International Context The Airplane!

Louis Blériot in his monoplane
Louis Blériot in his monoplane
the Blériot XI, 1909
Courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum


On December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first flight in a machine that they had invented. This was the first time an engine-propelled airplane had been flown, and it successfully covered a distance of 40 metres.

Though, at first, it was seen as nothing more than a curiosity, the airplane later proved to be the invention of the century. It revolutionized means of transportation and communication, and its possibilities as a mail carrier were soon recognized.

Avion
Name of the aircraft invented by Clément Ader, a French engineer, who flew his model plane, Éole, on October 9, 1890. "Avion" comes from the Latin word avis. meaning bird.
Petit Robert


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