12/17/1903 - First Airplane Flies near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. This began the fascination with flight so many people experience today. The Wrights knew in order to fly, a craft has to operate against gravity. This means the power/weight and strength/weight ratios are the main focus in construction. The craft the wright brothers flew was a biplane built out of wood with wire bracing. At this point in history wood was the best option for plane construction. A few designers later attempted to make planes out of metal, but the technology was not there yet. Wood was a popular choice for aircraft construction because of its advantageous strength to weight ratio, workability, abundance, and low cost. The largest plane ever constructed—the Spruce Goose—is largely comprised of spruce. During this time in aviation history spruce was cheaper than aluminum or steel. Within a few short years after Wilbur and Orville Wright broke the barriers to human flight over the beach at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, the basic structural design of the first generation of powered, heavier- than-air flying machines was in place: the spar-and-rib wing, the wire-braced, box-girder fuselage, the wire-trussed, strut-supported biplane wing cell, sealed fabric skin over the airframe, two-wheel fixed landing gear, and so on. Variations existed of course, but these features were standard by the outbreak of World War I. The Longhead brothers were forced to suspend operations in 1921, but were able to form a new Company in 1926 called the Lockheed Aircraft Company with the more familiar spelling of their name. The Lougheads patented a method of forming fuselage half- shells out of spruce veneer in large concrete molds fitted with a rubber bladder (The veneers were set in place, casein glue was applied, and the bladder was inflated to force the wood into the mold. After the glue cured, the shells were removed from the mold, and two beautifully formed fuselage halves were then joined over a light skeletal framework. This process cut down on much of the time and weight to create the fuselage. This process for wooden monocoque construction was employed in a highly successful series of elegant monoplanes produced by the re-established Lockheed company in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Amelia Earhart brought worldwide fame to the Lockheed design when, in 1932, she became the first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight in her bright red Lockheed Vega. The Lindberghs, Charles, along with his wife Anne Morrow as navigator, pioneered transoceanic routes for Pan American Airways in the early 1930s using a low-wing version of the Lockheed monoplane called the Sirius. These aircraft also were fitted with plywood covered, stressed- skin, cantilevered wings virtually identical to those of the Fokker transports, placing Lockheed aircraft among the most advanced of their day. The cantilevered wing and the monocoque fuselage were just two of many design innovations that emerged during World War I and were refined the following decade. As these structural advances were developed, countless aircraft of a more traditional design continued to be produced. The reliable wire- braced, fabric-covered biplane remained popular on airfields for many years. Many designers prefer to use wooden spars in acrobatic aircraft because the wood will better