Orville Wright Bequeaths the "Wright Flyer" to SI

Upon the death of Orville Wright on January 30, 1948, the Smithsonian's U.S. National Museum learns that Orville Wright had instructed that the original Wright Flyer, the first aircraft capable of flight carrying a man under its own power, which first flew on 17 December 1903, should be donated to the National Museum.  This donation ends a long dispute between the Wright Brothers and the Smithsonian over the first machine capable of flight.