The brothers Wilbur and Orwille Wright got trained in mechanics and established a bicycle repair shop in Dayton, Ohio. They were repairing bicycles during a day, but during a night they were secretly assembling new inventions. Finally they constructed an aeroplane. At first they tried their luck with a glider. An experimental flights took place near Kitty Hawk, the area in North Carolina at the coast of Atlantic Ocean. Later they mounted on the glider a self-made fuel engine and on 17th December 1903 this machine took flight. The aeroplane's wingspan was more than 12 meters and it weight 338 kilograms. Orwille laid down on aeroplane close to the engine and it took off from a runway. It was not an overwhelming flight. The aeroplane flew up to 60 centimetres above the sandy ground, covered 53 metres and the flight lasted only 12 seconds. However it was a famous flight. It entered history as the first flight and fulfilled men?s dreams to fly like a bird. Besides other experiments, this flight didn?t take its toll on human lives. From this day the history of aviation started. Initially, it developed slowly but later much more dynamically. The Wright brothers had particularly a great stake in the development of air transportation. Presented issue is published at the anniversary of the first flight of the Wright brothers, who entered the history of aviation. The stamp depicts the aeroplane, on which its constructors successfully took to the air for the first time in history. On the FDC are experimental flying machines.
Ladislav Švihran
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