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"In 1901 my brother Wilbur and I, having proved by actual gliding tests the inaccuracy of these tables, began a scientific study of the subject. We designed new tables of measuring instruments and made measurements of hundreds of differing wing surfaces in a wind tunnel. It was due to the accuracy of these measurements that we were able, in 1903, to design a new type of biplane, almost entirely from calculation, which was able to lift itself and operator in the air with a crude motor weighing more than twelve pounds per horsepower. We had already developed a new system of control, the system with which our name has been so largely connected, but this system of control would have been of little use without our wind tunnel work which enabled us to design a machine which would lift itself.
"The longest flight on Dec. 17, 1903, was fifty-nine seconds duration at a speed of 30 miles an hour. Today continuous flights of more than 24 hours have been made and speeds in excess of 175 miles an hour reached. Many laboratories in all countries are now at work in this field of science. Who then will Attempt to predict what airplanes can do at the end of another eighteen years?"
Read a facinating account of airplane design testing at the turn of the century: Windtunnel.pdf
You can operate the Wright Flyer's control surfaces with the actual controls in the picture below. (scroll down)