A Practical Machine: The Wright Brothers in Dayton
Orville and Wilbur Wright wanted to create a practical machine—not a novelty or a gimmick—and they accomplished that at Ohio’s Huffman Prairie on October 5, 1905.
Convincing Peasants to Fly in the Soviet Union
With air-minded films, poems, and demonstrations, Soviet leaders sought to lift peasants out of their “backward” lives and into the world of the modern proletariat.
The Wright Brothers: Babysitters Extraordinaire
Wilbur and Orville Wright may not have been “first in flight,” but they were first in taking care of their nieces and nephews on the weekends.
Fly Me to Cuba, Said the American Hijackers
The first diplomatic agreement between the US and Castro's Cuba was to stop Americans from committing "skyjackings."
Bomber Plane or the Loch Ness Monster?
A Vickers Wellington plane was submerged for decades in the Loch Ness, till a group of Nessie hunters stumbled across mysterious sonar readings.
Will You Ever Fly in a Plane Propelled by Plants and Seeds?
Airlines have already flown planes fueled with biofuel-petroleum mixes, and more are coming.
Why Can’t the TSA Just Go on Strike?
The post-9/11 expansion of federal powers over transportation security was also an extension of power over the security workforce.
The Problems with Supersonic Flight
Supersonic aircrafts are much faster than typical passenger planes. Unfortunately, there are some downsides.
The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Concorde
Once a major advancement in aircraft technology, the Concorde jet was retired in 2003.
The History of UFOs
UFOs are much older than the Cold War's flying saucers. These 1897 and 1909 sightings of flying machines were the talk of the town.