Wilbur and Orville were born to Bishop Milton Wright and Susan Catharine Wright, who had two other sons, Reuchlin and Lorin, and a daughter, Katharine.
The famous brothers founded the Wright Cycle Co in Dayton, Ohio, in 1892.
But they had bigger ambitions.
By the mid-1890s Wilbur was reading everything he could find on flight. And in 1899 they built their first flying machine -- a pilotless "kite" with a 5ft wingspan, and made of wood, wire and cloth.
The Wright Experience Team rolls out the replica of the 1903 Wright Brothers Flyer at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hill on December 16.
Photographs: Alex Wong/Getty Images