Airplane

On 17 December 1903 at Kitty Hawk, Orville Wright flies a powered, controlled, heavier-than-air machine for 12 seconds. The distance is 120 feet. The control is the point. Gliders and powered hops existed. The Wrights had a way to steer in three axes, worked out in a wind tunnel and on gliders.

The contribution is flight you can aim. Within a little more than a decade, aircraft fight in a war. Within a few decades they carry passengers. A plane needs the light engine from the car era, a propeller, and the control system. It does not need a computer. Later aircraft do, because stability and navigation outgrow the pilot's hands.

The 1903 flight is easy to over-read. It did not create airlines. It showed the machine could leave the ground under power and come back without crashing as a principle. The engineering after that is most of the work.

Claims of earlier powered hops, such as Ader in France, are real disputes. The Wrights are the ones who published control that others could develop.