Need to get your bearings?
Try our Museum Guide.
Want to ask a question? Tell us something?
Arrange a showing of one of our airplanes? Ping:
mailto:[email protected]
Meanwhile:
How about a
little music?
We have a selection of tunes that were
popular during the first days of aviation, performed by Sue Keller, courtesy the
Ragtime Press:
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Looking for more Information about the Wright Brothers online? There is plenty out
there, and more every day. Listed below are over 80 sites, with short descriptions. These
were compiled by Dr. Joe McDaniels, a member of the Wright Research Group.
Wright Brothers Research Sites
The following sites either contain original material on the Wright Brothers, valuable
research materials, or both.
To Fly Is Everything
This is the largest and best of the Wright Brothers sites, including a complete, original
narrative of the story of the invention of the airplane, all 301
Wright photos from the Library of Congress collection, a computer simulation of Wright
wind tunnel, brief biographies on all early aviators, and brief descriptions of early
airplanes. It's largely the work of Gary Bradshaw, who has our gratitude and admiration
for his pioneering work in virtual museums.
http://invention.psychology.msstate.edu/air_main.shtml
To Fly is Everything has many useful and interesting
sections, but among the most useful are its bibliography and digital library:
Cayley, Sir George, On Aerial Navigation, Nicholson's Journal, November,1809;
February, March 1810.
Chanute-Wright Correspondence: 1900 - 1901
Chanute-Mouillard Correspondence, 1890-1897
Chanute, Octave, Address To International Conference On Aerial Navigation, 1883
Chanute, Octave, Progress in Flying Machines, 1894
Means, James (Editor), The Aeronautical Annuals, 1895, 1896, 1897
Wright, Orville, How We Made the First Flight, 1913
Wright, Wilbur, Some Aeronautical Experiments, Western Society of Engineers,
September 18,1901.]
Wright, Wilbur, What Mouillard Did, Aero Club of America Bulletin: May, 1912.
Wright, Wilbur and Orville, The Wright Brothers A�roplane, Century Magazine,
September, 1908.
Wright, Wilbur and Orville, U.S. Patent No. 821,393, awarded to, May
22,1906.
All of these and more can be found at:
http://invention.psychology.msstate.edu/library/library.html
Franklin Institute Flights of Inspiration
Possibly the best research site we've seen for young people. You can learn
about aeronautics by following the adventure of the Wright brothers as
they struggled to invent the airplane. Includes some dynamite animations
of the Wright wind tunnel, as well as clear, exciting descriptions of the
tools the Wright used in their research.
http://www.fi.edu/flights
 | Teacher's Zone
Franklin Institute's web site also includes a section where they have gathered an astounding array of aviation
education materials, sources, and links from both the United States and
Britain.
http://www.fi.edu/flights/teacher/index.html |
AIAA 1903 Wright Flyer Project
A detailed description of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' project
to build, test, and fly a reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer I. Many photos, lots of
links.
http://www.wrightflyer.org/
 | Wind Tunnel Tests
The results of the AIAA's wind tunnel tests on the 1903 Flyer.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/teachers/
angles/data.html |
American Memory/Library of Congress
Allows you to search original historical documents online. Includes
many letters, diaries, and other writings from pioneer aviators, including
the Wright Brothers.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/finder.html
First Flight
Information on the Wright Brothers and Sir George Cayley. Includes simulators of several
early aircraft, including the 1903 Wright Flyer I.
http://firstflight.open.ac.uk/
The Gander Academy: The Wright Brothers
Canada's Gander Aviation Academy maintains a large web site of web-based
aviation resources. Their page of Wright Brothers links is one of the best
we've seen.
http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/wright.htm
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
Includes brief narratives on the Wright brothers family members, The Wright Brothers'
printing and bicycle businesses; the invention of the airplane, a chronology of their
life, and a short bibliography.
http://www.hfmgv.org/histories/wright/wrights.html
Octave Chanute Pages
Focuses on Chanute's contributions to early aeronautics, his experiments with gliders in
the Indiana Dunes, and his association with the Wright brothers. Chanute, a
respected
engineer, served as an important sounding board for the brothers as they perfected their
invention.
http://www.crown.net/~sspicer/chanute/chan_ind.html
Otto Lilienthal Museum
Writings and aircraft designs of Otto Lilienthal, the first successful glider pilot and
the man whose death inspired the Wrights to begin their own work in aviation. The German
version contains more photography.
http://hawaii.psychology.msstate.edu/LilienthalMuseum/
Lilmuseum.html
(English)
http://home.t-online.de/home/LilienthalMuseum/index.htm
(German)
Public Broadcasting System
The are three Wright Brothers documents on the PBS web site, all of which can be
downloaded as either html or text files.
 | The complete text transcript of the 1996 video, "The Wright Stuff, " by WGBH
Boston for the program The American Experience.
http://pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/wright/
transcript.html |
 | A description of how the program was made
http://pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/wright/about.html |
 | Interviews of historians and scholars (John Gillikin, Joseph Corn) talking about the
Wrights
http://pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/wright/wrights.html
|
Wright Flyer Online
Part of NASA's "Aero Design Team" web site with lots of
information on the Wright Brothers and Wright airplanes. Includes contests
for young people, special events, games, even a comic book version of the
Wright story.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/
 | Lecture on the Wright Brothers
An online lecture by Steve Shackleford, with slides, about the work of the
Wright Brothers. Requires RealMedia software, lasts about 1-1/2 hours.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/background/
wrbrohist.html |
 | The Origins of the First Airplane
Excellent overview of the Wright Brothers experimental work and their
scientific methods written by F.E.C. Culick.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/background/
origin.html |
 | Timeline
Compares what the Wrights were doing with what was happening elsewhere in
the world at the same time.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/background/timeline/
timeline_core.html |

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Dayton, Ohio Wright Brothers Sites
These sites belong to Wright-related museums and historical sites in their home town of
Dayton, Ohio.
Carillon Historical Park
Brochureware; includes short narrative with photos and a brief tour of the
park. This is an extremely
important historical site -- The first practical airplane, the Wright Flyer III,
is here. This is the airplane
in which the Wrights learned to fly!
http://www.carillonpark.org/
 | The page on the Wright brothers is here:
http://www.carillonpark.org/wrightbrospage.htm |
Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library
Great online exhibition featuring some seldom-seen Wright Brothers photos,
postcards, scrapbooks, and other materials. Lots to explore!
http://home.dayton.lib.oh.us/archives/WBCollection/WBExhibit.html
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
Brochureware with a few photos.
http://www.nps.gov/daav/
Inventing Flight
Brochureware on the doings for the 2003 Centennial of Flight in Dayton,
Ohio.
http://www.inventingflight.org/
United States Air Force Museum
A brief summary of aviation history; photos of early Wright Brothers' flights.
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/early_years/ey.htm
Wright B Flyer, Inc.
Brochureware with a short by interesting narrative, several photos (both historical and
contemporary), and a map
http://www.dayton.com/wrightb/
Wright State University Libraries
The Wright Brothers Collection at Paul Laurence Dunbar Library is one of the
largest sources of Wright Brothers and early aviation information in the world, if not the
largest. Furthermore, they are making a Herculean effort to make much of
their collection available to students and scholars on the web. Start with
their home page at:
http://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/

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Other Related Wright Brothers Sites
Many of the following sites belong to museums and historical sites outside of Dayton,
Ohio, associated with the Wright Brothers. Others have small amounts of original
research materials.
1903 Wright Flyer (RC)
A radio-controlled model of the 1903 Wright Flyer. A link tells you where
to get engineering drawings.
http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~johnlatz/WrtFlyer/model.html
1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet
Event-by-event, airplane-by-airplane description of the first air meet west of the
Mississippi.
http://archives.csudh.edu/airmeet/
Aero-Web
Offers the complete text of Orville Wright's 1908 article for Century
Magazine, "How We Made the First Flight."
http://www.aero-web.org/history/wright/wright.htm
AIAA Evolution of Flight
Looking for a good overview of the 100-year history of flight? Want it
specific to your country? This site has a dynamite "History of
Flight" section. Also check out their "Click and Learn"
page. You can learn how to make an edible (that's right -- edible)
Wright Flyer. Guess what we'll be eating for dessert at aviation banquets for
the next three years.
http://www.flight100.org.
Air Museum Site Locator
Locator for museums and aircraft types, included Wright aircraft
http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/
Airplane Catapults of the Wright Brothers and Dr. Samuel Langley
A short history of launch catapults, beginning with a comparison of Wright and Langley
designs.
http://www.nzp.com/1000airplane.html
Arrow Recovery Project
These folks are restoring one of the most beautiful delta-wing jets, the
Avro Arrow, which they recovered from the bottom of Lake Ontario. To
generate support for their project, they offer a wonderful service --
aviation links organized by topic! This makes it much easier to find the
information you're after.
http://www.avroarrow.org/links/themeindex.html
Aviation Links
Lists aviation museums in the United States and Canada, and offers many useful aviation
links.
http://www.netc.net.au/airworld/alinks.html
Bibliography of Wright Brothers
Lists the titles of 8 books on the Wright Brothers.
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/refBibs/air/wright.htm
Centennial of Flight
A work in progress, this is the website that the U.S. Centennial of
Flight Commission is building. Most of the information that has been posted
so far has to do with the organization, hopes, and plans of the Commission
itself. They promise information on the Wright Brothers and the history of
aviation at some later date.
http://www.centennialofflight.gov
The Early Birds
Dedicated to the preservation of pioneer aviation history, this ambitious
group is building a website to tell the story of the "Early
Birds" -- those pioneer aviators who soloed before World War 1.
Although it's just in its beginning stages, there's a good deal of
information here already that's worth your while.
http://earlybirds.org/index.html
 | Pioneer Aircraft Plans
Includes 3-views of many common pioneer-era aircraft. The drawings are
small, but detailed enough to make small models.
http://earlybirds.org/menu.html |
First Flight Centennial Foundation
The First Flight Centennial Foundation was originally the fund-raising arm
for the First Flight Centennial Commission (below). Political infighting
has obscured it's role somewhat and it now seems to be concentrating on
improving the Wright Monument and museum buildings at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Offers information about events at or nearby the Wright Brothers National
Memorial.
http://www.firstflightcentennial.org/
First Flight Centennial Commission
If you want to know what's going on in North Carolina for the upcoming
Centennial of Flight, this is clear, informative, and easy to navigate. If
you are a student doing research on the Wright Brothers of the history of
aviation, check out the "First Flight" and "Milestones of
Flight" pages. The historical info is short, but to the point.
These will probably show up in lot of term papers over the next few
years.
http://www.firstflightnc.com
First Flight Society
One of aviation's oldest societies, originally organized to preserve the
site of the Wright brother's work in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their
site offers a history of the Wright's inventive work from 1899 to 1903.
http://www.firstflight.org/
Inventors Hall of Fame
Offers a short entry on Wilbur and Orville Wright.
http://www.invent.org/book/book-text/110.html
Listing of Planned Events for the Centennial of
Flight
Just what it sounds like -- a list of the events that are planned for 2003
by various organizations. If you are planning an air show or other
event, be sure to ping the webmaster at this site. http://sites.netscape.net/meyersjacobsen/
flightcentennial2003celebrations
London Science Museum
A short history of flight and descriptions of aircraft on display, including a
reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer I.
http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/on-line/flight/
National Air & Space Museum
The NASM displays three Wright aircraft -- the 1903 Wright Flyer I, the 1909 Wright
Military Flyer, and the 1911 "Vin Fiz." Each has a separate page on the NASM
site, including a photo and specs.
 |
1903 Wright Flyer I:
http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal100/wright1903.html |
 |
1909 Wright Military Flyer: http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal107/gal107.html#WRIGHT |
 | 1911 "Vin Fiz":
http://www.nasm.edu/nasm/aero/aircraft/wrightex.htm |
National Aeronautic Association's Katharine Wright Memorial Award
An award for women's contributions to aeronautics. Contains a description of the award and
a list of recipients.
http://www.naa.ycg.org/kath.htm
National Public Radio
NPR has several news segments related to the Wright brothers that you can
listen to over the Internet. They are:
 | The Wright Brothers First Glider Flight
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnps05fm.cfm?SegID=112864 |
 | The Metallurgy of the Wright Brothers Engine
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnps05fm.cfm?SegID=6088 |
 | The Dispute Between Ohio and North Carolina
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnps05fm.cfm?SegID=30489 |
Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines
Photographs of Wright aircraft, lots of links to other aviation sites.
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~flying/wright.html
The Time Life 100
Bill Gates writes about Wilbur and Orville!
http://www.pathfinder.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/
wright.html
U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission
This is the skeleton for a good web site, but there's not much here yet. Sometime
in the future, they will offer a calendar of events for Centennial of
Flight celebrations, along with historical information.
http://centennialofflight.gov/
Virtual Aviation Museum
Descriptions and links to hundreds of types of aircraft through the world.
http://www18.pair.com/tvam/html/about.htm
VMRL Model of 1903 Wright Flyer
VRML file of the Flyer, available to download.
http://www.ocnus.com/models/Vehicles/
Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy
Description of an award given yearly by the National Aeronautic Association, and a list of
recipients.
http://www.naa.ycg.org/wright.htm
Wright Brothers National Memorial
Information about the museum and historical site at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/
History of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Very short history, starting with the Wrights at Huffman Prairie.
http://www.beneco.com/Beneco/Wright-Patterson/History.htm

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