Orville and Wilbur Wright
Articles
Historical Quotes
Orville and Wilbur Wright
By Tom Kirvan
The aviation age began on December 17, 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, thanks to a pair of brothers who etched their names in world history by taking turns piloting and monitoring their flying machine fittingly named the “Wright Flyer.”
Orville and Wilbur Wright, engineers from Dayton, Ohio, were the masterminds behind the first flight, which lasted all of 12 seconds and spanned 120 feet. Orville was at the controls for the first successful foray into human flight while Wilbur ran alongside the aircraft. Later that afternoon, in their fourth and final flight on that momentous day, Wilbur guided the self-propelled plane a more impressive 852 feet in 59 seconds.
Those first flights, short and uncertain as they may have been, made the Wright Brothers aviation legends, and ushered in a new era of travel, exploration, and technological advancement.
Orville* and Wilbur Wright**
The brothers had been experimenting with the concepts of flying for more than 14 years before heading to North Carolina’s Outer Banks for their attempt at conquering the skies. Their pioneering efforts are now commemorated at the Wright Brothers National Memorial on the windswept dunes of the Outer Banks, where Orville’s words – “If birds can glide for long periods of time, then . . . why can’t I?” – take on special meaning.
Here are some of their combined thoughts on other related subjects:
- “The longer we wait, the more hazardous will be the inevitable transition to a new order.”
- “In the future, the airplane will be the express-carrier of packages.”
- “If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, then there would be little hope for advancement.”
- “Isn’t it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so we could discover them!”
- “What one man can do himself is but little. If, however, he can stir up 10 others to take up the task, he has accomplished much.”
*By Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright (credited as photographers) [1], [2] - Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30922972
**By Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright (credited as photographers) [1], [2] - Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30923614