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Those are the distances flown. Their take off rail was 60 feet total not sure if they noted their take off distance at the time, it's not mentioned in the accounts I've read but they're not super in depth.



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Wright_F...

They're well aloft before the end of that rail, in my most favorite photo of history.


Kitty Hawk was chosen because the strong consistent winds so definitely helped. I don't know about 20 feet though.


Even airplanes today always try to take off into the wind :-) An aircraft carrier will steam full blast into the wind when launching airplanes.

The Wright Flyer surely landed in less than 20 feet, too, as it just had a skid.




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