At first, the Wright Brothers were testing small biplane gliders to check on their method of wing warping (arching the wing tips slightly to achieve better control of the craft’s rolling motion and balance). Then they began to intensely study the effects of wingspan, wing shape, and tails on the flights of these gliders. After having come up with a satisfying model, the brothers concentrated on developing a propulsion system that would give the glider the boost it need to fly on its own. They developed a motor and a new, corresponding glider design that summed up to an aircraft that weighed about 700 pounds. It was named as the Flyer. On December 17^th, 1903, Orville Wright manned the Flyer and successfully went through the first, albeit only 12 second, piloted flight. The Brothers then went on and made the Vin Fiz, which became the first airplane to fly across the United State; they also made the first airplane armed with a machine gun.

*Picture from http://inventors.about.com/library/graphics/vinfiz.jpg

Bellis, Mary. The Wright Brothers-The First Flight of an Airplane. 9 April 2004. <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_wright_brothers.htm>

• This site gives good information about the Wright Brothers' work on the first airplane