You have the 'nexus' where the Wright Brothers, back-story in bicycle repair & building, had that passion for powered flight. They built their own mini wind-tunnel and aero-foil comparison system from bicycle-grade tech, incidentally proving prior wing theory and design were wrong, wrong, wrong.
Crucially, they had a very, very ingenious engineer who 'evolved' a remarkable I/C engine. His contribution was singular as he some-how squeezed enough power/weight out of the tech to 'enable' the famous brothers' later air-craft designs.
IIRC, his route to that engine is poorly documented...
Also, the brothers had the wit and local knowledge to work at a location where seasonal weather provided enough 'free' wind that they could experiment with sub-scale kited gliders while riddling the rest of the tech.
Don't forget there were a bunch of other people playing with flight. There'd been man-carrier kites for some time. The ground-breaking German glider guy who later 'ate a hill'. The Big Science team who built a steam-powered monster which, technically, flew but certainly crashed. etc etc.