Samuel Pierpont Langley became the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. In 1891, he began experiments with large, tandem-winged models powered by small steam and gasoline engines he called aerodromes. After several failures with designs that were too fragile and under-powered to sustain themselves, Langley had his first genuine success on May 6, 1896, with his Aerodrome Number 5. It made the world's first successful flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven, heavier-than-air craft of substantial size. Created by Eric Long Date Created 06/13/2016 Source Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Keywords Aircraft; Aviation; People; Pre-WWI; Private; Research Rights and Restrictions CC0
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