Just 22 years later, December 17th 1935, the maturity of this combination of systems became apparent, with the first flight of the Douglas DC-3. An aircraft that used NACA’s wing sections and advanced structures, it made both money for airlines and military sense. 2/3

44 years after the Wrights, December 17th 1947, the first flight of the Boeing XB-47 established a configuration design for long range, load carrying aircraft that has not yet been beaten. Note that a key part of design, swept wings, were introduced only in May 1945. Awesome! 3/3

@AeroPaleo *outdoor manned powered flight. Henson & Stringfellow we’re first manned powered flight.

@comte_st Well, to be honest the Montgolfiers might want a word, depending on how loose the definition is.

@AeroPaleo The Wrights were the first to achieve powered, sustained and controlled flight, but not on Dec 17 1903. They did it in Sept/Oct 1905, with repeated flights as long as 39 minutes and returning to their take-off point.

@AeroPaleo In that pivotal moment, as Orv guided the Flyer down range for that first flight, I've always wondered what was going through Wil's mind. Satisfaction? Pride? Envy? Concern? A mix of all? I don't know that he ever talked about it.

@AeroPaleo The wrong brothers invented the catapult, nice.

@AeroPaleo They were brilliant systems folks in way Langley hadn’t figured out, etc

@AeroPaleo The flight during the 100th year celebration was a must...