The
Wright brothers – Orville (1871–1948) and Wilbur (1867–1912) – were American
aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated
airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered,
heavier-than-air aircraft with the
Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 4 mi (6 km) south of
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The brothers were also the first to invent
aircraft controls that made fixed-wing
powered flight possible. These portrait photographs of Orville (left) and Wilbur (right) were taken by the brothers themselves in 1905.Photograph credit: Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright; restored by
Scewing and
Bammesk