The Wright Brothers

On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the first power-driven heavier-than-air machine ever to achieve sustained flight rose from its starting track and in 12 seconds soared through the air for a distance of 120 feet. Short as this flight was, it nevertheless marked the beginning of man’s conquest of the air. Orville Wright was at the controls; Wilbur Wright balanced the machine at the take-off. This picture records for posterity an epochal event witnessed by just seven men, the Wright brothers themselves and five others who, more than they knew, stood that day on the threshold of history.