Getting Off the Ground

After four years of scientific research and rigorous experimentation, the Wrights prepared their 1903 Flyer for flight on a rail. Working in unison, they pulled down on a propeller, the engine roared to life, and only a restraining wire held the machine in place as the propellers whipped through the air. Orville climbed onto the machine and positioned himself in the hip-cradle, then released the restraining wire so the machine could move slowly forward while Wilbur ran alongside to steady it. After traveling 40 feet down the rail, the flyer lifted into the air, launching the Age of Flight. Because the soft sand was not a good runway, the brothers had built a 60-foot wooden rail with metal stripping to provide a hard, smooth surface for takeoff, and a dolly made of wood and bicycle hubs held the flyer above the sand as it accelerated toward liftoff.

Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina · United States