Innovation in History: Impact and Change: The Airplane

Historical Perspective / Context


First US Patent on the Wrights' glider

Picture
(Aerofiles.com/chrono.html)
The Wright brothers applied for their first US Patent on March, 23, 1903, for their 1902 glider. It was given in 1906. 


Left: the glider that the patent was applied for. 

First manned, controlled flight

December 17, 1903 was the first manned, controlled, and powered flight, by Orville and Wilbur Wright. 

First passenger flight

On May 14, 1908, Wilbur Wright took along Charles Furnas in a flight to check an airplane before government delivery.

First commercial flight school

On March 19, 1910, Orville Wright opened the first Wright Flying School in Montgomery, AL. 

First gun fired from an airplane

"Aug 20, 1910 - Two shots were fired from a Curtiss biplane at a ground target with a rifle by Lt Jacob A Fickel at Sheepshead Bay NY." - Aerofiles Aviation Timeline

Army aviation section created

"July 18, 1914 - As part of the Army Signal Corps. Strength: 60 officers and cadets, 260 enlisted men. It existed until May 20, 1918." - Aerofiles Aviation Timeline

All these events surrounding the creation and successful testing of the airplane lead up to the eventual use of airplanes in World War I, and later World War II. On April 14, 1918, two German planes were shot down by Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow, one of the first recorded uses of airplane combat. Soon to follow, the National Air Mail Service was created, running from Washington DC to Philadelphia to New York, though not the first time the airplane had been used for mail. These events mark the start of a new society, ever progressing, with endless aviation possibilities ahead.