The first airplane fatality

After the crash, the Wright's built a new plane, the 1909 Military Flyer. It came back the next year to Ft. Myer and became the first plane, anywhere in the world, to be bought by a government (1). Orville Wright taught three Army officers to fly on that plane, and then, the Army being what it is, a fourth guy got a letter from Wright explaining how to fly and told "take this plane to San Antonio and teach yourself to fly at Fort Sam Houston." After he had done about 40 more flights, only some of which ended in crashes, the 1909 Military Flyer was retired in 1911. It was given to the Smithsonian. While the other Wright airplanes (2) in the Smithsonian collection have been cleaned up and restored, made to look more like they did when brand new, the Military Flyer has been kept in its 1910 parts: there is a stain on the bottom wing (right below the engine) that is from the use of this airplane more than 115 years ago.

1: The contract was for a plane to fly for an hour, at 30mph out and back, carrying two people (pilot and observer). There was a 10% penalty on the 25,000 for every mph by which the plane was slower than 30mph, and a 10% bonus for every mph by which the plane was above 30mph. The Military Flyer averaged 32 mph on the loop it did, so the Army paid the Wright's $30,000.

2: There are 8 surviving original Wright Airplanes left in the world, the Smithsonian owns three of them: the 1903 Wright Flyer, the 1909 Military Flyer, and the Model Ex Vin Fizz.

Bah, there's a report of an earlier one in Ovid's Metamorphoses from 8 CE.

http://messybeast.com/dragonqueen/icarus-accident.htm

Surprisingly, the article does not mention that Selfridge field in Michigan is named after Lieutenant Selfridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfridge_Air_National_Guard_B....

> The crash had fractured his skull. At the time, neither man wore head protection, as aviation helmets were not yet standard equipment.

It’s kinda wild to me how reliable we are at having to learn the hard way to wear a helmet for each new sport or endeavour.

When KLM started flying Amsterdam-Batavia in the 1930s it was dangerous but people preferred it to spending weeks on a ship.