The Wright Brothers and the First Airplane

Wilbur and Orville Wright were two American brothers. They made the first airplane with an engine. They showed that people could fly without gas balloons.

Wilbur was born in 1867 in Indiana. Orville was born four years later in Ohio. When they were young, they loved to make machines. They made printing machines, bicycles, and toy helicopters.

They needed a place with good wind to test their flying ideas. They chose Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. They tested gliders there for a few years.

In 1903, they built a real airplane with a small engine. It weighed about 340 kilograms. On December 17, 1903, Orville made the first flight. He stayed in the air for 12 seconds and went 36 meters. They flew three more times that day.

Only four people watched the flights, and one person took pictures. At first, newspapers did not write about them. A few years later, in 1908, Wilbur flew in France and Orville flew in the United States. Then, the U.S. government decided to buy their plane, and they became famous.

Wilbur died in 1912, and Orville died in 1948. Today, their famous plane is in a museum in Washington, D.C.