Also Within this year in history

Dec

17

Inventions & Science

First airplane flies

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

Wilbur and Orville Wright and the first powered flight, North Carolina, December 17 1903.

Wilbur and Orville Wright and the first powered flight, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, December 17 1903. Photograph ACKNOWLEDGEMENT must be made to The Smithsonian Institution. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Print Collector/Getty Images

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