Photo of the Day

The first flight

Sunday 18 October 2026

Black-and-white photo of the Wright Flyer, a white biplane, lifting a few feet off the sand with a man lying at the controls and another watching at right — Photograph · 17 December 1903

Orville Wright at the controls and Wilbur running alongside as the Wright Flyer leaves the ground at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It was the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered airplane.

Fun facts

That first hop lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet, less than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. source ↗
The photographer, John T. Daniels, was a local lifesaving station crewman who had never used a camera. Orville set it up and told him to squeeze the bulb if the plane took off. source ↗
They flew four times that day. The longest flight was 852 feet in 59 seconds. source ↗
Pieces of the Flyer have been to the Moon with Apollo 11 and to Mars on the Ingenuity helicopter. source ↗

Image: John T. Daniels · National Archives
Licence: Public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons