Avid kite flyers as children, Wilber and Orville Wright developed this love into the first successful airplane. In August of 1899, they built a biplane kite and discovered that by varying the position of the four lines that they could simulate the twisting wings of a soaring bird. This characterized Wright’s airplane for years to come.
Unlike Alexander Graham Bell and others who were looking for safe, stable flight, the Wright brothers looked for an unstable craft that could be controlled by steering. After their successful flight in December of 1903 and the establishment of manned flight, the kite lost some of its scientific popularity.
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