Today in History – August 28, 1883 – John J. Montgomery makes first controlled “heavier than air” glider flight at Wheeler Hill, California. He sails a distance of 603 feet at an altitude of about fifteen feet. He continued to perfect the design by making and testing modifications. In 1894, he published a summary of [...]

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Today in History – August 23, 1977 – Gossamer Condor achieves first human powered flight around a figure eight. This team effort, under the leadership of Paul B. MacCready, Jr., won the $50,000 Kremer Prize and captured the world’s attention. Bryan Allen maintained a head-height during the 7 1/2 minute figure eight flight. British millionaire [...]

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Today in History – August 19, 1934 – First All-American Soap Box Derby.  This youth competition was inspired by photographer Myron Scott while he was covering a story on the soap box cars built by local boys for the Dayton Daily News. He was motivated to develop a similar program at a national scale. Not [...]

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Today in History – August 17, 1807- Robert Fulton’s North River Steam Boat, called the Clermont, began its first voyage up New York’s Hudson River to complete a successful round-trip from New York City to Albany, traveling 150 miles in 32 hours. Although Robert Fulton did not invent the steamboat, he is credited with making [...]

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Today in History – July 31, 2008 – To date, QinetiQ breaks unofficial world record for unpersoned flight over three and a half days US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The record is “unofficial” as QinetiQ conducted the research under a military contract to perform a military utility assessment of a US Government communications [...]

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