| On December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the worlds first successful flight in a heavier-than-air craft under power and control. This aircraft was built with a 12hp engine and propellers that rotated in opposite directions. This aircraft had two wings, one over the other, making it a biplane. The biplane had a 40.3-foot span; 510 sq-foot area; 48 sq-foot double horizontal front rudder; 21 sq-foot twin movable vertical rear rudders; 21.1-foot overall length; and weighed 605 lb. The right wing was 4 inches longer to compensate for the extra weight of the engine. The longest flight, (made by Wilbur), went a distance of 852 feet in 59 sec. The next year the Wright's made 105 flights, with the longest lasting more than five minutes. Soon after, they made their best flight which went 24.2 miles in 38 minutes. In 1908, Orville Wright demonstrated the flyer for the Army Signal Corps at Fort Myer, Virginia. On September 9, Orville completed the first flight that was longer than an hour. Orville took Lieutenant Thomas E. Lahm on a flight and he became the first passenger to fly on an airplane. On September 17, 1908, Orville was carrying passenger Lieutenant Thomas E. Seffridge when his plane crashed. Lieutenant Seffridge died hours later from a concussion, and became the first person to die in a powered airplane. Wilbur went to France that year and completed a flight of over two hours and twenty minutes. After recovering from his injuries, Orville resumed demonstrations for the Signal Corps. The Wright's airplane was purchased on August 2 by the army, becoming the first successful military airplane. It remained in service for about two years.
Another important person in aviation history was Glen Hammond Curtiss, of Hammondsport, New York. He made his first solo flight on June 28, 1907, in a airplane built by Thomas Baldwin. The following May, Curtis flew in a plane that was built by a group called The Aerial Experiment Association. Members of this group included Alexander Grahm Bell, and Curtiss himself. On July 4, 1908, Curtiss flew a distance of 5090 ft. in 1 min. 42.5 sec. in an airplane called "The June Bug". For this flight, Curtiss won the Scientific American Trophy, which was the first American award given for a flight. On August 28, 1909, in Relms, France, Curtiss won the first international speed event, for flying at 47 m.p.h. On May 29, 1910, he won the New York World prize of $10,000 for the first flight from Albany, New York to New York City. In January of 1911, he became the first American to develop and fly a seaplane.
The first transportation of mail by airplane by the U.S. Post Office began on September 23, 1911. The flight began at the Nassau Boulevard Air Meet, Long Island, New York. The pilot was Earie Ovington who carried the mail to Mineola, Long Island, where he tossed it overboard to be picked up and taken to the Post Office. The flight was only about 5 miles long, and this service only continued for about a week.
In 1911 the first transcontinental flight across the United States was completed by American Pilot Calbraith P. Rodgers. This flight started in New York City and went to Long Beach, California. The entire trip took 84 days, but the actual flying time was 3 days 10 hours and 14 minutes.
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