The Montgolfier brothers preceded the Wright brothers in human flight by 100 years. Cayley had essentially already invented the modern aeroplane by 1799, and wa

The Montgolfier brothers preceded the Wright brothers in human flight by 100 years. Cayley had essentially already invented the modern aeroplane by 1799, and was flying gliders by 1804. Trevithick patented the screw propeller in 1815 (although the concept was known in Antiquity). Otto invented the internal combustion engine necessary to power it in 1876. Still, plenty of people were skeptical that powered heavier-than-air flight could be achieved. The Wright brothers deserve the credit for putting all the pieces together, getting the controls to work, and managing not to kill themselves like countless other early aviators. It probably helped that they were from Ohio which is flat. Their bicycle shop was successful, and the brothers used both profits and spare parts in service of their prototype: the controls involved bicycle spokes, and steering used a handlebar. They were decent engineers. I believe they created their combustion engine using not much more than hand tools and a lathe.