Orville And Wilbur Wright

This book is the first deconstruction of the Wright brothers myth. They were not – as we have all come to believe–two halves of the same apple. Each had a distinctive role in creating the first "flying machine."

First Flight is a documentary about the controversy over the world's first motorized flight. Every school child is taught that the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright flew first in December 1903.

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright soared into history during a twelve-second flight on a secluded North Carolina beach. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first flight, these essays chart the central role that aviation played in twentieth-century history and capture the spirit of innovation and adventure that has characterized the history of flight.

The dream of flight was finally realized on a North Carolina beach in 1903. In the century since then, innovations have come fast and furious, and the skies have filled with extraordinary creations.