Which Wright brother was born first, Wilbur or Orville?

Wilbur Wright was born first, on April 16, 1867, making him older than Orville Wright.

Orville was born on August 19, 1871, more than four years after Wilbur. The brothers were two of the seven children of Milton Wright and Susan Catherine Koerner Wright, and they developed their aviation partnership while working together in Dayton, Ohio.

Wilbur often took the lead in correspondence, research, and public demonstrations, while Orville contributed equally to experimentation, construction, and piloting. Their close collaboration can make it easy to treat them as indistinguishable in historical summaries, but their birth dates clearly establish Wilbur as the elder brother.

Wilbur died in 1912 at age 45, while Orville lived until 1948. Their younger sister Katharine also played an important role in supporting the family and helping manage the brothers’ public affairs, especially during their European demonstrations.