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August 22, 1834
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Samuel Pierpont Langley born to Samuel Langley and Mary Sumner Williams Langley in
Roxbury Massachusetts.
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1843
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William Henson and John Stringfellow publish their design for the Aeriel, a
steam-powered "Aerial Steam Carriage".
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1845
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Langley begins to attend the Boston Latin School.
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1847
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Henson tests a model of his aircraft.
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1848
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Stringfellow and Henson build and test a steam powered model aircraft. It has a
wingspan of 10 ft (3.5 m), and it flies 40 meters (131 feet) before crashing into a wall.
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1849
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Sir George Cayley tests a towed triplane glider. In one test, it flies several
yards with a local boy as a passenger.
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1851
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Langley graduates from the Boston High School; begins work as an apprentice
with a Boston architect.
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c.1852 - 1864
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Langley works for architectural and engineering firms in St. Louis and Chicago.
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1853
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Cayley's coachman flies a glider across Brompton Dale, Yorkshire. The coachman
resigns his position after the flight.
Cayley conceives the rubber band-powered model airplane.
Michel Loup designs a powered twin propeller monoplane with a wheeled undercarriage.
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1853 - 1854
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L C. Letur tests his parachute-glider design. Letur is killed in a test flight in 1854.
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1855
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Joseph Pline coins the word "aeroplane" to describe a propeller-driven dirigible.
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1857
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Jean-Marie Le Bris, a sea captain inspired by the flight of the albatross, builds a
glider he names the Albatros Artificiel and makes two short hops, breaking his leg
in the second.
Félix du Temple, a French naval officer, flies a clockwork model aircraft - the
first sustained powered flights by a heavier-than-air machine.
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1862
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Gabriel de la Landelle coins the word aviation, and later, aviateur - aviator.
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1864
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Langley returns to Roxbury. He begins work, with his younger brother John, on a
five foot focal length telescope, which they complete over three years.
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1864 - 1865
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Samuel and John Langley tour Europe.
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c.1865
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Langley is hired as observatory assistant at the Harvard University Observatory,
Cambridge, MA.
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January, 1866
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The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain (later named the Royal Aeronautical
Society) is founded.
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c.1866
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Langley is hired as assistant professor of mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy,
Annapolis, Maryland. Duties include restoring the Academy's astronomical observatory
to operation.
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1867
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Langley is named professor of Astronomy and Physics at the Western University of
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh. Duties include directorship of the Allegheny Observatory.
His tenure at Allegheny will begin his work at the popularization of science through
lectures and writing newspaper and journal articles.
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1868
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Stringfellow builds a model triplane.
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1869
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Langley proposes a system of standard time distribution via the telegraph to
railroads and cities. The Pennsylvania Railroad signs on for the service.
Langley joins a U.S. Coast Survey expedition to Oakland, Kentucky, to observe
the August 7th solar eclipse. He observes later eclipses in 1870, 1878, and 1900.
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1870
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The Allegheny Observatory begins twice-daily time signals to the Pennsylvania
Railroad's offices. Other railroads, businesses, and government offices later
subscribe to the service. The income from the system aids the operation of the
Allegheny Observatory and Langley's research work.
Langley travels to Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, to observe a solar eclipse.
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1870
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Alphonse Pénaud designs his rubber-powered Hélicoptère.
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August 18, 1871
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Pénaud demonstrates his Planophore, a rubber-powered model, at the Tuileries,
Paris. It flies 40 meters (approximately 131 feet) in 11 seconds.
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1871
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Francis Wenham designs the first wind tunnel; it is built by John Browning.
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1873
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Langley makes a detailed drawing of a sun spot. Famous for its accuracy of
detail, the drawing is widely reproduced for many years.
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1876
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Pénaud and Paul Gauchot patent a design for an inherently stable
steam-powered full-sized airplane.
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1878
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Bishop Milton Wright presents a toy based on the Pénaud Hélicoptère
to two of his sons - eleven year old Wilbur and seven year old Orville.
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1879 - 1880
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Langley designs and builds his bolometer for the measurement of the energy of
incident electromagnetic radiation.
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1879
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Victor Tatin designs and flies a compressed air-powered seven foot long model.
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1881
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Langley organizes an expedition to Mount Whitney in California's Sierra
Nevada Range for solar observations and other scientific studies.
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1883
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Alexandre Goupil builds a bird-shaped unpowered airplane that briefly
lifts off in a tethered test while carrying two men.
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1884
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The U. S. Signal Service publishes Langley's report on the Mount Whitney expedition.
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1886
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Langley's interest in aeronautics is kindled by a paper on bird flight
by a Mr. Lancaster at a meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science in Buffalo, New York. Lancaster also describes
making small flying models which he describes as "floating planes"
and "effigies".
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1887
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Langley designs and builds his large whirling table at the Allegheny
Observatory for the study of aerodynamics; begins aeronautical experimental
work. He coins the term Aerodromics for the art of building flying machines
from the Greek aerodromoi, which he incorrectly translates as "air running".
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January 12, 1887
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Langley is appointed Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
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April, 1887
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Langley begins to build small Pénaud type rubber-powered flying models.
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November 18, 1887
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Langley is named Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution on the death
of Secretary Spencer F. Baird. He retains the directorship of the Allegheny
Observatory, dividing his time between Washington and Allegheny until 1891
when James E. Keeler becomes director of the observatory.
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1887
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Hiram Maxim, an American resident in Great Britain, inventor of the Maxim
machine gun, begins work on a large powered biplane test rig.
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1888
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Langley publishes The New Astronomy.
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1889
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The National Zoological Park is founded, due to Langley's interest. A site
in Washington's Rock Creek Park is selected by Langley and Frederick Law
Olmstead. The Zoo becomes part of the Smithsonian in 1890, and is opened 1n 1891.
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1890
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Langley creates the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; its first home
is in a wooden building behind the Smithsonian Castle. In 1955, SAO moves
to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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1890
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Clément Ader completes his Éole, a full-sized airplane. It has a fifty foot
wing span, and is equipped with a lightweight 20-horsepower steam engine of
Ader's design and a four-bladed propeller. At Armainvilliers on October 9,
the Éole lifts off the ground to an altitude of approximately one foot and
skims the ground for about 50 meters (165 feet). Ader later claims a second
flight of 100 meters in September, 1891; there is no evidence for the second flight.
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March 28, 1891
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First successful flight of one of Langley's rubber-powered models.
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1891
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Work begins on Langley's Aerodrome No. 0, powered by two small steam engines.
Construction is halted before the aircraft is completed.
Langley's Experiments in Aerodynamics is published by the Smithsonian.
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1891
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Otto Lilienthal, a German mechanical engineer, begins a program of flight
research using piloted hang gliders of his own design. He and his brother
Gustav will go on to design and build 18 gliders over the next five years,
making approximately 2,000 flights.
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1892
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Aerodrome No. 1 designed and built. Not flown.
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1892 - 1893
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Aerodrome No. 2 and Aerodrome No. 3 are designed and built. No. 3 is powered
by compressed air. Neither is flown.
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1893
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A 38 foot scow is converted into a houseboat with a workshop and launch
platform for Aerodrome testing. In May, it is towed down the Potomac to
a point near Quantico, Virginia, off Chopawamsic Island. In November
Aerodrome No. 4 is taken to the houseboat for testing.
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November 20, 1893
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Test flight of Aerodrome No. 4 - falls in the water.
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December 7, 1893
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Second flight of Aerodrome No. 4 - falls in the water.
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July 31, 1894
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Maxim's large test rig rises briefly from its support rails during a test run.
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August 1-4, 1894
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Octave Chanute and Albert Zahm sponsor the Conference on Aerial Navigation
in Chicago, bringing together an international assembly of aeronautical researchers.
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October, 1894
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Test flight of modified Aerodrome No. 4, using improved catapult. Aircraft
falls in the water. Aerodrome No. 5, with a one horsepower gasoline burning
steam engine, is also tested. It flies 35 feet for three seconds before
stalling and falling into the river.
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1894
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Chanute publishes his book Progress in Flying Machines.
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November 12, 1894
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Lawrence Hargrave, an Australian researcher, links together four of his
box kites, adds a simple seat, and flies to an altitude of 16 feet in the device.
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1895
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James Means publishes the first of his three Aeronautical Annuals.
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May 6, 1896
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Aerodrome No. 6 is launched from the houseboat's catapult; the left
wing collapses and the aircraft lands in the water. Aerodrome No. 5
is launched at 3:05 PM and flies about half a mile in a minute and
a half at an altitude reaching 100 feet - the first sustained flight
of a heavier than air apparatus. In a second flight at 5:10, Aerodrome
No. 5 makes three circles, climbs to about 60 feet, and is airborne
for one minute and thirty-one seconds. The flight is witnessed and
photographed by Alexander Graham Bell (box 45, folder 9).
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June 1896
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Chanute and Augustus Herring establish a camp at the Lake Michigan
dunes near Miller, Indiana to conduct flight tests on a number of
gliders - several of Chanute's designs, including his multiwing
Katydid, Herring's copy of a Lilienthal design, and a Chanute-Herring
triplane collaboration.
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August 9, 1896
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Lilienthal's glider stalls and crashes from an altitude of about 50 feet.
Lilienthal dies of his injuries the next morning. His last words
are "sacrifices must be made."
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November 28, 1896
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Aerodrome No. 6 is flown from the houseboat - it flies 4800 feet in
one minute and forty-five seconds.
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July 1897
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Ader completes his Avion III, also known as the Aquilon. It features
two 20-horsepower steam engines and twin tractor propellers, and a
wingspan of nearly 56 feet. The aircraft weighs approximately 880
pounds. Ader attempts a flight on October 14; Avion III is unable
to rise off the ground.
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March 25, 1898
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Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt suggests the military
use of the Langley Aerodrome to Navy Secretary John D. Long (box 40, folder 10).
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April 6, 1898
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Langley proposes a scaled-up version of the Aerodrome for military
use to a joint Army-Navy board meeting at the Smithsonian. He requests
$50,000 to build a large, piloted version of his earlier designs. The
proposed aircraft is called the Great Aerodrome, or Aerodrome A.
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June 1898
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Charles M. Manly, a Cornell University engineering student, is hired as
Langley's "assistant in charge of experiments."
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October 1898
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Major work begins on the Great Aerodrome.
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December 12, 1898
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A contract is signed between Langley and Stephen M. Balzer of New York.
Balzer is to design and build a 12 horsepower motor to power the Aerodrome.
On the same date, Langley writes to the U.S. Army Board of Ordnance and
Fortifications, agreeing to design and build a flying machine. He estimates
a cost of $50,000 to build his machine.
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May, 1899
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A new, larger houseboat equipped with a turntable and catapult is delivered in Washington.
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May 30, 1899
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Wilbur Wright sends a letter to Langley at the Smithsonian, requesting material
pertaining to aeronautical research. He says in his letter that he
wishes "... to begin a systematic study of the subject in preparation for practical work."
Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Richard Rathbun directs his staff to assemble a
package of papers, including Langley's Story of Experiments in Mechanical Flight and
Experiments in Aerodynamics. The Wright brothers receive the package three weeks later.
They later credit the material they received from the Smithsonian with giving
them a "good understanding of the nature of the problem of flying."
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June 7 - August 3, 1899
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Additional flights of Aerodromes No. 5 and No. 6 are made from the houseboat
at Chopawamsic Island.
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July 1899
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Langley visits Ader's workshop in Paris.
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July, 1899
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The Wright Brothers build a five foot biplane kite.
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October 2, 1899
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Percy Pilcher dies of his injury after his Lilienthal-type glider breaks up in flight.
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May, 1900
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Langley and the staff of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory observe
the May 28 solar eclipse in Wadesboro, North Carolina.
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August, 1900
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The Wrights begin to build their first glider, a biplane design with a 17 foot wingspan.
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September, 1900
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The Wrights arrive at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to test their glider
on the dunes. They begin test flights in early October.
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1901
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Langley creates the Children's Room, with exhibits designed to inspire
interest in science, technology and natural history, in the Smithsonian Castle.
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July, 1901
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The Wrights return to Kitty Hawk with a new biplane glider.
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Autumn, 1901
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The Wright brothers return to Dayton and begin a program to develop their own
fundamental aeronautical data, building a wind tunnel and a test rig mounted on a bicycle.
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September 19, 1902
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The Wrights complete assembly of their new glider and begin flights the same
afternoon. And continue through the autumn. After an early crash, continual
modifications improve the design. Wilbur writes to his father, "We now
believe the flying problem is really nearing its solution." On their return
to Dayton, the brothers file a patent on their design.
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July 14, 1903
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The houseboat is towed down the Potomac to a spot opposite Widewater, Virginia,
about 40 miles from Washington.
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August 8, 1903
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The Quarter-Size Aerodrome makes a successful flight from the houseboat.
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September 3, 1903
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Work is begun on erecting the Great Aerodrome on the houseboat catapult.
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October 7, 1903
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The Great Aerodrome, piloted by Manly, is launched by the houseboat
catapult at 12:20 PM. The aircraft is snagged by the catapult launch
car, and drops into the river. Langley was in Washington, and does not
witness the attempt. The wreckage of the Aerodrome is salvaged.
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December 8, 1903
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The refurbished Great Aerodrome is readied for flight on the houseboat,
now moored below Washington at Arsenal Point at the confluence of the
Potomac and Anacostia rivers. At 4:45 PM, the aircraft, with Manly at
the controls, is launched. The tail assembly drags along the launch track,
and the Aerodrome's tail begins to collapse. The Aerodrome falls into the
river. Manly is briefly trapped by the wreckage, but cuts himself free and
is rescued. In the aftermath of the crash, Langley is ridiculed in the press.
Though the Army withdraws its support, Langley receives offers of financial
support from businessmen to continue his aeronautical work. He politely
refuses these offers and ends his aeronautical work.
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December 17, 1903
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The Wright brothers make four flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The first flight covered a distance of 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds;
in the fourth flight, the Flyer traveled 852 feet in 59 seconds.
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June, 1905
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The Smithsonian's accountant, W. W. Karr, is accused of embezzling
Institutional funds. He is later convicted and imprisoned. Langley
holds himself responsible for the loss, and thereafter refuses to accept his salary.
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November, 1905
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Langley suffers a stroke.
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February, 1906
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Langley moves to Aiken, South Carolina to convalesce.
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February 27, 1906
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After suffering another stroke, Langley dies.
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March 3, 1906
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Samuel Pierpont Langley is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Boston.
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May - October, 1914
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The Great Aerodrome is refurbished and is tested on Lake Keuka,
Hammondsport, New York; the tests are conducted by Glenn Curtiss.
Using the Manly-Balzer motor and mounted on pontoons instead of
using a catapult launch, the Aerodrome makes several short flights,
the longest lasting about five seconds. Later a Curtiss 80-hp engine
is substituted for the Manly-Balzer motor and a flight of about 3,000
feet is made on September 17.
The Smithsonian Institution later displays the Aerodrome with an exhibit
label that reads "The first man-carrying aeroplane in the history of the
world capable of sustained free flight." This claim causes a rift between
the Institution and Orville Wright (Wilbur had died in 1912) that is
not fully mended until 1942. The Wright 1903 Flyer is presented to the
Smithsonian Institution on December 17, 1948. Today, the Flyer is on
exhibit in the Milestones of Flight Gallery of the National Air and
Space Museum's Mall building; Samuel Langley's Great Aerodrome is
displayed at the Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
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