Other
Wright House: Wilbur and Orville Wright
This site is a biography of the Wright brothers and includes several pictures of airplanes.
Famous Scientists
Famous Scientists: Wilbur and Orville Wright
Learn about the Dayton, Ohio brothers who are credited with inventing and flying the world's first successful airplane.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
National Inventors Hall of Fame: Orville Wright
This site honors Orville Wright for his invention, in collaboration with his brother Wilbur, of the airplane. Content includes a brief biography of the inventor, as well as look at how his invention has impacted our society.
NASA
Nasa: Biography of Wilbur Wright
Provides an interesting biography of the life and accomplishments of Wilbur Wright. The highlight of this site is the terrific historic photos throughout the text.
Science Museum, London
Science Museum Online Stuff: The First Flight
An excellent article about how Orville and Wilbur Wright's interest in flight developed and led to the first airplane flight.
PBS
Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Wilbur and Orville Wright
Two self-taught Midwestern brothers broke the barrier of the air, succeeding where others with government grants and engineering degrees had failed, and shaping the course of the twentieth century.
University of Houston
University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: No. 1342: Wright and Langley
Read about the controversy that emerged over the authenticity of Samuel Pierpoint Langley's flying machine, and the response of the Wright Brothers to attempts to usurp their place in history. This is a transcript of a radio broadcast.
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute: Flights of Inspiration
Franklin Institute site showcases the first flight taken by the Wright brothers. Follows the Wright brothers plan to achieve first flight as they used their failures to win them success in aviation.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: The First Flyers [Pdf]
"The First Flyers" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the Wright brothers and their obsession with flying. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining main...
Curated OER
National Park Service: Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms
Features 100 aircraft, airfields, research labs, military installations, battle sites, launch facilities, and other places that tell about people and events that made the U.S. a world leader in aviation. Highlights of this travel...
Science Struck
Science Struck: Events That Led to the Invention of the Airplane
Discover the history of the first airplanes and flying machines, and how the Wright brothers constructed their first successful airplane.
University of Chicago
Flights Before the Wrights: Octave Chanute, Chicago
A site that chronicles the life of Octave Chanute, an aeronautical engineer involved in flight before the Wright brothers.
University of Chicago
Flights Before the Wrights: Octave Chanute, Chicago
A site that chronicles the life of Octave Chanute, an aeronautical engineer involved in flight before the Wright brothers.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Dayton Aviation National Historical Site
Official website of the Dayton Aviation National Historic Park. Historic landmarks tell the stories of the lives of the Wright Brothers and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum: Art of the Stamp: Kitty Hawk (1903)
View the artwork for a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1998 to commemorate the Wright Brothers first flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Includes a detailed paragraph about the famous flight.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Makes Airplanes Fly?
Students begin to explore the idea of a force. To further their understanding of drag, gravity and weight, they conduct activities that model the behavior of parachutes and helicopters. An associated literacy activity engages the class...
Curated OER
Open University: First Flight: The Wright Brothers
A look at what the Wright Brothers accomplished. Includes information on the scientific experiments that they conducted, and the 1903 flyer they built to protect themselves from injury as they both learned how to fly.
Curated OER
Open University: First Flight: The Wright Brothers
A look at what the Wright Brothers accomplished. Includes information on the scientific experiments that they conducted, and the 1903 flyer they built to protect themselves from injury as they both learned how to fly.
Curated OER
Open University: First Flight: The Wright Brothers
A look at what the Wright Brothers accomplished. Includes information on the scientific experiments that they conducted, and the 1903 flyer they built to protect themselves from injury as they both learned how to fly.
Scholastic
Scholastic Instructor: 100 Years of Flight
Learn more about the first "100 Years of Flight" when you explore this article. It features resources, historical background knowledge and more.
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute and Science Museum: First Flight
Experience the first flight, through words, pictures, and actual quotes from the Wright Brothers about their real life experiences prior to, during, and after the successful flight.
Read Works
Read Works: The Amazing Flying Machine
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the Wright brothers inventing the airplane and how that led to other aircraft inventions. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Library of Congress
Loc: The Dream of Flight
The Library of Congress has opened its vast resources and created an exhibition commemorating the centennial of flight. The library uses "some of its rarest and most significant materials," to present this aviation history exhibit. Be...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Dream of Flight
The Library of Congress has opened its vast resources and created an exhibition commemorating the centennial of flight. The Library uses "Some of its rarest and most significant materials," to present this beautiful website. Be sure to...