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Despite his lack of interest in formal credentials Orville like Wilbur was committed to broad learning and supplemented his schooling with a great deal of private study. The brothers in fact had an education comparable to a modern four year college degree.

Orville was charming and an interesting conversationalist with family and close friends as well as an incorrigible practical joker. But unlike the outgoing Wilbur he was painfully shy among strangers. Wilbur always represented the brothers publicly.

Technology and innovation were part of the Wright brother's lives before they began their study of aeronautics. Orville in particular was intrigued by mechanical things as a youngster always building fixing and tinkering. His first serious technical interest and pursuit was printing. He began a printing business as a teenager, in which Wilbur later joined him.   

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Orville was more impulsive than his contemplative thoughtful older brother and Orville had boundless curiosity and energetically pursued a range of interests. His mind was quick and he was always coming up with new inventions. While pursuing the airplane was initially Wilbur's idea Orville's enthusiasm and optimism were often what carried them through to solutions of difficult technical problems.

Orville showed an interest in technology and science early in life. He was always performing experiments and dismantling things to find out how they worked. He fit the stereotype of the budding inventor far more than Wilbur.

Orville was as bright as his brother, but he could be mischievous in the classroom and did not always apply himself fully. His work habits improved in high school. But instead of following the prescribed junior year curriculum he opted for a series of advanced college preparatory courses. As a result, he would not qualify for his high school degree at the end of his senior year, so he decided not to attend school that term. He never graduated.    

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Wilbur was unable to complete his courses and graduate. Hoping to attend Yale and become a teacher, he enrolled in several college preparatory souses at Central High School in Dayton.

Wilbur was self confident controlled and of steady demeanor never tattled in thought or temper as his father described him. Highly intelligent he was a voracious reader, a talented writer, and a gifted speaker. Outgoing when circumstances required he could also isolate himself and shout out the world when he chose.

Wilbur's bright future suddenly changed when he was injured plain an ice hockey type of game during the winter of 1885-86. The damage to his face and teeth healed, but he suffered lingering heart and digestive complications. He became depressed and withdrew from the world. The confident robust Yong Wilbur faded. Uncertain of his health and future, Wilbur dropped his plans to attend yale and descended into a self imposed isolation of reading and contemplation.

By the time of Wilbur's accident, Susan Wright was already ill with tuberculosis and in need of constant care. Struggling with finding a new direction in his own life, Wilbur devoted himself to nursing his mother until she died in 1889.  

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Wilbur was his father's favorite child and emerged as the dominant personality among the siblings. Wilbur was quiet,but sure of himself. He was intellectually motivated, excelled in school, had an extraordinary memory and was a good High School in Indiana, the family suddenly returned to Dayton due to Milton's

From Bicycles to Airplanes.

The Wright brothers built bicycles, before making history as the inventors of the one of the greatest creations of the 20th century the airplane. The Wrights opened a bicycle sales and repair shop called the Wright Cycle Exchange in Dayton in 1892. They carried many brands of bicycle including Flee twig, Reading, Coventry Cross, Envoy, Sm alley,Warwick,Duchess and Allahabad Temple. Prices ranged from $40 to $100. They were also into bicycle rent and sold parts and accessories.  

The Wright Brothers started manufacturing there own bicycles in 1895. The name of their first model was Van Clevis, they were among Dayton's first settlers and ancestors of the Wrights. Later that year, the brothers introduced a reasonably priced model called the St.Clair. The name was again inspired from local history, Arthur St Clair was the first president of the Northwest Territory which became Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. 

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The family moved from Richmond Indiana back to Dayton in June of 1884, the month Wilbur was to have graduated from high school. Wilbur left Richmond without receiving his diploma and returned to Central High School the next year further studies in Greek and trigonometry.

Wilbur was his father's favorite child and emerged as the dominant personality among the siblings. excelled in school, had an extraordinary memory and was a good athlete. Toward the end of his senior year at Richmond High School in Indiana, the family suddenly returned to Dayton due to Milton's.

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The Wrights invention not only solved a long studied techinical problem but also fashioned a redically new world. A world that they helped to shrink. A world that remains deeply indebted to these pioneers of flight. The inscription on the wright memorial at Kitty Hawk sums up this feeling. 

Bishop Milton Wright and Susan Catharine Wright had four sons,Reuchlin, Lorin, Wilbur, and Orville, and one daughter Katharine. Wilbur, their third son, was born on a small farm near Millville, Indiana April 16, 1867, while Orville and later Katharine were born at 7 Hawthorn Street in Dayton. 

Bishop Wright moved frequently, though the house on 7, Hawthorn Street remained long in the family's possession. The Wright household was a stimulating place for the children. Orville wrote of his childhood. We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests, to investigate whatever aroused curiosity. The house had two libraries books on theology were kept in the bishop's study, while the downstairs library had a large and diverse collection. Although Bishop Wright was a firm disciplinarian. both parents were loving and the family was a  close one.  

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The invention of the aiplane by Wilbur and Orille Wright is one of the great stories in human history. Since time immemorial, man had wanted to fly. Mankind couldn't achieve in a thousand years what two modest brothers of Dayton, Ohio accomplished. 

The story of the Wright Brothers is about the creation of a world changing technology at the opening of an exciting new century, an era full of promise and confidence in the future. At the center of the tale are two talented, yet modest, Midwestern bicycle shop proprietors, whose inventive labors and achievement transformed them from respected small town businessmen into international celebrities. 

The influence of their invention on the 20th century is beyond measure. The transport by air of goods and people, quickly and over great distances, and the military applications of flight technology, have had global economic, geopolitical,and cultural impact.