Wright brothers' experiments

made it possible for them to be first to fly

On the left are some of the 200 airfoils — cross sections of a wing — the Wright brothers experimented with. On the right is their tool to measure the lift generated by an airfoil, as bicycling they forced air over each airfoil.

They also built a wind tunnel to test their designs for a craft before building gliders to test on North Carolina beaches, as they developed a craft that could lift an engine, a man, and be controlled.