Glenn CurtissBorn 21 May 1878; died 23 Jul 1930 at age 52.Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aircraft manufacturer who was a pioneer in the development of U.S. aviation. His aircraft were widely used during World War I. That the brother Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first powered flights has generally been accepted, but the achievements of Curtiss spanned several decades and took the airplane from its wood, fabric and wire beginnings to the forerunners of modern transport aircraft. Curtiss made his first flight on his 30th birthday, 21 May 1908, in White Wing, a design of the Aerial Experiment Association, a group led by Alexander Graham Bell. White Wing was the first plane in America to be controlled by ailerons instead of the wing-warping used by the Wrights. It was also the first plane on wheels in the U.S. |
