 |
 The
Wright Brothers began testing
gliders in 1900. On December 17, 1903, at Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina, they became the first men
to successfully pilot a powered flying machine. |
 The Concorde
was the first, and to date only, supersonic
passenger jet. It was developed by French and
British companies, and was in service from 1976
to 2003. In addition to being supersonic, the
Concorde is also the only passenger jet to date
to have a "titlting nose," which was
lowered during take-offs and landings so the
flight crew could see the runway. |
 Albin
Kasper Longren built
an airplane from scratch, with no blueprints,
instruction manual, or even a picture to go by.
On September 1, 1911, his Topeka I
became the first Kansas-made plane to
successfully take to the air. |
 Travel
Air Manufacturing Company was formed
in Wichita, Kansas, by Walter Beech, Lloyd
Stearman and Clyde Cessna in January 1925. What
set Travel Air apart from many of its competitors
was that it offered its customers a choice of
almost twenty different engines and a variety of
wing designs that could be combined to produce a
plane specific to the customer's needs. |
 Air
Force One Officially, "Air
Force One" is the call sign of any Air Force
aircraft carrying the President of the United
States, but in common use "Air Force
One" refers to one of two highly modified
Boeing 747-200B series aircraft, which carry the
tail codes 28000 and 29000. The Air Force
designation for the aircraft is VC-25A. |
 Soichiro Honda
began manufacturing piston rings in 1936. He
began manufacturing motorcycles in 1948, and by
1952 Honda accounted for 70% of Japan's
motorcycle production. He began manufacturing
automobiles in the early 1960's, and Honda race
cars were winning races by 1965. |
 Alberto
Santos-Dumont claimed a record for
making the first dirigible flight around the
Eiffel Tower in 1901. He made his first
heavier-than-air flight in 1906, and in so doing
became the first man to fly a heavier-than-air
craft in Europe. In 1909 he developed what is now
considered the world's first ultralight aircraft,
the plans for which he offered to the public free
of charge. |
 The Saturn Rocket
evolved from the idea of clustering a number of
Jupiter engines around Redstone and Jupiter
propellant tanks to build a large launch vehicle.
The first Saturn rocket was used to lift an
Apollo capsule into low orbit on October 27,
1961. A total of 32 Saturns were launched during
the course of the program, without a single
failure. |
