Why did he Wright brothers invent the airplane?

Answer 1

The Wright Brothers were only one group of many who were trying to invent a powered airplane, and all of them were inspired by Otto Lilienthal, a German inventor who created gliders and flew on them. (Lilienthal also helped to invent the Fatal Airplane Crash, but that is a story for another time.) Lilienthal had to take off from a hill, had to fly only as the wind allowed him to and could only fly short distances. All the airplane inventors realized that if the airplane was to be a useful tool rather than a fun toy you had to be able to go when, where and as far as you wanted...and that meant putting an engine on it.