The Wright Brothers: The Remarkable Story of the Aviation Pioneers Who Changed the World

The conquest of the air at Kittv Hawk. North Carolina, on 17 December 1903 was one of the supreme achievements of the twentieth century. Two unknown American bicycle mechanics, Wilbur and Orville Wright, launched the first successful powered aeroplane, and changed the world for ever. On the centennial of the historic first flights, biographer Ian Mackersey offers this fascinating new study of the little-known lives of these eccentric geniuses. Wilbur and Orville Wright were two brothers who never smoked, drank or had a shred of interest in women, but whose exceptionally close relationship bound them into one uniquely inventive power. Theirs was a brilliance that unlocked the secrets of flight to realise one of man’s oldest dreams. But it would be years before their epic achievement would be properly recognised. Mackersev portrays a family swept up in the fame, jealousies and law suits that exploded around them: the righteous and domineering figure of their father. Bishop Milton Wright, whose church wars raged distractingly alongside the process of invention; their feisty, adoring sister, Katharine, whose marriage led Orville never to speak to her again. Theirs were lives punctuated by drama and tragedy. Ian Mackersev’s impeccably researched narrative explains, accessibly, the aerodynamic breakthrough that had defeated inventive minds for centuries. And from a hoard of previously unpublished Wright family correspondence, he throws revealing new light on the tragic events that troubled the last twenty years of Orville’s life. Hardcover 554 pages signed copy

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