The Wright Brother’s 1903 Flyer

“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who… looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space… on the infinite highway of the air.”
– Wilbur Wright

One of the most important and well-known mechanical artefacts in the history of mankind is the Wright Brothers 1902 Flyer. The original aircraft can be found hanging in the expansive exhibit gallery of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Suspended in the air, this hand-made wooden assemblage is an awe-striking structure in its own right and is credited with inaugurating the aeronautical age.

Men of simple tastes and towering ambition, the Wright Brothers, were skilled where it mattered and resolute in the face of failure. The fragile piece of minimalist engineering that took to the skies almost 120 years ago was no small feat for these bicycle mechanics. With no institution backing them, no masterminds to guide them, and nothing in the way of tangible ideas,