The first people to take to the skies using motor power are two bicycle dealers from the US province. For fear of plagiarists, however, the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright initially keep their self-constructed aircraft from 1903 under lock and key – and thus risk their hero status
It is Thursday, December 17, 1903. A biting cold wind is blowing from the Atlantic Ocean across the wide, flat beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A fresh layer of ice covers the puddles and pools. Around 10.30 a.m. the roar of a starter can be heard in the wasteland, four pistons of an engine begin to bang on and jump off. The small explosions merge into a staple. Sometimes a hesitation, as if the motor had choked; then a blue cloud of exhaust gas puffs into the wind.