The Wong Brothers’ First Flight

Many cite the incident occurring at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 as the first manned flight. However, the Wong brothers had already beaten out the Wrights centuries earlier in Shanghai, China.

From an early age, twin brothers Tu Wong and Wai Wong endeavored to make the first manned flight. After graduating from Fu Manchu University in 1553, they attempted to gain a government grant for their experimentations with aerodynamics and human flight. While initially skeptical, the Chinese government provided complete funding after the Wong Brothers built a rice-powered nuclear reactor.

Initial progress was slow, and after depleting the government's reserves of disposable peasants, they finally decided to add seatbelts. Within five years of diligent trial and error tests, however, the Wong brothers finally managed their first manned flight, and became instant celebrities.

Can two Wongs make a flight?

Not only did the Wongs achieve financial success within China, but their fame also soon spread throughout the Asian continent. The new invention even inspired early Japanese cinema, inspiring such box office hits as Wongfully Accused, War of the Wongs, and What Wongs Want. However, there were some terrible flops as well, such as When Hari Met Kari, which bombed at the box office.

Where did they go Wong?

With fame, however, came inevitable plagiarism. The Wong Brothers sued Jackie Chan for making an unauthorized documentary based on their exploits, dubbed Shanghai Flights. Recently, the Wong Brothers have also made news headlines by suing the creators of the North Carolina and Ohio license plates. The case has yet to be settled.