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Tag: airplane

May 22, 1906 – Wright brothers receive a flying machine patent
This Day

May 22, 1906 – Wright brothers receive a flying machine patent

On this day in 1906, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright received their first patent related to their “flying machine.”  They originally filed for the patent prior to their first powered flight, which took place on December 17, 1903, a few miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. After the rejection of their first patent application, they hired a patent lawyer. This man found the language that ensured they would receive the proper credit for their invention and. After filing in 1903, they finally received U.S. patent number 821,393 on this day in 1906. It covered a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine's surfaces. The brothers had been experimenting with unmanned flying machines since 1899, and manned flying the next year, when they began to test their gl...
November 24, 1971 – 50th anniversary of D.B. Cooper hijacking
This Day, Videos

November 24, 1971 – 50th anniversary of D.B. Cooper hijacking

On this day in 1971, a man known as Dan Cooper, later misidentified in a paper as D.B. Cooper, hijacked a plane and then disappeared after supposedly jumping out of it into a storm over the Washington/Oregon border. While not directly related to the auto industry, the use of modern transportation in the case of D.B. Cooper is quite fascinating. For those unfamiliar with the story, the gist of it involves a man ticketed as Dan Cooper boarding a plane in Portland and then claiming he has a bomb once airborne. When the plane lands in Seattle he is given the $200,000 he demanded, along with four parachutes. As the plane is refueled, everyone except the pilots and Cooper are removed from the Boeing 727. Cooper then orders the plane to be flown to Mexico. Shortly after take-off, somewhere o...

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