The World's First Practical Airplane

On 17 December 1903 the Wright Brothers successful completed the first manned, controlled and sustained flight in human history.

They made it 'just' 120 ft in that first attempt. From there, aeroplane technology took off at a pace. Only 16 years later came the first non-stop transatlantic flight, and just six years after that the first round-the-world flight touched down without stopping.

Today we revisit one of the most iconic and impactful invention stories with the help of Peter Jakub, Senior Curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

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