ON 17 December 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright forever changed modern world history when their ?1903 Wright Flyer? flew for 12 seconds and travelled a distance of 37 metres or 120 feet at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the United States. During the course of the same day, the Wright Flyer, powered by a 12 hp petrol engine, was flown three more times with Orville and Wilbur alternating as pilot of the aircraft.

The longest flight, with Wilbur in the pilot?s seat, covered a distance of 260 metres or 852 feet and stayed in the air for 59 seconds. It is the centenary of this historic event, which is being commemorated on 17th December 2003 by the United States Centennial of Flight Commission and the US Navy at a national level.

The 1903 Wright Flyer was built in the bicycle shop of Wilbur and Orville Wright and it was composed primarily of wood, fabric and braced with steel wire. The Flyer had only one seat meant for the pilot and it weighed 274 kilograms (without the pilot) and had a wingspan of 12.3 metres. It was powered by a single four- cylinder petrol engine, designed and built by the Wright brothers. The plane was light and flexible but, unfortunately, not too strong.

On 17th December 1903, after a total of four flights, a strong wind gust destroyed the Wright Flyer. Shortly after, the Wright brothers shipped their wrecked plane back to Dayton. For many years, the wreckage of the 1903 Wright Flyer was left in several large crates in the bicycle shop of the Wright brothers. In 1913, it was further damaged during a flood and three years later, Orville Wright rebuilt the wrecked plane. The aircraft?s broken and missing parts were replaced thus, the original machine, which made the first powered flight in human history, was never again complete.

In 1928, the reconstructed aircraft was sent to the Science Museum in London to be put on permanent display. However, on 17th December 1948, at the request of the American Government, the Wright Flyer of 1903 was returned to the United States. It was completely renovated and put on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institute. Today, the ?father of all airplanes? is housed in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and, since October of this year, it has been the centrepiece of an exhibit entitled ?The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age?.

The Wright Brothers

Wilbur Wright was born in April 1867 in Melville, Indiana and his younger brother, Orville was born in August 1871 in Dayton, Ohio. In 1892, the young Wright brothers opened a bicycle repair shop and factory in Dayton, which generated enough revenue to permit them to carry out their aerial experiments.

Just like many American inventors who preceded and succeeded them, the Wright brothers were in search of knowledge and, obsessed with their quest, they were ready to risk everything to see their dream become reality. After all, in March 1900, more than two and a half years before their first successful flight, Wilbur Wright wrote in one of his diaries: ?For some years, I have been afflicted with the belief that flight is possible to man. My disease has increased in severity and I feel that it will soon cost me an increased amount of money, if not my life.?

In 1900, the Wrights made their first trip to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where they undertook their first experimental flights, which would continue until 1905. Between 1900 and 1902, Wilbur and Orville began to experiment with gliders. In 1903, they took their aerial experiments to another level when they designed and built the ?Wright Flyer? in Dayton and shipped it by train to Kitty Hawk. In November 1903, just a month before his historic flight, Wilbur Wright gave an important lecture to the Western Society of Engineers in Chicago. The young American inventor explained how he expected his newly-built Wright Flyer to work as well as how flight control could be achieved.

After their historic flight of December 1903, the Wright Brothers built the ?1904 Flyer? and the ?1905 Flyer?. In 1905, the third ?Wright Flyer? was able to remain airborne for 38 minutes and covered a distance of 25 miles. During the following year, Wilbur and Orville received the patent for the ?Wright Flyer? from the US Government. In 1909, the United States Army paid the Wright brothers $30,000 for the world?s first practical military aircraft (partly based on the design of their first airplanes), which was intended to be used for reconnaissance missions. During the course of the same year, the Wrights successfully tested the first airplanes for the US War Department.

The Pioneers of Aviation

With the success of their ?Wright Flyers? and the acquisition of their patent between 1906 and 1912, Wilbur and Orville carried out demonstrations of their airplanes around the United States. In 1909, Wilbur made solo trips in his airplane above New York City. During that year, the Wrights carried out flight demonstrations in College Park, Maryland, and founded the American Wright Company, the first airplane manufacturing company. In 1910, they carried out test flights in Montgomery, Alabama, and formed the first pilots whose mission was to demonstrate the Wright airplanes around the States.

During this period, the Wright brothers also cast their glance beyond the continental United States and wanted to extend the knowledge of powered flight and the use of their planes to foreign shores. Between 1906 and 1913, the Wrights undertook business ventures and patent negotiations with countries such as France, Great Britain, Italy, the German, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian empires, and even Japan. Their primary objective was to sell airplanes based on their "Wright Flyer" model to European countries and train their pilots. In 1907, Wilbur and Orville travelled to Europe where they undertook business negotiations and carried out demonstrations of their airplane.

The following year, Wilbur made record-breaking flights in France and signed a lucrative deal with a large French company for the construction of airplanes on French soil. In 1913, Orville undertook another trip to Western Europe. Thus, the Wright brothers played a pivotal role in the introduction and the proliferation of airplanes in Europe, which were used for the first time as an important weapon of war during World War One.

In conclusion, with their first successful flight in December 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright brought about the birth of the Aviation Age and, in the process, a new chapter in modern world history.

Satyendra Peerthum