8. First Flyer‘s Final Flight

Jamie Beckett

Wednesday, August 24, 2022 at 09:26 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Orville Wright, the first person to fly a powered aircraft, made his final literal flight as a passenger with Howard Hughes in 1944 at the age of 73.
He passed away four years later in 1948 at the age of 77 due to a heart attack.
His brother, Wilbur Wright, had died much earlier in 1912 from typhoid fever.

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In 1944, the first person to fly a powered heavier-than-air craft made one last flight, hopping a ride with Howard Hughes aboard a Lockheed Constellation. Orville Wright was 73 years old. (His brother Wilbur had died in 1912 of typhoid fever.) Four years after his literal final sortie, Orville took his figurative last flight, dying of a heart attack at the age of 77.