Aviation History: The Invention of the First Flying Airplane

Running Head: AVIATION HISTORY
AVIATION HISTORY
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1AVIATION HISTORY
The invention of first flying airplane is considered to be the cornerstone for modern
aviation industry. In 1903 the Wright brothers, Orville Wright and his brother Wilbur Wright
was succeeded to develop the first controlled aeroplane that was powered by practical fixed wing
aircraft. Based on this idea, the purpose of this essay is to highlight the specification and
innovative mechanism that was used by Wilbur Wright and the backdrop of his invention so that
the entire history of the invention of aviation will be highlighted.
Wilbur Wright was an American inventor born in 1867 in Indiana was very fond of the
aeroplane mechanism of German scientist Otto Lilienthal. After the death of Lilienthal Wilbur
with his brother Orville decided to start experiment with the flight. Wind was played a
significant role in the aviation mechanism and they knew it. Therefore, Kitty Hawk of North
Carolina was the right choice for Wilbur to get success in his project (Velazquez, 2016). It can
be argued that Wilbur was very optimistic and had a vision to develop such a mechanism that
could differentiate between a glider or a balloon and aeroplane. As a result of that the Wright
brothers named their plane as the Flyer.
As far as the designing of the Wright brothers’ aeroplane was concerned, Wilbur
envisaged a bird’s wings. He observed the angle of the birds and tried to understand the control
mechanism that led him to propound the idea of “wing wrapping” (Olivier, 2017). There were
different segments in the Flyer in terms mechanism or design of the Flyer. For an example,
Wilbur installed engine, propellers and added some structural reinforcement. The wing area was
stretched up to 500 square feet with a propulsion system of 200 pounds. As a whole the entire
aircraft was weighed 625 pounds with a pilot sitting inside the aeroplane. In addition to this,
power, thrust and speed were also important to take off the flight. Wilbur calculated that the