14 Facts About Wright Flyer

Wright Flyer made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on 17 December 1903.

Wright Flyer steered by moving a hip cradle in the direction he wished to fly.

The Wright Flyer design depended on wing-warping controlled by a hip cradle under the pilot, and a foreplane or "canard" for pitch control, features which would not scale and produced a hard-to-control aircraft.

The Wright Flyer patent included the use of hinged rather than warped surfaces for the forward elevator and rear rudder.

Wright Flyer was conceived as a control-canard, as the Wrights were more concerned with control than stability.

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The Wright Flyer Brothers did not understand the basics of pitch stability of the canard configuration.

Wright Flyer replaced parts of the wing covering, the props, and the engine's crankcase, crankshaft, and flywheel.

Between 1916 and 1928, the Wright Flyer was prepared and assembled for exhibition under the supervision of Orville by Wright Company mechanic Jim Jacobs several times.

The Wright Flyer stayed at the Science Museum until a replica could be built, based on the original.

The completed Wright Flyer reproduction was brought to Kitty Hawk and pilot Kevin Kochersberger attempted to recreate the original flight at 10:35 on 17 December 2003, on level ground near the bottom of Kill Devil Hill.

AIAA's Wright Flyer reproduction undergoing testing in a NASA wind tunnel.

In 1969, portions of the original fabric and wood from the Wright Flyer traveled to the Moon and its surface in Neil Armstrong's personal preference kit aboard the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle, and then back to Earth in the Command module Columbia.

In 1986, separate portions of original wood and fabric, as well as a note by Orville Wright Flyer, were taken by North Carolina native astronaut Michael Smith aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, which was destroyed soon after liftoff.

The portions of wood and fabric and Wright Flyer's note were recovered from the wreck of the Shuttle and are on display at the North Carolina Museum of History.