Orville Wright was one of the Wright brothers, two American inventors and aviation pioneers who are credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. Orville was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1871 and was the younger brother of Wilbur Wright. Together, they designed and built the world's first powered airplane and made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903.