The Wright Brothers - a couple of bicycle
mechanics from Dayton, Ohio - designed, constructed and flew an
airplane for the
first time (in the history of the world). The age of the flying machine had dawned!
The Wright
Brothers succeeded - where others tried and failed - mainly because they had the benefit of both practical knowledge (bicyclerepair work) and theoretical knowledge (of aero-dynamics).
In other words, they needed to comprehend the laws of flight before they could even think of building a successful flying machine. The Wright Brothers were practical mechanics; if they needed something, they went ahead and built it themselves... But not before they had tested their model planes in an airtunnel.
The story opens at Kitty Hawk for a very simple reason - the aviators of that day had made a laughing stock of themselves among the members of the public and the press. They needed a secluded place to carry out their experiments, without being jeered or ridiculed. The Wright Brothers learned to fly (riding the aircurrents) by using a glider they had built. Once they had mastered the art - and only then - they decided to mount a motor onto their biplane.
Perhaps, another important factor in their success was that they were not gentlemen aviators; that is, they were not doing this for fun. They gave up their lifeline to the world (their bicycle business) to begin with. And all their free time - the time that was not spent upon practice flights - was spent between bankers, promoters, patent lawyers, government officials, and even spies!
It took them all of two years to build their prototype... But as their flights got longer, the list of their supporters grew as well. Soon, they had become public celebrities, feted by kings. They were soon followed by other names (such as Farman, Bleriot and Curtiss), each of whom went on to establish their names - and their reputations - in the field of motored flight.