Existing comment:
Aviation 1902-1908
After perfecting their aircraft in 1905, the Wright brothers did not fly at all in 1906 and 1907, as they turned their attention to securing their patent and finding customers for their invention. Even before their success at Kitty Hawk in 1903, information about the Wrights' developments began to circulate among the aeronautical community and filter to Europe.
In 1906 and 1907, several Europeans made short, straight-line flights of comparable length to the Wrights' first powered flights. In North America, some notable successes were achieved by the Aerial Experiment Association. Formed by famed inventor Alexander Graham Bell in 1907, the A.E.A. built several powered aircraft, including the first airplane to fly in Canada, in 1909. The group included Glenn H. Curtiss, who went on to become the leading producer of aircraft in the United States before World War I. |