Biography About Orville Wright

Orville Wright Biography

Orville Wright and his brother Wilbur wright were famous for the first controlled engine powered flight ever made my man kind. They are still well known around the world today, for their famous controlled flight at Kitty Hawk north of California.            

Orville Wright was born on August 19th 1871 at 17 Hawthorn Street in Dayton Ohio He was the sixth child of bishop Milton Wright and Susan Catharine Wright. He had three older brothers, Reuchiln, Lorin, Wilbur and he also had a younger sister Katharine. He also had to older twin siblings but they died shortly after birth. Orville loved to tinker. He got this habit from his mother who was always fixing and mending things. As Orville’s father was a priest, he was all ways traveling round on religious matters. He used to bring back trinkets for his children one of witch was a flying toy plane. It was made of paper cork and bamboo powered by twisted rubber band when this broke Orville and Wilbur made new ones. They discovered that the smaller one flew faster then the bigger ones. Many people believe that this was the first spark to creating a powered airplane.


After leaving school Orville and Wilbur opened a bicycle shop. They made a wind tube to test     different kinds of flight before studying on how birds fly in order to be able to fly a large glider  they needed to find a place that had more wind typical then around Dayton Wilbur wrote in November 1899 Wilbur wrote to Willis L. Moore, chief of the U.S weather bureau asking about wind conditions throughout the country. The first rural place on the list that Willis L. Moore sent back was Kitty Hawk. During the years 1900 through to 1902 Orville and Wilbur experimented at Kitty Hawk with kites, gliders and their wind tunnel.


In the year 1903 after the brothers made over 700 successful flights with the glider. The Wright brothers then developed their first effective airplane that they called the Wright Flyer and made the historical first flight on December 17th 1903. Only 7 men (including Orville and Wilbur) were present on the day the other five witnesses who live near kitty hawk were J.T. Daniel's, W.S.Dough and A.D.Etheridge who were all members of kill devil life saving station. W.C. Brinkley of manteo and Johnny Ward a boy from Nags Head were also present. eight days before the wright brothers made their first flight the New York times Wrote “that maybe in 1 million to 10 million years they might be able to make a plane that would fly.”


In 1905 the Wright brothers built an airplane that could fly for more then half an hour at any one time. In 1908 Orville made the worlds first flight over one hour at fort mayer Virginia for a demonstration for the U.S army. This subsequently made the Wright brothers plane the worlds first military airplane. In that same year Wilbur made over 100 successful flights near Le Mans france broke the record with 2 hours and 19 minutes.


After Wilbur's death of Typhoid Orville moved into a house on Hawton Hill Ohio. He planed to move into the house with Wilbur but Wilbur Passed away before its completion. Orville carried on the legacy but when this seemed unsuccessful he sold the family business. In 1916 Orville built himself an aeronautics laboratory. On April 8th 1930 April 8, 1930, Orville Wright received the first Daniel Guggenheim Medal. (The Daniel Guggenheim Medal is awarded for "great achievements in aeronautics). On April 29, 1936, Orville Wright was elected a member of the national academy of science. On January 30 1948 Orville Wright died in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 76.

In conclusion Orville Wright had avery successful life as a pilot and aviation pioneer until today many people still respect all that he accomplished. This is especially inspirational to people who are planning to take career path in aviation.

By Jack and Jacob