Celebrate the first powered flight and discover what it takes to get an airplane off the ground.
On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made four successful powered flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, proving that a pilot could control a heavier-than-air flying machine in flight. Their success came after years of gliders, wind-tunnel experiments, crashes, adjustments, and repeated testing. Wright Brothers Day celebrates that breakthrough and the curiosity, persistence, and engineering that helped launch the age of aviation.
Wilbur actually won a coin toss for the first chance to fly, but his December 14 attempt ended in a crash. After repairs, it was Orville's turn on December 17, and he made the first successful flight.
by Steve Breen
Violet isn’t satisfied simply imagining flying machines. She builds them, tests them, improves them, and climbs aboard. Her wonderfully unusual inventions make this a playful companion to the Wright brothers’ own years of experimentation and a perfect invitation to think like an aircraft designer.
As you read, look closely at Violet’s contraptions. What features seem inspired by real airplanes, helicopters, bicycles, or other machines?
Pilots and engineers use precise words to describe what an aircraft is doing. You might use runway, cockpit, altitude, propeller, rudder, pitch, roll, yaw, lift, or drag.
What does the aircraft do when you leave the ground? Does it climb smoothly, pull to one side, shake at high speed, or handle perfectly? A good test pilot notices details that can help the engineers make the next flight better.
Build a simple paper airplane, but don’t stop after the first flight.
Choose one thing to change, such as the wing shape, nose weight, wingtip angle, or paper size. Fly the original and modified versions from the same starting point several times and compare what happens.
You could measure:
Before changing anything else, decide which design performed better.
Every adventure has another path to follow. Choose a trail and see where your curiosity leads!
Getting an aircraft into the air wasn’t enough. The Wright brothers needed a way for the pilot to control pitch, roll, and yaw. Their Flyer used wing warping to help control roll, while modern airplanes usually use movable surfaces called ailerons.
Wonder Challenge:
Find a diagram of a modern airplane’s controls. Which parts control pitch, roll, and yaw?
The Wright brothers traveled from Dayton, Ohio, to North Carolina looking for three things: wind, sand, and isolation. The Outer Banks offered steady winds, wide sandy areas, and plenty of open space for flight experiments.
Wonder Challenge:
Find Kitty Hawk and Dayton on a map. How far did the Wright brothers have to travel just to test their flying machines?
When their glider results didn’t match existing calculations, Wilbur and Orville built a small wind tunnel and tested about 200 wing shapes to collect better information about lift and drag.
Wonder Challenge:
Compare several airplane wing shapes. What differences do you notice, and how might those differences affect the air moving around them?
Would you rather...
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One of our favorite aviation trips was the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The museum itself is incredibly cool and educational, and since itβs near a major commercial airport, we also spent some time watching planes come in and take off. And the IMAX screen was HUGE! βοΈ
Every National Day is a starting point for curiosity! Read, write, play, and explore together as ordinary days lead to unexpected discoveries.
Follow curiosity, not the calendar. Choose the adventures that spark your interest and enjoy them whenever the time is right. β¨
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