Wright Glider The Wright brothers designed , built and flew a series of three manned glider s in 1900 – 1902 as they worked towards achieving powered flight . They also made preliminary tests with a kite in 1899 . In 1911 Orville conducted tests with a much more sophisticated glider . Neither the kite nor any of the gliders was preserved , but replicas of all have been built . 1899 kite . The 1899 kite , which Wilbur flew near his home in Dayton , Ohio had a wingspan of only 5 feet ( 1 . 5 m ) . This pine wood and shellacked craft , although too small to carry a pilot , tested the concept of wing - warping for roll control that would prove essential to the brothers ' solving the problem of controlled flight . The Wrights burned the craft along with other trash in 1905 . 1900 glider . The 1900 Wright Glider was the brothers ' first to be capable of carrying a man . Its overall structure was based on Octave Chanute ' s two - surface glider of 1896 . Its wing airfoil was derived from Otto Lilienthal ' s published tables of aerodynamic lift . The glider was designed with wing - warping capability for full - size testing of the concept first tried on the 1899 Wright Kite . The glider was first flown as an unmanned kite on October 5 , 1900 near Kitty Hawk , North Carolina . Next , Wilbur rode as pilot while men on the ground held tether ropes attached to the airborne craft . Subsequently , Wilbur made about a dozen free flights on a single day , concluding the season ' s test efforts . The brothers abandoned the glider when they broke camp on 23 October , and it eventually disappeared in the region ' s severe storms . The fabric covering of the wing components were given to the wife of helper Bill Tate , who ' s family Wilbur first stayed with at Kitty Hawk in 1900 . Mrs . Tate allegedly used the material to make dresses for her daughters . 1901 glider . The 1901 Wright Glider was the second of the brothers ' experimental gliders . They tested it over the Kill Devil Hills , four miles south of Kitty Hawk . The glider was similar to the 1900 version , but had larger wings . It first flew on July 27 , 1901 , and was retired on August 17 . During this time it made between 50 and 100 free flights , in addition to tethered flights as a kite . The wing ribs flexed under the weight of the pilot , distorting the airfoil shapes of the wings . The brothers fixed the trouble , but the wings still produced much less lift than expected , and wing - warping sometimes made the glider turn opposite the intended direction . After testing concluded , the brothers stored the glider in their camp shed . The shed and glider were badly damaged later by windstorms . The wing uprights were salvaged for the 1902 Glider , but the rest was abandoned . As a result of lift and " drift " ( drag ) measurements taken with the tethered glider , the brothers concluded that Lilienthal ' s data were inaccurate . Upon returning to Dayton , they designed and built a small wind tunnel to collect their own data . 1902 glider . The 1902 Wright Glider was the third free - flight glider built by the brothers . This was their first glider to incorporate yaw control by use of a rear rudder , and its design led directly to the powered 1903 Wright Flyer . The brothers designed the 1902 glider during the winter of 1901 / 02 . The wing design was based on data from extensive tests of miniature airfoils in their homemade wind tunnel . They built the components of the glider in Dayton and completed assembly at their Kill Devil Hills camp in September 1902 . Flights took place between 19 September and 24 October . The new rear rudder improved turning control , but several times the pilot was unable to stop turning and collided with the ground . The brothers decided to make the rear rudder steerable to solve the problem . With this modification , they achieved true control and made between 700 and 1000 glides ( as estimated by the brothers , who did not keep detailed records ) . The longest glide was measured and timed at 622 . 5 ft ( 189 . 7 m ) in 26 seconds . In September 1903 they brought the 1902 glider out of storage and made over 200 glides to hone their piloting skills while preparing the powered " Flyer " . One of their photographs shows they installed a second vertical fin as part of the steerable rear rudder , matching the original design and also that of the powered Flyer ' s twin rear rudder . The glider was last flown in November 1903 . After their successful powered flights , they put the glider back in storage at camp before returning home for Christmas . When they next visited Kitty Hawk in 1908 to test their improved " Flyer III " , Outer Banks weather had taken its toll : the storage shed and glider inside were wrecked . Today a salvaged piece of wingtip from the 1902 Glider is preserved at the National Air and Space Museum a few feet from the 1903 Wright Flyer . 1911 glider . In 1911 Orville Wright returned to the Kill Devil Hills with a new glider , accompanied by his English friend Alec Ogilvie . Orville intended to test an automatic control system on the glider , but did not because of the presence of reporters ( he eventually perfected the system in a powered airplane in 1913 ) . The glider had what is now considered a ' conventional tailplane ' rather than the front mounted elevator . The pilot also was seated with hand controls , rather than lying prone in a cradle , as with the original gliders . In a 65 km / h ( 40 mph ) wind on October 24 , 1911 , Orville soared above Kill Devil Hill for 9 minutes 45 seconds , breaking the brothers ' previous record of 1 minute 12 seconds set in 1903 with the 1902 glider . The new record stood for ten years , until broken in Germany . Replicas . A number of replicas of the gliders exist . Wright brothers historian Rick Young of Richmond , Virginia has built 9 accurate working replicas of all of the Wright gliders and the 1903 Flyer . Young ' s 1902 gliders have appeared in numerous films and television documentaries , including a 1986 IMAX film " On the Wing " . One of his 1902 replicas is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum ' s Wright Brothers gallery . The Virginia Aviation Museum at Richmond International Airport is home to the Wright 1899 Kite , the 1900 , 1901 and 1902 gliders and the 1903 Flyer , all built by Young . In 2011 , Young researched and built a Wright 1911 glider replica that was displayed during the Soaring 100 event at the Wright Brothers National Monument to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Orville Wright ' s record - setting glide . A replica of the 1902 glider is on display at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park in Dayton Ohio . Another replica of the 1902 glider is also on display at the U . S . National Soaring Museum in Elmira , New York . Another replica , a half - scale model , is on display at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver , Colorado . A team led by Nick Engler of the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company has also built replicas of all three gliders . A replica of the 1911 glider was built by Ernest Schweizer for the 75th anniversary of Orville ' s soaring flight . It has hung in the National Soaring Museum , Elmira NY since 1986 .