Today in History

[langeweile]

FIRST AIRPLANE FLIES:
December 17, 1903


Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

 

[stang]

Depends on who's version of history you believe.

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pearse1.html

 

[langeweile]

seems to be quiet a controversy.
It is the first time I have heard of it.
Thanks

 

[Galahad]

Well, the Wright Bros. obviously had a better PR firm working for them.

 

[strange1]

Either that or americans are louder.

(no offense intended)

 

[n_v]

Well, the Wright Bros. obviously had a better PR firm working for them.

Either that or americans are louder.

What's the difference?

 

[Esco!]

I had paper airplanes flying way before them

 

[banshie]

Who was the first ... often is controversial, and the commonly accepted individual is not always the true orginator. Some examples:

The Lightbulb

The Telephone

Calculus

The Discovery of the New World

 

[DonAngelo]

Dec 17th, 1979 Car Breaks Sound Barrier

Driver Stan Barrett became the first person in the world to travel faster than sound on land. He drove the Budweiser Rocket car at a top speed of 739.666 in a one-way run at Rogers Dry Lake, California. The ultrasonic speed set an unofficial record, but an official record requires trips in both directions, whose speeds are averaged.