Pioneers of the Sky

Orville and Wilbur Wright

Dayton, Ohio, bicycle makers Wilbur and Orville Wright created the first successful airplane, testing it on the beaches of North Carolina in December 1903. Their aircraft control systems, designed in an at-home wind tunnel, are still used to this day. The attached letters, signed by each brother, show dividends paid to each of the Wrights from their company. The Wright Company still exists as a part of Curtiss-Wright of North
Carolina, which formed in 1929.