17 December

From 1900, they had been based in Kitty Hawk, USA, attempting to build the first heavier-than-air flying machine. In 1903, they built the Flyer I, carved propellers and had an engine built. The propellers had a 66% efficiency rate. The engine was superior to manufactured ones, having a low enough weight-to-power ratio to use on an aeroplane. On 17 December 1903, the Wrights took to the air, both of them twice. The first flight, by Orville, of 39 metres in 12 seconds, was recorded in a famous photograph. In the fourth flight of the same day, the only flight made that day which was actually controlled, Wilbur Wright flew 279 metres in 59 seconds.