On the 17th of December 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright realized an age-old dream of mankind: to fly. For the first time in history man had achieved the powered, controlled, and sustained flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. The event was one of those rare, consequential "firsts" that truly change the world.Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, this book is an in-depth photographic portrait of their pioneering work in aviation: from their early experiments with gliders to the flight in 1903, from their tours of European and American air shows to their development of a military aircraft, and to the final installation of the Kitty Hawk Flyer at the Smithsonian Institution.The images in this book are culled from perhaps the largest private collection of Wright Brothers photographs in existence, and supplemented with images in the collections of the Library of Congress and Wright State University. In addition to photographs, there are stereopticon images, vintage postcards, documents, and other memorabilia. This visual trove forms the basis of a touring exhibition originated by the Dayton Art Institute. Read Less