# Dec 17, 1903 - Dec 17, 2003 -- 100 Years of Powered, Heavier than Air Flight **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485 "2003-12-17T06:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/1 "2003-12-17T06:37:00Z")
100 Years on December 17th. For 100 Years, we’ve been flying heavier than air craft. Just 100 years. Personally, I’m still awestruck at the leaps in technologies that happened in the past 100 years. We’ve gone through two World Wars. Developed vaccines to eliminate worldwide illnesses (like smallpox). Split the atom, for good and bad. Discovered DNA. Al Gore “invented” the Internet. And we put people on the lunar surface. Hey, for me it’s not just the anniversary of heavier-than-air powered flight. It seems like the dawn of an age of something bigger. . . Call me sentimental. 😃 Tripler Orville and Wilbur, I raise a toast to you. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/2 "2003-12-17T06:54:57Z")
As a member of Civil Air Patrol, in New York wings Nation Cadet Competition Team I was forced to learn that on 17 December 1903, at 1035am Orville Wright flew took off at Kitty Hawk North Carolina in Man’s first powered, sustained heavier then air flight. He was airborne for 12 seconds, and traveled a distance of 120 feet until the craft came to rest in the sand on its skids, which were the landing gear for the world first airplane. And until this very moment, I never had a use for such information 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/3 "2003-12-17T07:12:20Z")
Ah, is that what’s up with [Google](http://www.google.ca)? I’d been wondering about that… ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/4 "2003-12-17T07:15:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flamsterette\_X \* > \*\*Ah, is that what’s up with [Google](http://www.google.ca)? I’d been wondering about that… \*\* Seems to be a tribute! I didn’t notice that earlier. . . Tripler But then again, [FlugTag Chicago](http://www.redbullflugtagchicago.com/) ain’t 100 years old yet. ---
**Author:** ![lurksfromwork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@lurksfromwork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurksfromwork)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/5 "2003-12-17T07:22:03Z")
Mmmmm…spitfire!! Mmmmm… Avro lancaster!! Woo Hoo…Mmmmmustang! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/6 "2003-12-17T07:34:06Z")
I can remember when the _Today_ show did a tribute to 50 years of flight. Remembering just made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Like so many visitors to Kitty Hawk, a couple of years ago I walked the distance “they” flew, and then looked up to watch contrails. Heady stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/7 "2003-12-17T13:21:01Z")
Just want to add my “HOORAH!!” What a completely stunning 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/8 "2003-12-17T15:32:59Z")
A newspaper’s front page from the period: [http://www.theonion.com/3949/history.html](http://www.theonion.com/3949/history.html) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/9 "2003-12-17T16:04:50Z")
Funny. I’ve been looking forward to this day since the bicentennial of human flight back in the 1983. Now that it’s here, I don’t know how to mark the occasion. (I’m not current, out of work, and living in rainland, so going flying is out.) So I’ll raise my coffee mug to the brothers Wright. Well done, and Thank You! (Please note the sig. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/10 "2003-12-17T16:31:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tripler \* > \*\* > For 100 Years, we’ve been flying heavier than air craft. Just 100 years. Personally, I’m still awestruck at the leaps in technologies that happened in the past 100 years. We’ve gone through two World Wars. Developed vaccines to eliminate worldwide illnesses (like smallpox). Split the atom, for good and bad. Discovered DNA. Al Gore “invented” the Internet. And we put people on the lunar surface. \*\* What I find most astonishing is that the leap from the Wright bros to a man on the moon took place **in a single human lifespan**. There were people who lived when many thought man would NEVER fly in a heavier than air craft, who saw Neil Armstrong walk on the lunar surface. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/11 "2003-12-17T16:39:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > Funny. I’ve been looking forward to this day since the bicentennial of human flight back in the 1983. Dammit, Johnny, how many times have I told you: _if you’re drunk, don’t time-travel!!_ ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/12 "2003-12-17T16:42:20Z")
This is pretty exciting, isn’t it? And in just over a year, we’ll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of modern physics. It’s an interesting time to be alive. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/13 "2003-12-17T16:49:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Dammit, Johnny, how many times have I told you: _if you’re drunk, don’t time-travel!!_ Ar? 😕 [sub]Sorry, not enough caffeine yet. Not sure what you’re referring to. Must drink more coffee…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/14 "2003-12-17T17:25:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\*Dammit, Johnny, how many times have I told you: _if you’re drunk, don’t time-travel!!_ \*\* I think **Johnny LA** was referring to the bicentennial of the Montgolfiers’ first balloon flight in 1783 (flight, just not powered heavier-than-air flight). ---
**Author:** ![Figaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@Figaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Figaro)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/15 "2003-12-17T18:31:50Z")
Count me in as amazed at the progress we’ve seen in this hundred years. The irony is that I’m now finishing up my flight training in a Cessna 152 - a design that goes back what, 50 years? It seems to me that general aviation is still fairly in touch with flying’s roots, whereas commercial and military flying are so far down the path of technology that it’s unrecognizable. GA still has a touch of magic in it. Strap into your buddy’s Aeronca Champ and buzz some trees… ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/16 "2003-12-17T18:42:29Z")
Ditto cold and rainy here as well, so no flying for me. Also, it would interfere with my RotK viewing tonight. 😉 Unfortunately it was also rainy down at Kitty Hawk today, putting a crimp in the plans to re-enact the Wright Brothers’ flight. Makes me wonder, what other major milestones might we be marking by re-enactment? **ultrafilter** how might we re-enact modern phyiscs? In 2045, will we celebrate Hiroshima by nuking something else? In 2069, will we re-film the moon landing in Nevada? 😃 Yeah, I guess I’m in a strange mood. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/17 "2003-12-17T18:51:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*What I find most astonishing is that the leap from the Wright bros to a man on the moon took place **in a single human lifespan**. > > There were people who lived when many thought man would NEVER fly in a heavier than air craft, who saw Neil Armstrong walk on the lunar surface. > > Amazing. \*\* What’s more amazing is that rocketry got off the ground twenty years later than the Wrights, leaving only about 40 years until we explored space! ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/18 "2003-12-17T19:04:55Z")
Hopefully by 2053, we will have achieved the invention of warp engines. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/19 "2003-12-17T19:16:10Z")
From the OP: > [@](#): > > For 100 Years, we’ve been flying heavier than air craft. Just 100 years. Actually, steam powered heavier-than-air flight of an aeroplane has been around since 1848, and powered helicopter flight even longer than that. See my Teemings article at [http://www.teemings.com/issue15/calmeacham.html](http://www.teemings.com/issue15/calmeacham.html) I don’t think anyone questions Stringfellow’s accomplishment (unlike a great many other claimants to early flight). What the Wright brothers gave us was _controlled, human-bearing_ powered heavier-than-air flight. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485/20 "2003-12-18T01:08:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*What I find most astonishing is that the leap from the Wright bros to a man on the moon took place **in a single human lifespan**. > > There were people who lived when many thought man would NEVER fly in a heavier than air craft, who saw Neil Armstrong walk on the lunar surface. > > Amazing. \*\* And I’m seconding **Revtim**! That, and I say this with the marvel of the technology (I hope to God it never happens) that we can put a “parcel” on target halfway around the world in a half-hour or so (ICBMs and such). And this technology was being developed within the lifetime of anyone who was a middle aged adult during the Wright brother’s flight. Man, what 100 years does. 😃 Tripler And to think, about 100 or so from now, we’re supposed to develop Warp drive. Wow! :eek: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dec-17-1903-dec-17-2003-100-years-of-powered-heavier-than-air-flight/219485.md?page=2)