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The Wright Brothers Mini Unit Study

Can you imagine a time before airplanes crossed the sky? When a trip across the ocean meant a boat voyage? When the fastest ways of traveling were by train or by boat? Two brothers who manufactured and repaired bicycles for a living changed that. On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright made history with their twelve-second flight.

In this mini unit, you can: read all about the Wright brothers and the invention of the aerial age, learn how planes fly, see a timeline of Wright events, explore picture and movies of their planes and a reconstruction of the first flight, help assemble the 1903 flyer, test your knowledge of Wright facts and take control of the airplane for yourself.

Reading

The Wright Brothers & the Invention of the Aerial Age

Wright Brothers Flying Machine

How Do Planes Fly?

Timeline

Wright Brothers Timeline

Picture and Multimedia

Pictures and descriptions of the Wright airplanes

Return to Kitty Hawk

Fun and Activities

Airplane Anatomy: Helping Orville and Wilbur Assemble the 1903 Flyer

Wright fact game

First in Flight

Recommended Resource

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane

What unusual people the Wright brothers were! Despite a four-year difference in age, the two grew up to be as close as twins, a patient bachelor pair who methodically set out to prove the possibility of powered, controlled human flight. Just as methodically, they promoted their new flying machine, made lots of money, and overcame the U. S. government's stubborn lack of interest. In his own inimitable way, Freedman takes readers back to that exciting time, using not only the Wrights' written descriptions and the accounts of awed observers, but also a large selection of the careful photographs that Wilbur and Orville took to document their experiments. After an opening chapter to set the stage, the author creates a detailed family portrait. He closes with discussions of the photographs, sites to visit, and sources of further information about the Wright brothers. Freedman's achievement is as splendid as those of his subjects. (Review from School Library Journal)