| 1867 | Wilbur Wright | Wilbur was born in Indiana. |
| 1871 | Orville Wright | Orville was born in Ohio, after the family had moved there two years before. |
| 1878 | The first inspiration | Wilbur and Orville's father brought them home a toy helicopter. The boys became fascinated with flying things. |
| 1881 | Let's go fly a kite | Orville began building kites as a hobby to feed his flying fascination. |
| 1892 | A bicycle shop | The brothers opened a bicycle shop. This let them get their hands dirty with building things, as well as gave them the funds they need for their later flight experiments. |
| 1893 | World's Columbian Exposition | The brothers attended the expo in Chicago. There was an aeronautical exhibit, and Wilbur and Orville were drawn to it. |
| 1896 | Their own brand | The brothers began manufacturing their own brand of bicycles in their bicycle shop. This gave them more hands-on experience in building. |
| October 1896 | Otto Lilienthal dies | Otto was an aeronautical engineer, and his death while trying to fly a glider reminded the Wright brothers that they wanted to fly too. |
| 1897 | They reason between them | After Otto's death, the brothers began studying his methods as well as the methods of birds' flights. They decided they could create a machine for many to fly. |
| 1899 | The first experiments | The Wright brothers built a special kite to test the "wing-warping" method of flight. |
| 1900 | Kitty Hawk | Orville and Wilbur moved to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina so that they could better work on their flying experiments. |
| 1901 | The experiments continue | The Wrights had many big victories in 1901. They had their first articles published in aeronautical journals, they made several more flying experiments, and they gave speeches about their findings. |
| 1902 | A powered engine | The Wright brothers began working on putting an engine in their gliding machines. |
| 1903 | The first powered flights | Orville and Wilbur each made many short flights in their new invention. They applied for a patent. |
| 1906 | Patent granted | The Wrights' patent was granted, and the flying machine was called an aeroplane. |
| 1908 | Their first sale | The Wrights won a bid to build the U.S. military a flying machine. They also took their invention to Europe for the first time. |
| 1909 | Congressional Medal | The brothers are awarded the Congressional Medal for their contribution to the world of their flying machine. They started a flying revolution and proved that all things are possible. |
