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In 2021, SFO Museum is starting a new social media segment highlighting a plane of the week. Join us every #WingWednesday for this trip down memory lane, starting with the first heavier-than-air machine-powered aircraft. The culmination of nearly five years of research and experimentation by Wilbur and Orville Wright, the Wright Flyer was the first piloted airplane to achieve controlled, sustained flight from its own power, although a catapult was required to launch it into the air. The first successful flight took place on December 17, 1903, on the Outer Banks of Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with Orville at the controls and Wilbur running next to the wing. Wright 1903 Flyer model aircraft 1968 SFO Museum Collection Gift of Jim Lund 2014.145.003 This image was posted on January 06, 2021.

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