From infant technology to obsolescence: the Wright Brothers' Airplane in the U.S. Army...

On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright successfully flew for the first time a powered and controlled, heavier-than-air machine--an airplane. Over the next two years, the brothers would refine their design and, unlike all other would-be airplane inventors, fly the aircraft under complete, although tenuous, control in all three axes--roll, pitch, and yaw. (1) Recognizing its potential as a military instrument, they decided to offer the machine first to the U.S. Army once they felt confident of its capabilities. (2) In January 1905, Wilbur Wright consulted with his congressm