Humans have always wanted to go to the sky, to fly with the birds. In ancient Greek myths and stories the heroes could fly, whether on Pegasuses which are flying horses, or with the help of winged sandals. During the Italian renaissance Leonardo da Vinci drew plans for gliders and a modern looking helicopter, although he never built them. In 1781 hot air balloons were invented and hot air balloon touring became a thing, allowing people to see things from a birds eye view. There were also airships which are hot air balloons with propellers and motors for more controlled flight. But this was lighter than air flight, and it depended on the balloon to float up, and people wanted a heavier than air flying machine since air balloons would have to get bigger to hold more gas until it got to expensive to lift really heavy objects. Several aeronautical societies and clubs formed in Britain and France to try and make a successful, heavier than air flying machine. However, they were just sticking bigger and bigger engines to winged boats. Wilbert Wright was born in 1867, Indiana and Orval Wright was born in 1871, Ohio. One day, when they were 11 and 7 respectively, their father brought them a toy helicopter to play with, and when it broke they fixed it up and made a few improvements to it. When they grew up they still liked mechanical devices so they opened a bicycle repair shop. They were giant fans of Otto Lilienthal who was a very successful glider, a person who uses gliders, and when he died they decided to pick up where he left off. They did thousands of glider tests and when they found the right one they put an engine on and made the first successful, heavier than air flying machine.
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