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Did the Wright brothers invent the airplane, or were they just the first to fly one?

Wilbur Wright (1867–1912) and Orville Wright (1871–1948) were the first to build and fly an airplane. The brothers grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and both expressed interest in mechanics from an early age. When they became adults they opened a bicycle shop together and began tinkering with gliders and engines in their spare time. In the 1890s the success of a glider, an aircraft similar to an airplane but without an engine, made by German engineer Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896) inspired the Wrights to seek a way to propel the device. Once they felt ready to conduct some flight experiments they consulted national weather reports to determine the most favorable site for their endeavors. They decided on Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and in 1900 and 1901 they tested their first glider models. When they returned to Dayton they...

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