On December 17th, 1903, at Kittyhawk in Nth Carolina, two brothers made the first* powered flight in recorded history and changed the world.
In just under a year from now, it will be 100 years exactly since that achievement - so is there going to be any celebration of this in any grand and exciting way? Or will the centenary pass rather insignificantly?
It’s amazing to think that only 100 years has passed, and so much progress in flight technologies have advanced since then - achievements and ‘miracles’ never dreamed of are now daily occurrences, and all developed basically within a few decades of the Wright Brothers’ achievements. Amazing!
I hope there’ll be some excellent documentaries made, maybe even a feature film, in recognition of the centenary.
*Technically, Richard Pearse did it first in New Zealand, many many months before, but even he acknowledged he didn’t set the world alight with possibility, and so figured it didn’t really count
Here in America, there are several whoop-de-doos being planned, including the flight of at least one replica of the original Wright Flyer (if they can find someone who can fly it without crashing - simulator training has not been going well, which could explain the short length of the initial flights in 1903).
Those in aviation will be marking the anniversary - whether anyone else cares, I don’t know.
We have discovered a fault line which extends thru much of NC. At a pre-determined time, the entire population of Ohio will jump into the air in a remote spot known only to a few. The resulting thud will cause NC to break away from the mainland and drift out to sea.
I presume there will be all sorts of cool things at AirVenture (aka EAA aka Oshkosh) I hope to make it, tho my source of free tickets will probably not be able to get them this year.
I always found it phenomenal there was such a short period of time between the Wright Bros and man on the moon. Only 66 years!!! Some people who saw the moon landing actually grew up thinking man would never fly! Incredible.
Unless we get warp drive in my lifetime, I can’t even imagine such an incredible jump.