Wright Flyer Crashes at Fort Myer: First Airplane Death
Orville Wright's demonstration flight turned fatal when a shattered propeller tore out a rudder wire, sending the Flyer into a nose-dive that killed passenger Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge. The crash forced the US Army to mandate heavy, football-style headgear for its first pilots, a direct safety measure born from Selfridge's skull fracture and the realization that a simple helmet likely would have saved him.
September 17, 1908
118 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on September 17
Der Stern Antares wird letztmals von der Venus bedeckt.
le Sénat romain vote la divinisation d'Auguste, un mois après sa mort. Tibère lui succède comme empereur.
Remistus had been magister militum — essentially commander of the Western Roman army — but by 456 that title meant less than it once had. A Gothic force besiege…
les Arabes s'emparent d'Alexandrie.
a 25 km al sudoeste de Bagdad (Irak), un terremoto produjo 16 000 muertos.
Alfonso VII was three years old when his father died, and his mother was immediately pressured to remarry and cede control. He spent his childhood under the pro…
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