Curators and historians from the National Air and Space Museum trace the history of flight, from humanity’s early aspirations for aerial transit, to 12 breathtaking seconds at Kitty Hawk, to the advances that came with global combat, and how jet engines and digital technology are opening a new future for aviation.
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After a century of awkward progress in aeronautics marked with missteps and failures of understanding, on December 17, 1903, the long-held goal of human, heavier-than-air, powered flight was realized, as the Wright Brothers took to the air at Kitty Hawk. The decade after the Wrights’ first flights saw the maturing of the airplane with advances in engine technology complementing improved airframes. Before the start of World War I in 1914, however, the airplane remained a rare sight for most people, flown by daredevils for whom death was still a common occurrence in these early machines.
Aviation historian Chris Moore explores how developments up to and including World War I set the stage for a revolution in aeronautics that would take place in the following decades, with the war-related increase in aircraft spurred not just the use of the aircraft as a weapon but also developments aimed at gaining advantage over the enemy. It also amplified Europe as the center of aeronautical innovation, surpassing development in the United States.
Additional Sessions of the History of Flight Series
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