Today the airplane is part of everyday life, whether we see one gracefully winging overhead, fly in one, or receive someone or something (package, letter, etc.) that was delivered by one. The invention and development of the airplane is arguably one of the three most important technical developments of the twentieth century—the other two being the electronics revolution and the unleashing of the power of the atom.

The first practical airplane was invented by Orville and Wilbur Wright, two bicycle shop proprietors from Dayton, Ohio. On December 17, 1903, the Wright Flyer lifted from the sand of Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and with Orville at the controls, flew a distance of 120 ft above the ground, staying in the air for 12 sec. It was the first successful, sustained flight of a heavier-than-air piloted airplane. The photograph of the Flyer as it is lifting off the ground...