100 Years of Flight
A century ago, the human beings took the last trepidacious steps before leaving the surly bonds of earth and discovering the magic of flight.
Within twenty years, the delivery of mail and the face of warfare were changed forever by the application of this discovery. Twenty years after that, another war saw the advantages of flight changing the face of naval warfare. And soon after that war, the public began taking to the skies with greater frequency, launching the air travel industry.
About twenty years later, the jet engine changed the nature of flight itself, bringing it to more people and inspiring ambitious plans for the conquest of outer space.
And still twenty years after that, stealth technology again changed the rules of war.
Today, there are still innovations to come in flight. There is exciting talk about pilotless airplanes, hypersonic transports, and ever more efficient designs.
Thank you, to all the engineers and dreamers who looked, and are looking, beyond the horizon.