| Birth: | Apr. 16, 1867
Millville (Henry County)
Henry County
Indiana, USA | | Death: | May 30, 1912
Dayton
Montgomery County
Ohio, USA | 
Inventor, Aviation Pioneer. The older of the two brothers who invented the airplane and started the aerial age, he died of typhoid fever 36 years before his brother Orville. Wilbur and Orville started a printing business in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio which soon expanded to a bicycle shop. Their interest in flying was peaked by their father, Milton, a well educated bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The brothers inherited their mother Susan's mechanical ability (she made small appliances and toys). Their goal was to invent a device that would not only fly but take off and land. Starting with a kite, then gliders, and finally they added a propeller and an engine and the "Wright Flyer" was created. After the successful four flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina they returned to Dayton and continued their experiments at Huffman Prairie. They were awarded a patent in 1906 and started trying to attract potential customers with demonstration flights in Europe and elsewhere. With orders in hand including a contract to build planes for the United States Army, Wilbur and Orville started the Wright Company and began filling orders, but upon the early death of Wilbur, Orville discouraged, sold the business in 1912 and retired. The two had been very close, lived at home and never married. Today the "Wright Flyer" is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. along with the stopwatch used to time the first flights. (bio by: Donald Greyfield (inactive))
Family links:
Parents:
Milton Wright (1828 - 1917)
Susan Catherine Koerner Wright (1831 - 1888)
Search Amazon for Wilbur Wright | | | Burial:
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
Dayton
Montgomery County
Ohio, USA
Plot: Section 101, Lot 2533 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 1131 |
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Mr. Wilbur Wright: You and your brother were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. In the two ye...(Read more)
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MFPS
Added: Apr. 16, 2013 |
-Anonymous
Added: Apr. 16, 2013 |
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Blackwasp
Added: Apr. 16, 2013 |
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(4.9 after 264 votes)
