WRIGHT ORVILLE: (1871-1948) American Aviator who, with his brother Wilber, invented and built the world's first successful airplane, making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on 17th December 1903.

D.S., Orville Wright, being a signed cheque, Dayton, Ohio, 14th July 1917. The partially printed cheque, completed in another hand, is drawn on The Winters National Bank and is made payable to The Dayton Gas Company for the sum of $6.80. A perforated bank cancellation only very slightly touches the first letter of Wright's signature. The cheque has been attractively contained within a large reproduction image depicting the first flight of the Wright Flyer I in North Carolina on 17th December 1903. Orville Wright can be seen piloting the machine as his brother Wilbur runs alongside. Also contained within the display is a small 0.5 x 1 swatch of pale beige fabric, apparently taken from the original Wright Flyer I. Framed and glazed to an overall size of 22 x 18. VG

Orville Wright, along with his brother Wilbur, were the inventors of the world's first successful airplane, conducting their first controlled flight of a power driven airplane in 1903. They subsequently became successful businessmen, filling contracts for airplanes in both the United States and Europe. Orville Wright is also known for developing technology for the US Army and spent the last three decades of his life serving on boards and committees related to aeronautics, including the predecessor to NASA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Orville & Wilbur Wright are together considered the 'fathers of modern aviation'.