Alexander Graham Bell
was born in Scotland and lived in Canada before
eventually becoming an American. Although Bell is best known for
inventing the telephone, he also had a keen interest in the
science of flight. He and the rest of the
Aerial Experiment
Association built the first powered aircraft in Canada: the
Silver Dart.
Bell had cultivated a friendship with Samuel Pierpont
Langley, the American developer of a steam-powered model
aircraft which Bell had witnessed flying in May 1896. Impressed
with what he had seen, Bell continued his own work with kites, and
published the paper, "Kites with Radial Wings," in National
Academy of Science magazine. The Wright Brothers later used
this paper during the development of their own flyer at Kitty
Hawk.
On 8 December 1903, Langley attempted flight with a larger
version of his steam-powered aircraft. He launched his "Great
Aerodrome" from a short runway on the top of a houseboat
floating in the Potomac. The crowd watched as the craft failed
to attain sufficient speed on its take-off and plunged into the
river.
Just over a week later on 17 December, Wilbur and Orville
Wright successfully completed the first manned, powered flight
at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
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