"There is no sport in all the world quite equal to that which aviators enjoy while being carried through the air on great white wings."
— Wilbur Wright, 1905

In twelve brief seconds on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers accomplished what men had dreamed of for centuries. The world would never be the same again. Now the remarkable story of their tremendous achievement is compellingly told in words and in photographs — many taken by the brothers themselves. Aeronautics expert Fred Culick and author Spencer Dunmore bring a unique perspective to the book by providing, for the first time, a complete explanation of the complex aerodynamic forces that lifted the first manned and powered flight into the air. Although the Wright brothers triumphed at Kitty Hawk, the race to be the first in flight was truly an international one. And On Great White Wings also pays tribute to the other great air pioneers of the period — including Germany's Otto Lilienthal, whose gliders could lift off a hill and carry a man soaring aloft; France's Alphonse Pénaud, who developed propeller-driven model airplanes; and England's Sir George Cayley. Their stories and others come to life in this fascinating account of the first men to fly.