The Wright brothers first aeroplane flight (1903)

GAUMONT BRITISH NEWSREEL (REUTERS)
To license this film, visit www.britishpat...
Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully complete the first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
Full Description:
USA: North Carolina: Kitty Hawk: Kill Devil Hills:
EXT
Footage of the Wright Brothers biplane getting ready and taking off. Shots of Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright
aviation, aviating, pilot, piloting, pilots, glider, gliders, airplane, airplanes, aeroplanes, flying, biplanes, flyer I, wright flyer
Background: Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully complete the first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
FILM ID: VLVADGFZYMTMNVZD6DIN5J1AYOS4I
To license this film, visit www.britishpat...
Archive: Reuters
Archive managed by: British Pathé

[@arianysilverio6127]

I love how 1903 Footage is better than todays CCTV CAM.

[@sockpuppetbitme]

Film still IS superior to digital.

[@kazioo2]

​@@sockpuppetbitme Theoretically, maybe. Realistically film has grain problem and even at 70 mm it's implausible to beat modern 8K sensors and in many cases not even 4K. But it's awesome to see new scans of 100 years old silent films with insane details exceeding 1080p bluray, like The Passion of Joan of Arc from 1928 - where you can see skin pores on actors faces.

[@megamikkila]

my security cams are hd but look about same quality as this. 😂.

[@ronaldmcdonald8303]

Yeah, what's the deal with that? It's funny how modern CCTV systems are usually terrible quality and you film something over 120 ago and it's better visually. Never really understood why!!!!

[@SMGJohn]

If CCTV were as large and heavy as these 58kg film cameras that took two people to move and assemble and 2 weeks to develop the silver film. They too would be as good as this.

[@multiyapples]

It’s mind blowing that this year will be 120 years since this happened and was recorded.

[@elmundoderobinyloslegos1863]

120? Do it was 1883?

[@DoviUtomo]

​@@elmundoderobinyloslegos1863 2023 -1903 = 120 years

[@2elss]

@@elmundoderobinyloslegos1863goodness me. We aren't in the year of the war in iraq

[@airplanedude3103]

​@@elmundoderobinyloslegos1863 Smartest American:

[@elmundoderobinyloslegos1863]

It happened 100 years ago

[@badwolf7367]

This is NOT their first flight in 1903. There were no motion picture cameras recording their first 2 flights. The aircraft in this video is the Wright Flyer 3 because the first 2 Flyers did not have seats and the pilot had to lay prone at the controls.

[@jogadornoob1061]

It wasn't a real fly. They invented angry birds...

[@Somerandomchannel-z2x]

Bro the 14-bis was actually the first plane just for some reason the guy who made it took longer to confirm it or something for some reason

[@weakdazee]

ok nerd

[@cd7383]

A man named Clément Ader made planes before that... The first to fly was in 1890.

[@inisipisTV]

They made two flights in 1903 first Orville then Wilbur. It’s just a 12 second flight in front of witnesses, no motion film, just still photographs showing the aircraft in the air. This video looks like their 1908 demo.

[@rescue270]

Actually they made four flights that day, the the final and longest of which Wilbur managed to keep it out of the sand for 59 seconds and covered 852 feet. After that a big gust of wind flipped the machine over and damaged it beyond practical repair. I don't believe it ever flew again. The Wright Brothers were counting on receiving widespread acclaim that never came from their own country. They were ignored. It wasn't until they heard about Alberto Santos-Dumont's first flights in France that they got any recognition. They loaded up an airplane and took it to France. Santos-Dumont's new machine was still in an ungainly state of development while the Wright's machine could fly circles around it. France embraced aviation. America didn't. Santos-Dumont himself was a great man. Not even the slightest put off by this, he was thrilled to see the manner in which the Wrights had developed their machine. He learned a lot from them.

[@HailAnts]

This flight also uses a catapult for launching, which they didn't have in the first one.

[@rochellerock5296]

Se colocar o tio sam em uma catapulta ele também voa.

[@paulyouth8342]

American lie. In 1903 this machine no flew.

[@GBA_Brody]

They actually did four. I went to the national memorial in the Outer Banks.

[@TRUCK-FREAK]

that must have been an incredible feeling

[@DeanMk1]

Actually, there were no movie cameras present when the Wright brothers first flew. Only a box camera that was manned by one of the lifeguards on the beach. That's the person that took the famous picture of the airplane as it left the ground.

[@basmatine]

Good thing they filmed it, otherwise some internet troll might say it never happened.

[@gabrieldarcy9067]

I mean there's video footage of the moon landing and people still deny it ever happened 😐

[@megamikkila]

It’s happened many times. All patents saved- reset earth start over and repeat and wash. Almost ready for new reset we peaked out- space travel is not a thing or ever will be.

[@storytimesofcrimes1873]

​@@megamikkilathis comment is epic and trippy, 5 hamburger stickers 🎉

[@SMGJohn]

​@@megamikkila Joe Biden, is that you?

[@raptorwhite6468]

It doesn't change that much, Moon landing is probably the most well documented event in history, but it doesn't matter as long as idiots exist

[@planeguy737-1]

the fact we went from the first flight of a slow flying fence to the first airliner breaking the sound barrier in only 66 years, alongside the second biggest passenger airliner being made

[@GoatyHerps]

Truly amazing.

[@HailAnts]

The original Wright 'Flyer' was completely destroyed in an accident not long after its first flight. It was sitting on the beach waiting to be tested again when a strong breeze lifted it up and sent it cartwheeling down the dunes. Even the one in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is not the first one to fly, it is a later contemporary model built and flown by the Wrights and essentially identical.

[@paulyouth8342]

And you still believe this American lie? Did you know that any replica flyers in their original condition will not leave the ground? Any replica of Dumont's 14 bis will fly.

[@gilberto2056]

Most likely, the flyer crashed to the ground in 1903. It was not an airplane. They carried the artifact uphill and threw it downhill into the wind. This event had already been tested by lillienthal

[@HailAnts]

@@gilberto2056 - No, the original Wright _Flyer_ was the first heavier than air flying machine. The Wrights tested many many gliders building up to testing a powered version.

[@pierrebegley2746]

I don't think you're right here. Pretty sure the Wright Brothers restored the 1903 Kitty Hawk Wright Flyer before it was lent to the London Science Museum in 1928.

[@MarcosPalhares]

@@HailAnts This film is historical misinformation. The announcer mentions that the images are from 1903, but the video shows a flight from 1908, which, incidentally, was the first time that the brothers showed a flight to the world. The flights they claimed to make in 1903, 1904 and 1905 were secret, there are no films or photos in newspapers, books or magazines of the time. The first public flight of an airplane in the world was carried out by Santos Dumont in 1906 with the 14-bis.

[@thecorporatepilotdad]

This is not the first flight as the title states. A Wright Brother and passenger are sitting upright. The original Wright Flyer carried one pilot laying face down, not sitting upright as shown in the video. Also, the catapult system wouldn’t be used until 9 months after the first flight in September 1904.

[@DerickC_]

14 bis, The first real aircraft.

[@willymw78]

​@@DerickC_14 bis flew during 1906, three years before the wright brothers first flight at kitty hawk

[@LauraGear42]

​@willymw78How many witnesses and evidence do you have?

[@tkjonb]

This is not the first plane because it needed a catapult, being launched by a catapult is not being a plane, the first was made by Santos Dumont

[@igormaia1895]

You are corret, americans think white brothers flight 3 years before Santos Dumond, but, the project as completed before the firts flight with only petrol engine, before 1906, dont exist a engine with hp to flight a plane.

[@igormaia1895]

14 bis has v8 engine with 50hp to fly, Flyer III as fly with 12hp v4 and need rails to get speed.

[@zachb1706]

Anyway the point is that before the Wright Brothers it was believed that heavier than air flight was literally impossible.

[@marcosbastos8634]

This is a mistake, this flight is NOT of I903, but of I908, as the pilot was lying down, not sitting and in this one, there are only photos!😅

[@DaleSteadman]

This video footage was not their first flight, this footage was shot in 1908. Their first 4 successful flights was December 17, 1903 at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. First flight: Orville Wright piloted the first flight, covering 120 feet in 12 seconds. Second flight: Wilbur took the controls, flying for 175 feet in about 12 seconds. Third flight: Orville flew again, traveling 200 feet in 15 seconds. Fourth flight: The final and longest flight of the day was piloted by Wilbur, covering 852 feet in 59 seconds. After the fourth flight, a gust of wind overturned the Flyer, damaging it, which ended the day's experiments.

[@AFG.1]

Its mind blowing how we have planes that are massive..

[@rustyshackleford69420_]

I watched a video of fighter jets before I came here. Amazing thinkers that changed the world.

[@Ryan-jx4vh]

Incredible things we humans can accomplish when we work together. 🙌

[@G6JPG]

It's a pity that, even when this was put together (1950s?), the producers felt it necessary to add fake sound. (Regardless of whether the film is 1903 or 1908, it was silent.)

[@richardross119]

That is definately not the first flight. First flight took off by sliding down a rail and the pilot was on his stomach steering the plane

[@hifinsword]

The machine in this video is not the 1903 Wright flyer. Orvile and Wilbur made 4 flights In the Wright flyer on 17 December 1903 and they were prone on their bellies on all of them. And it was not filmed. Pictures were taken but no movies of the first flight. The film in this video may have been from 1904 or later.

[@paulyouth8342]

The famous picture of wright Bros in North Caroline appeared in 1908!!!!

[@Robert-pg2id]

This is a wrong, incorrect and misleading video. Gustave Whitehead was the first to fly in 1901 in Bridgeport Connecticut. Whitehead had 10+ eyewitnesses who signed affidavits that they saw Whitehead fly in 1901. There is a Museum in Germany to Whitehead's honor for this feat of engineering and development of the airplane. This video needs to be pulled and corrected.

[@eddiethemexiii]

And in less than 20 years, we made one of humans' greatest invention. A killing machine...

[@RavenclawFtW3295]

"This film made in 1903..." The first successful flight was made on December 17th, 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and there was no motion picture camera present.

[@curiosidadesdomundo2009]

Santos Dumont, o Pai da Aviação sempre!🇧🇷

[@The_real_son_of_sparda]

It looks like the American faction maxed out the science skill tree

[@PepePoios]

LOOL

[@dislikebutton4981]

Came here after watching African Airplane Compilation

[@minindudissanayaka1700]

I had to rewatch it after seeing this comment Lmao 😂😂

[@459luker]

this is still better video clarity than alot of security camera/interrogation footage in the year 2024.

[@paulyouth8342]

There are not movies of wright brothers between 1903-1905

[@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles]

This is not the 1903 flight. That's clearly not at the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk. Also, the 1903 flights did not use a catapult.

[@rephaimog4186]

It is amazing that a short time later people were flying through the air in aluminum planes at high speeds. It's still stunning.

[@torqtorqtorq]

Paul you ok bro

[@tinkerman9525]

And 15 years later did 130mph on the straight and abt 150 in a dive. Went up to 20000 feet. Remarkable.

[@alfazero9671]

Not True At All

[@tinkerman9525]

That is the minimum specs of the Camel. Others were faster and higher ceiling. Read Winged vicory by yeates. A Camel pilot in WW1.​@@alfazero9671

[@NikodAnimations]

​@@alfazero9671 They were talking about aviation in general, I think.

[@jaystanfordhendricks1828]

It's crazy how this revolutionized into a modern plane.

[@draco2xx]

the fact that we went from this to big jumbo jets in 121 years is just incredible

[@sadudas11]

Big jumbo Jets came only like 40 years later I think

[@daniko4447]

​@@sadudas11Jet jumbos in the 1940s? N

[@Huobaojiqi]

​@@daniko4447search up Messerschmitt

[@TheRealCreepinogie]

First flight was at Kitty Hawk in December 1903. It is probably 1905 at the earliest. Totally different plane with a passenger sitting upright and clearly net Kitty Hawk.

[@iSweeps]

In 1903 they made their first flight, the eyewitnesses were Bigfoot, Snowman and their dog..

[@westentrance]

The first flight was at Kill Devil Hills. Kitty Hawk is usually listed because it was the nearest town (about 3 miles away).

[@hifinsword]

@@westentrance The Kitty Hawk Post Office was used by the Wright Brothers to telegram back home. The bldg still exists but is now The Black Pelican restaurant. It has been physically moved away from the ocean 3 times to save it from being washed away. The road it sits on, Va. Dare Trail, NC state Hwy 12, has been washed out by storms, and repaired many times recently this century.

[@AjayAjaykumar-vf6jk]

Amazing 121 year🔥🔥🌎 Wright brothers 🌎🔥

[@AuraboyRBLX]

Do you know the last time barra was used?

[@James-re6co]

On August 14, 1901, Gustave Whitehead, a German-born immigrant living in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was more than likely the first to achieve manned, self-propelled, sustained flight, somewhat under control, but did not have 3-axis control. He steered the machine by shifting his body weight from side to side. Some time after this flight the Wright Brothers visited Whitehead under the guise of financing his efforts (reported by a man who worked for Whitehead at that time). My theory is that during this visit, Whitehead shared some ideas which led the Wrights to 3-axis control which they tested and built into their 1902 glider. Add the fact that there were no photos of Whitehead's #21 machine in flight only photos of it on the ground. And zero original source documentation such as journals, letters, telegrams, etc. In 1903, the Wrights added an engine and propellers to what was essentially the 1902 glider (they never considered propulsion a big challenge), and on December 17, 1903 invited a few spectators and had the high-end camera at the ready. Kids, if you want to own the patents and make it into the Smithsonian, document your work... Thoroughly.

[@stevejohnson2052]

He claimed he flew with no real evidence to back his claims. And did some questionable things, so I wouldn't give a man who worked for him too much credibility. His last plane in 1908 still didn't fly. No one had 3 axis control before the Wrights which everyone copied and gave birth to a controllable airplane.

[@RustyTreeMan]

I doubt it ever flew, he had no notes so no documented history at all, it was not considered air worthy then or now, had no photos ever of it flying which is crucial. No yaw control so it was essentially uncontrollable. I can't see how the Wright brothers would have got any crucial information from this guy who couldn't fly?

[@larryrobertson4099]

This entire first flight, from liftoff to landing could have taken place in the cargo bay of the C5A, with room to spare.

[@paulyouth8342]

This footage Paris, 1908

[@paulyouth8342]

The photos of wright brothers with flyers in flight appeared in 1908!!!

[@Human_person.]

Little did they know they would be changing history forever…

[@mrbeatlejuice]

If you read David McCullough's Wright Brother's book you know this IS NOT the first flight - there is no film of it and they Wilbur was lying down

[@cd7383]

Do you know Clément Ader? This man made a plane in 1890...

[@CharviPahuja-o9o]

Very informative video

[@TiagoSiqueira0407]

Santos Dumont...

[@Niko28_5]

santos Dumont criador verdadeiro do avião

[@amordebichoumafamilia]

This is not the claimed Improbable flight of 1903 where there was no catapult and the pilot remained lying down in the plane in this alleged flight of 1903 the brothers just glided practically still in the air supported by winds of up to 40 km per hour responsible for almost 90% of the lift . This is a probable flight from 1908, and the aeronautics and astronautics institute claims that the 1903 flights were impossible and today there is not even a replica of the plane, which is flew in fact, even with millions of dollars invested and all the technology and informations available.

[@thetoptentalks72]

Brilliant mind🙏🙏

[@paulyouth8342]

wright Bros declared incapacity for motorized flight in 1904!!!

[@axe-tq2wn]

SANTOS DUMONT

[@paulyouth8342]

the movie was 1908!!! Present please the movies that was realized between 1903-1905 and was presented between 1903-1905!

[@CoolCademMAnimates-fz1ui]

The original flight only lasted 12 seconds and then the plane stalled. I’m not saying it’s fake or not from 1903, but just that’ it’s not the first.

[@paulyouth8342]

1903!!!!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Thais footage was made in 1908.

[@minengeschoss]

and literally 41 years later: "wht was that, wth was that, it went by like we were standing still"

[@lucaslucas-wd3un]

Santos dumont the real one!!!!

[@stevejohnson2052]

LOL you must be Brazilian. Santos Dumont couldn't control his aircraft until he copied the Wright's inventions.

[@Niko28_5]

​@@stevejohnson2052usa catapulta não significa voar

[@igormaia1895]

@@stevejohnson2052 Santos Dumond Airplane is totaly diferent to White Brother airplane

[@Lordmattg]

We flew for the first time, landed on the moon, sent probes beyond our solar system, landed on mars, and built a space station that orbits the earth at 17,400mph in the course of a single human lifespan. In 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter completed the first powered flight on another planet while carrying a small piece of cloth from the lower left wing of the original Wright Flyer. We are unstoppable.

[@clinton7846]

a W for science

[@joemcdaniel7320]

NOT 1903. NOT Kitty Hawk. This is film of Wilbur Wright flying in France in late 1908 or early 1909.

[@LiilYogurt]

Commenters on this video try not to say this wasn't actually their first flight challenge (IMPOSSIBLE 99% FAIL!!!)

[@paulyouth8342]

In two opportunities wright Bros summoned the wright famíly, friends and press for flight's demonstration in 1904. 😨horror!! The press declared: "The machine no flew!"

[@ichangedmyname0001]

Amazing

[@wooderdsaunders7429]

Nice but this is not the 1st flight. The 1st flight the pilot was in the prone position, not seated.

[@MarcosPalhares]

This film is historical misinformation. The announcer mentions that the images are from 1903, but the video shows a flight from 1908, which, incidentally, was the first time that the brothers showed a flight to the world. The flights they claimed to make in 1903, 1904 and 1905 were secret, there are no films or photos in newspapers, books or magazines of the time. The first public flight of an airplane in the world was carried out by Santos Dumont in 1906 with the 14-bis.

[@jornadaav]

1903 without proves. This video is after 1903, after dumont.

[@JohnKSedor]

I'm looking for the photos of Gustave Whitehead in the air in Bridgeport Connecticut years before the Wright Brothers. I've seen photos in some old shops in Bridgeport, and I've talked to the Whitehead family who still live in Connecticut, and what the Park Rangers at Kitty Hawk told me are true, that Gustave Whitehead flew powered flight years before the Wright Brothers. They even built a duplicate plane from his notes and flew it in Hartford Connecticut.

[@stevejohnson2052]

A number of people flew powered aircraft on short hops before the Wrights. The Wrights invented 3 axis control which all planes still use. They invented controlled, sustained flight.

[@paulyouth8342]

The patent of wright Bros does not have plane register!

[@JohnKSedor]

Thank you for reporting that Gustave Whiteheads first flight beat the Wright Brothers and a full scale replica of Whiteheads plane was built and successfully flown in Hartford Connecticut showing a controlled flight. Even the Park Rangers at Kitty Hawk admitted this and showed me proof in an Aviation publication when I was down there.

[@matheusfaria7230]

The "(1903)" is just claimed, they just released the footage and pictures years after and simply said it was from 1903. And even then couldn't still add the weight of landing gear. LOL.

[@cassandrarousos3555]

When I was very little I could not believe that there was a time before planes

[@xpredatoryoutube7596]

And right now we have jetpack

[@EGarrett01]

Came here from watching GPT-4 build programs and execute general commands by itself for the first time. Man's age-old dream of a thinking computer becoming real for the first time.

[@NNokia-jz6jb]

I think the same way. History in the making.

[@Gentry09]

Did the first plane even have an engine?

[@elijahfulgham6586]

Why does it look like things moved faster back than on cameras

[@darenlindley]

That was not 1903. The Wrights did not make a circle until 1904. But there is nothing like watching early flight!

[@silviocrespo4329]

Is this film from 1903? the photos from 1903 have nothing to do with this

[@lukasjanus690]

that was huge, historical event. Where are spectacors?

[@michaelmyers6099]

Com catapulta até merda voa. O verdadeiro inventor do avião foi Santon Dummont.

[@peterjones5243]

Cope. The rest of the world acknowledges the Wrights as the first to achieve flight. Further, they rightfully see Brazil as a backwater that has contributed nothing meaningful to the world.

[@Niko28_5]

​@@peterjones5243usa catapulta não significa voar

[@PaulDePace]

This is the wrong film... It is not the 1903 flight. It is from a flight in 1908 in France.

[@muhammadbukhari2021]

shoutout to them🗣️🗣️🗣️

[@sumitraparajuli4948]

Where they live

[@bartbanner3455]

First flight by airplane was 1901 by Gustav Weisskopf. The video you show is first the Wright Model from 1903 for one person. That not really flight. And at the End of the video we see the Model from 1908 for two person. That can flight. The Wrights cheated with the year.

[@spartangoku7610]

The Wright stuff.

[@lilsleepy9744]

There’s footage of this but no footage of Wilts 100 point game

[@musichunter7988]

Is that kitty house?

[@bivideo7]

Pretty sure you actually know this is NOT the first flight. You're British Pathé - get it right.

[@atilanunesfox]

It was Santos Dumont who invented the airplane

[@lilitesser7155]

This is not 1903, it's much later

[@cablecar3683]

No, their first flight was 190e.

[@tup4443]

@@cablecar3683 they are talking about the fotage, not the time of the first flight

[@cablecar3683]

@@tup4443 But the footage is still from 1903?

[@apurvtrivedi4871]

To keep secrecy, I will go to every step possible.

[@matheusmc6693]

They invented the Angry Birds🎉🙌🙌

[@nemesisxv8377]

Beatiful Glider 😍

[@cablecar3683]

Not glider.

[@AstraAstraAstra]

@@cablecar3683 glider. For airplanes we have santos dumont

[@paulyouth8342]

👏👏👏👏 the thruth

[@nonbigbrain9662]

@@AstraAstraAstralol that’s not true

[@silviocrespo4329]

Did they fly in 1903? Taste it.

[@kalpanapatidar5728]

That was amezing

[@peritobrasil]

This is a 1903 film? Its not true!

[@wascago2736]

Irmãos Wright é o caralh... Santos Dumont é o verdadeiro inventor do avião. Orgulhem-se brasileiros, desse teu gênio tupiniquim, defendam-o, aonde quer que estejam.

[@paulyouth8342]

Uhuuuuuu Tamo junto

[@umtemplario9847]

Aee porr@ até que enfim um comentario digno.

[@paulyouth8342]

Este foi o cara!

[@Álvaro_Ávila-021]

Boa irmão👏👏

[@paulyouth8342]

Aí sim!!! Ele foi a base dos irmãos Wright, que pediram em 1907 ao capitão Ferber, de Paris, a planta do 14 bis!!!

[@curryboi93]

Crazy to think it was only 66 years later we landed on the moon

[@notstaranymore]

santos dumont, the real one.

[@bossboy8408]

traian vuia made first plane that can take off by its own and land by its own this one is more like a glider she needs help from the ground to take off.

[@osoio]

A Enciclopédia Britannica em 1915 deu a primazia a Santos Dumont.

[@Katokilla]

Even than they are wrong

[@deego237]

Síndrome de vira-lata.