On December 17, 1903, in a fragile little plane which they had built at home for less than $1, 000, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first powered flights in the history of mankind-and opened the Air Age. Why did these two brothers, mechanics by trade, succeed where trained scientists-working with unlimited funds and the backing of great institutions-had repeatedly failed? In this biography, authorized by Orville Wright and first published in 1943, Fred Kelly separates fact from legend and recreates the dramatic achievements of two men, self-taught inventors, who solved the "e; impossible"e; problem of flight. The Wright Brothers is a story of total adventure-the sharp physical adventure of flight in perilously frail machines, and the breathtaking intellectual adventure of minds discovering through tireless research and sudden, brilliant hunches the solution to the "e; impossible"e; problem of flight. Fred Kelly is recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on the Wright brothers-their growth, their struggles, their disappointments and their ultimate triumph. For more than thirty years he was a personal friend of Orville Wright and talked with him daily while writing this book. The result is a vivid recreation of the birth and pioneer days of aviation and an intimate, affectionate portrait of two men whose inventive genius changed the world. "e; A gripping book on a fascinating subject. . . "e; -Boston Globe
