This is the original Wright Brothers Airplane, which was refurbished with new canvas in a 1985 restoration.
On Dec. 17, 1903, with Orville at the controls, the Flyer lifted off shakily from Kitty Hawk and flew 120 ft. — little more than half the wingspan of a Boeing 747-400. That 12-sec. flight changed the world, lifting it to new heights of freedom and giving mankind access to places it had never before dreamed of reaching. Although the Wright brothers' feat was to transform life in the 20th century, the next day only four newspapers in the U.S. carried news of their achievement — news that was widely dismissed as exaggerated.

Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, Milestones of Flight Gallery