"By Presidential Proclamation, December 17th is Wright Brothers Day. Each year, a proclamation invites the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. The US Code directs that Wright Brothers Day commemorates the first successful flights in a heavier than air, mechanically propelled airplane. Orville and Wilbur Wright made that first successful flight on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. While other inventors created planes that flew, Orville and Wilbur invented the first mechanically propelled aeroplane. Those inventors who came before them inspired the Wright brothers in many ways, too." - National Day Calendar