Jun
01

May 28, 1914

Langley-Aerodrome

The Langley Aerodrome was a pioneering but unsuccessful manned powered flying machine designed at the close of the 19th century by Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Langley. The U.S. Army paid $50,000 for the project in 1898 after Langley’s successful flights with small-scale unmanned models two years earlier.

The Langley aerodrome was refurbished and renovated at the Curtiss airplane factory and on May 28, 1914, the aerodrome is successfully launched with Glenn H. Curtiss piloting the craft. Secretary C. D. Walcott provides a controversial statement that the tests thus far have shown that the late Secretary Samuel P. Langley had succeeded in building the first airplane capable of sustained free flight with a man, a statement that the Institution later retracted.

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Posted: 1 June 2010
About the Author:

Alex di Giovanni is primarily responsible for "other duties as assigned" in the Office of Communications and External Affairs. She has been with the Smithsonian since 2006 and plans to be interred in the Smithson crypt.