seconds and covered a distance of 852 feet.

The Wrights third flyer of 1905, built in Dayton with a new engine, was the world's first truly practical airplane. It could travel for more than a half hour at a time. In Sept. 1908 Orville started making spectacular flights at Fort Meyer, VA. near Washington, D. C. during the trials for the U. S. Army Signal Corps. machine.

Both the 1903 and the 1905 airplanes are preserved in the U. S. The first is in the National Air Museum in Washing ton D. C.,and the second is in Carillon Park, Dayton, Ohio.