First Aeroplane

[har16vey]

Where was the world's first aeroplane designed and built, and by whom?

[pug100]

Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first people to successfully build and fly an aeroplane in America in 1903

[excelsior]

specifically .... kittyhawk in south carolina

[jaberwocky]

ah,but do you know what they called it?

[Thack]

flyer 1

[jno]

Richard Pearse beat them to it but left scanty records and there are still disputes over whether what he did was a 'flight'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse

[vehelpfulguy]

John Stringfelow from Chard in Somerset built the first aeroplane that flew, but it did not have any people on board.

The Wright bothers plane did carry a person.

More on John Stringfellow here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1591057.stm

[har16vey]

Overwhelming response to my question - many thanks to all!

[Count_Emmup]

The Wright brothers' first flight was shorter than the wing-span of a 747!