Two bicycle mechanics achieved the first powered flight, and almost nobody noticed

On 17 December 1903, Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer 120 feet near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, staying airborne 12 seconds — the first sustained, controlled flight of a powered heavier-than-air aircraft. Only five witnesses were present, and most newspapers ignored the news for days. Within five years the Wright brothers were demonstrating flights of over an hour to crowds in Europe and the US.

— Orville and Wilbur Wright, Wright Flyer — Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 17 December 1903