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At 10:35 a.m. on December 17, 1903 the world's first successful airplane known as the Flyer I accelerated along its launching rail and flew through the air. Twelve seconds later it landed 100 yards away on the soft sand at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The pilot Orville and his brother Wilbur had experimented for four years with kites and engines to make the first successful flight ever.
The brothers had made their own engine that weighed 200 pounds and had four cylinders. It could make 12 horse power, a sixth of the engine power of a small car. It had no seat and the pilot had to lay in a cradle in the bottom wing.
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The Wright brothers continued to perfect their plane and it was in a Wright biplane that the first transcontinental flight was made by Calbraith P. Rodgers, in 1911.
The key to their success was to learn how to control the plane. How were they able to accomplish this task? Try some experiments of your own.
In 1914 World War I broke out. At first planes were used mostly for reconnaissance, but later planes developed into biplane and triplane fighters and bombers. Experiments were done with even more sets of wings, but most failed. The main fighters of the war were the British Sopwith "Camel," its cousin, "The Snipe," and the famous German Fokker Df.I which was flown by the infamous Red Baron. Aerial tactics and strategies were developed during the middle of the war. Germany developed many fighter tactics that are still in modified use today. The compass was an important instrument to these early fighters. How do they work? How has the technology changed over the decades?
Try an experiment on your own.
After the war General Billy Mitchell became an advocate for military aviation. He and his pilots achieved many firsts in the field of aviation during these golden years. But the Europeans were leading the race in commercial flight. It wasn't until Ralph Pulitzer offered a trophy to promote high-speed flight and began a national craze for air races that the American public began to take notice.
In 1918, the Post Office Department started airmail service in the United States. The first Mailwing was built by Pitcairn Aviation, Inc. In 1926, Congress passed the Air Commerce Act. This established an Aeronautics Branch within the Department of Commerce. They were authorized to license planes and pilots and provide standards for commercial flight. And in 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first transatlantic flight. He instantly became a world hero.
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1928.
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