1899 to 1903

May 30 — Wilbur Wright writes the Smithsonian asking for published materials on aeronautics. He is answered by Richard Rathbun, who sends four pamphlets and a list of other publications.

Edward Huffaker quits work with Langley and goes back to Tennessee.

July — Wilbur Wright sells a woman a bicycle inner tube, then nervously twists the box that it came in while she talks to him. He notices that when he twists one end of the small rectangular box in one direction, the other end twists in the opposite direction. In his mind’s eye, he sees the twisting wings of a biplane.

July — The Wright brothers build a biplane kite with a wingspan of 5 feet and a wing warping system. When tested by Wilbur, it works just as planned.  Unable to contain his enthusiasm, he pedals miles out into the cuntry side to find Orville, who is on a camping trip with friends. Immediately the brothers begin planning a man-carrying version.

September 30 — Percy Pilcher dies in a crash of his Hawk, just as he is preparing to test a powered triplane.

November 27 — Wilbur Wright writes the United States Weather Bureau and inquires about locations with high winds. The weather bureau sends him The Monthly Weather Review and wind charts, and Wilbur learns of Kitty Hawk.

May 13 — Wilbur Wright writes Octave Chanute and asks for advice.

August 3 — Wilbur Wright writes to Kitty Hawk, asking for information on weather and lodging.

August 16 — Joseph Dosher, the chief of the Kitty Hawk weather station, responds to Wilbur’s letter. Dosher also refers Wilbur’s letter to William Tate, the postmaster. Tate also writes Wilbur, providing more details about Kitty Hawk

September 13 — Wilbur Wright arrives in Kitty Hawk, stays with the Tates, and begins to assemble a glider.

September 28 — Orville Wright arrives with camping gear, food, and a mandolin. He also brings a camera, the first ever seen in Kitty Hawk. The brother stay in a 12-foot by 22-foot tent, about a mile from the Tates. They assemble a biplane glider with movable front elevator — they have located the elevator at the front not only to provide control, but to serve the same function as Lilienthal’s rebound bow. They begin to test the glider as a kite. Orville begins a humorous correspondence with his sister Katherine, whom he is very close to. Wilbur will not let Orville fly until he’s sure the glider is safe.

October 10 — The Wrights experience their first crash. They rebuild the glider, and once again test it like a kite. Finally, they begin to make manned glides of up to 400 feet.

The Wrights send 10-year-old Tom Tate, William’s nephew up on the glider as they fly it like a kite.

October 23 — The Wrights break camp and head for Dayton. Puzzled by failure of glider to produce calculated lift, but encouraged by success of wing warping and elevator control.

Ferdinand Ferber, France, learns of the Wright brothers work from Octave Chanute. He begins to correspond with the brothers.

Wilbur Wright publishes a technical paper on gliding in a British and German journal.

The Wrights, encouraged by their initial success, plan their second glider.

Octave Chanute asks the Wrights to work with Edward Huffaker and George Spratt (of Pennsylvania) to test one of Chanute’s gliders in Kitty Hawk.

June — The Wrights hire Charlie Taylor to run their bicycle shop in their absence.

July 10 — Wrights arrived at Kitty Hawk, establish camp at Kill Devil Hills four miles to south, build a shed to serve as a hangar. They are plagued by mosquitoes and Edward Huffaker. Orville writes to Katherine that he can’t decide which is worse, the mosquitoes or Huffaker.

July 27 — The Wright’s glider is tested with Huffaker and Spratt helping. It doesn’t fly as well as their first glider, showing a pronounced tendency to nose up or nose down. The Wrights identify the problem as the wing curvature and begin to rebuild the glider with a shallower camber on the wings.

August 4 — Octave Chanute arrives at the Wright’s camp.

August 8 — The Wright's rebuilt glider is tested, and it performs as well as the first. Wilbur, however, still won’t let Orville fly.

August 9 — When Wilbur Wright attempts a turn, the glider shows a tendency to spin — the inside wing stalls in a turn, whipping the glider around. The Wrights experience several more crashes.

Mid-August — Chanute, Huffaker, and Spratt depart the Wright camp

August 20 — The Wrights, discouraged, break camp. Wilbur comments to Orville that it could 1000 more years before flying is possible. Later, Wilbur remembers his dark mood, "We doubted that we would ever resume our experiments...At this time, I made the prediction that men would sometime fly, but it would not be in our lifetime."

September 18 — At Chanute’s request, Wilbur Wright delivers a paper to the Western Society of Engineers in Chicago, Illinois. Wilbur suggests to the group that the Lilienthal research on wing lift is wrong.

The Wrights build a wind tunnel to conduct their own research on wing surfaces.

Ferdinand Ferber, France, begins experimenting with gliders based on the Wright design.

August 28 — The Wrights arrive in Kitty Hawk, begin repairs on their shed and build an extension.

September 8 — The Wrights begin to assemble their new glider. It has a fixed tail.

September 19 — The Wrights begin testing the glider. It is much improved, but still shows a tendency to spin in a turn. Wilbur finally lets Orville fly.

September 23 — Orville Wright crashes and nearly destroys the glider.

September 29 — Wrights resume tests with repaired glider.

September 30— George Spratt and Lorin Wright arrive at camp for a visit.

October 2 — Orville Wright suggests converting fixed tail to a movable rubber. Wilbur agrees and they do so. They connect the rudder control to the wing warping system.

October 5  — Octave Chanute and Augustus Herring arrive at the Wright camp.

October 8 — The Wright's modified glider work perfectly, with no tendency to spin.

October 17 — Augustus Herring leaves Kitty Hawk and visits Samuel Langley in Virginia, looking for work. He tells Langley of the Wright’s success.

October 19 — Samuel Langley cables the Wrights, requesting information on their "special curved surfaces" and asking to come to Kitty Hawk. The Wrights decline.

October 28 — The Wrights break camp, already planning a powered aircraft.

Fall — The Wrights inquire at automobile companies for a suitable gasoline engine for their aircraft, but cannot find one that meets their needs.

Fall — Charley Taylor begins building an aircraft engine for the Wrights.

December — Samuel Langley asks Octave Chanute to help him get a foot in the door with the Wrights. Chanute can’t get them to talk to Langley.

Ferdinand Ferber, France, builds a bad copy of a Wright glider and attaches a motor to it. He attempts to fly it tethered to a crane. He fails.

April

April — Octave Chanute lectures the Aero Club of France on the gliding experiments of the Wright brothers.

September 25 — The Wrights return to Kitty Hawk.

September 28 — Wrights practice flying with the 1902 glider and build a new hanger for the Flyer.

October 7 — Samuel Langley tests his man-carrying Aerodrome on the Potomac, with Charles Manly, a co designer, at the controls. The machine snags on its launch mechanism and plunges into the river.

October 23 — George Spratt visits the Wright’s camp.

November 4 — When the Wrights test their assembled Flyer for the first time, it damages both propeller shafts. George Spratt takes the shafts back to Dayton with instructions for Charlie Taylor to rebuild them.

November 5 — Octave Chanute visits the Wright camp.

November 8 — Samuel Langley asks the War Department for more money to rebuild and test his Aerodrome again. He gets it.

November 20 — Wrights receive the new propeller shafts, but find the drive sprockets are too loose.

November 21 — The Wrights elect to use bicycle tire cement to glue the sprockets to the shafts. The cement works.

November 28 — After the Wrights make several tests, one of the new propeller shafts crack. Orville takes it back to Dayton.

December 8 — Samuel Langley tests his Aerodrome again. And again it fails. Charles Manly is almost drowned in the crash.

December 11 — Orville Wright returns to Kitty Hawk from Dayton with new shafts made of spring steel.

December 14 — The Wrights try to fly their machine with Wilbur at the controls. But he overcontrols the elevator, the machine shoots up 15 feet, stalls, and plows into the sand 105 feet from the point of takeoff. Neither Wilbur or Orville consider this a true flight since the airplane started on a downhill run.

December 17 — At 10:35 am, Orville Wright   makes the first powered flight in a fully controllable aircraft capable of sustaining itself in the air. The flight  lasts just 12 seconds and stretches only 120 feet. In the next few hours, Wilbur and Orville make four flights, the longest 852 feet. After the fourth flight, a gust of wind rolls the aircraft over and smashes it. Wrights send a telegram to their father, Bishop Milton Wright, informing him of their success. The Bishop proudly informs the newspapers and shows the telegram to his sons' boyhood friend, Paul Laurence Dunbar.