The world has been utterly transformed by aviation over the last century-plus: communications, commerce, exploration, war—all have been immeasurably changed. The development of the unmanned drones that the behemoth retailer Amazon.com might soon use to delivery parcels to the doorsteps & balconies of consumers owes a direct debt to the pioneering work of the Wright bros. Manned spaceflight—astronautics—is a direct outgrowth of flight—aeronautics. Man from the planet Earth would never have set foot on the Moon in peace for all Mankind if not for the work of those who followed in the footsteps of the Wright bros.
The Wright bros. were not the first men to fly, that honor belongs to the balloonists, but it is the aeroplane, not the airship that changed the world. The Wright bros. were not the only men trying to conquer the air in those early days of the twentieth century, but to the victors go the spoils. The aeroplane has radically changed the world, & the first successful aeroplane, the Wright Flyer, flew at Kitty Hawk one hundred twelve years ago today.
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