Smithsonian Air and Space Museum / Aerodrome- built by Samuel Langley in 1903. 52 feet long, 48 foot wingspan, powered by a 5-cylinder radial engine. Overly complex, structurally weak, Richard Erwin and aerodynamically unsound, it crashed twice on takeoff, on October 7, 1903, and again on December 8, just 9 days before the Wright Brothers 8/10/2009 historic flights. |