Orville Wright (1871-1948) Inventor. Wright, together with his brother Wilbur, were the inventors of the world's first successful airplane. Orville became famous as a father of modern aviation and developed technology for the United States Army and Clarence Chamberlain (1893-1976) Aviators. Chamberlain was the second man to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the first transatlantic passenger. Air Mail postal cover, cancelled on December 17, 1928, “From The Cleveland Airport…in Commemoration of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the First Successful Airplane Flight,” signed by both aviators.