When was the Wright brothers' first flight?

The Wright brothers' first successful flight was on Dec. 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, N.C. The flight covered 120 feet and lasted for 12 seconds, and it was manned by Orville Wright.

The same day, three additional flights were made, including the longest record for the day, with Wilbur Wright flying for 852 feet in 59 seconds. The beach they selected for their experimental flights was chosen because of its constant wind. The brothers had experimented with flight beginning at their Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop in 1896.

The Wright brothers were not the first to build and fly aircraft experimentally, but they were the first to invent the controls that made it possible for a pilot to maintain equilibrium and steer the aircraft in fixed-wing flight.