Wright Brothers - Testing Gliders at Kitty Hawk

The Wright Brothers owned a bike shop in Dayton. In 1899, while selling an inner tube to a customer, Will experimented with the packaging box. It led to a remarkable discovery: wing warping and the aileron principle of flight.

When Will squeezed the opposite diagonal corners of his box, it twisted. Thinking that the top and bottom of the box were like wings of a biplane, Wright imagined he could do to a glider what he had done to the box. Were he correct, he might be able to roll the glider left and right, thereby imitating birds in flight.

With Wilbur’s breakthrough, the Wright Brothers made gliders. This video clip demonstrates what it was like to fly one at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.