From 1903 to today, its remarkable how far aviation has come. On December 17, 1903, at 10:35 a.m., the Wright brothers' (Orville at the controls) made the first heavier-than-air, machine powered flight which lasted 12 seconds and spanned 120 feet. The first manned flight in history: December 17, 1903. At 10:35 a.m. The distance covered was 120 feet, time aloft was 12 seconds.

   Their first flight was 102 feet short of the wingspan of the C-5 Galaxy today, yet they did what every man and woman has dreamed for centuries. . . they flew. Yet, not all flights were victorious, on September 17, their aircraft crashed, injuring Orville and his passenger (Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge). Selfridge later died of a concussion and was the first person to be killed in a powered airplane. Yet the show went on and Wilbur went to France in August 1908, and on December 31, 1908, he completed a 2 hour 20 minute flight which demonstrated full control over his Flyer. The Flyer was purchased on August 2 and became the first successful military airplane. It remained in service for around two years and was retired to the Smithsonian Institution where it rests today.

   Well-known in the aviation field by this time, Glenn Hammond Curtiss won the first American award, the Scientific American Trophy, for an airplane flight when he flew the 'June Bug' 5090 ft (1552m) in 1 min 42.5 sec on July 4, 1908. Curtiss also went on to win the first international speed event, at about 47mph (75.6 km/h), on August 28, 1910. He also became the first American to develop and fly a seaplane -- the first successful seaplane flight having been done by Henri Fabre of France on March 28, 1910.

   Before World War I, airplane design greatly improved. Pusher biplanes (two-winged airplanes with the engine and propeller behind the wing) were succeeded by tractor biplanes (two-winged airplanes with the engine and propeller in front of the wing). Monoplane designs were rare, and when World War I began, huge biplane bombers with two to four engines were developed. Airmail was also started, although it only lasted a week. The first airmail officially approved by the U.S. Post Office Department began on September 23, 1911, and the pilot (Earle Ovington) would carry the mail on his legs and tossed the bag overboard when he reached his destination. Also in 1911, the first transcontinental flight across the U.S. was completed by Calbraith P. Rodgers. His flight from New York to California took 3 days, 10 hours, and 14 minutes, and was by a Wright aircraft.