AviTech Reader

Going back for today, we talk about the beginning of fatalities in the aviation industry especially to do with powered airplanes. This takes us to this day in 1908 in USA — The first fatality in a powered airplane occurred when Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge is killed while flying with Orville Wright at Fort Meyer, Virginia. Selfridge was an early Army aviator and had already flown solo in the "White Wing," the airplane designed and built by the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell and his AEA organization. On the day of the accident, flying at about 150 feet from the ground over Fort Myer, Wright put the plane into a steep turn. The wing flexed and a propeller blade snapped off.  The aircraft went out of control and crashed. Selfridge died that later afternoon.  Orville Wright was hospitalized for several weeks. Selfridge was buried in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery, very near the very spot where he fell to his death.

Later in 1921 in Belgium/Ireland — Capt. Paul Armbruster, Swiss aeronaut, wins International Gordon Bennett Balloon Race, from Brussels to Lamby Island, Ireland , 515.14 miles.

Lastly, in 1959 (USA) — The North American X-15 rocket plane made its first powered flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

This is a plane that achieved it's few years of fame back in the 1960s, yet the famous X-15 airplane still bask in the glory of the fastest and highest plane ever manufactured. While the Space Shuttle Orbiting Vehicle achieves speeds of Mach 25 during reentry, this is not its own power.