25x Postcard 1903 Wright Flyer National Air and Space Museum National Air and Space Museum 1903 Wright Flyer On a chilly windswept beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright inaugurated the aerial age with their historic first flights on December 17, 1903. The Wright Flyer was the world's first heavier-than-air, powered craft to make a sustained controlled flight with a pilot aboard. With Orville at the controls and Wilbur observing, the first flight covered a distance of 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds. A total of four flights were made with the Flyer, the best traveling 852 feet in 59 seconds with Wilbur as the pilot. (98-15005) Photograph by Mark Avino National Air and Space Museum 2005 Smithsonian Institution Postcard size 4 x 6