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The American Dream : The Wright Brothers And The Flying Machine

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Have you ever wanted to soar through the air like a bird? Well, the Wright Brothers made it possible with their flying machine. The two brothers were pioneers of aviation. Nowadays, airplanes are everywhere; the world would be a completely different place without them. We wouldn't be able to land on the moon, technology would not have advanced as fast, and the two brothers produced the original piloted plane that was heavier-than-air in 1903 (Ryan). They are the greatest historical figures of all time because they revolutionized transportation by making it safer and easier, they started a new era of warfare, they allowed space travel to be possible, and they demonstrated the American Dream. The Wright Brothers had an interesting life that led to the inspiration of their inventions later on. On April 16, 1867, Milton was born in Millville, Indiana; Orville, his brother, was born on August 19, 1871 in Dayton, Ohio (Ryan). Neither of them attended college, but this did not diminish their intellectual abilities. Instead, they founded a print shop in 1889 and a bicycle shop a few years later to make money for their family and themselves. These businesses helped fund their aeronautical interests. They started off by making kites to observe the basics of flight (Reynolds 44). After making enough money, they began to experiment with various contraptions that resembled the German glider created by Otto Lilenthal and Octave Chanute. To help figure out how they would make their

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