The Wright brothers Orville (August 19 1871 – January 30 1948) and Wilbur (April 16 1867 – May 30 1912) were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on December 17 1903. In the two years afterward the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft.
