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190317 December 1903 · Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

Wright brothers' first powered flight

The Wright Flyer lifting off at Kill Devil Hills on 17 December 1903, Wilbur running beside it
Archival image: John T. Daniels. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On a cold, windy morning at Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina's Outer Banks, Orville Wright flew the brothers' Wright Flyer for 12 seconds and about 37 metres, the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered aircraft. Wilbur made the fourth and longest flight that day, 260 metres in 59 seconds. Within forty years aircraft had transformed travel, trade and war.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Wright Brothers National Memorial: first-flight boulder and markersGranite boulder at the take-off point and markers where each flight landed.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Wright Brothers Monument, Big Kill Devil HillGranite pylon on the dune where the brothers made their glider trials.Map ↗

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Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.