16–20 March – Daniel Maloney is launched by balloon in a tandem-wing glider designed by John Montgomery[2] and makes three successful flights at Aptos, California, the highest launch being at 3,000 feet (910 meters) with an 18-minute descent to a predetermined landing location.[citation needed]
29 April – Daniel Maloney is launched by balloon in a tandem-wing glider designed by John Montgomery to an altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)[2] before release and gliding and then landing at a predetermined location as part of a large public demonstration of aerial flight at Santa Clara, California].[citation needed]
23 June – The Wright brothers fly the Wright Flyer III for the first time. It is the first fully controllable and practical version of the original 1903 Wright Flyer.[3]
14 July – Orville Wright has a serious crash with Wright Flyer III, upon which the Wright Brothers radically alter the aircraft. The front rudder[dubious–discuss] is mainly the culprit for the Flyer's insistent pitching.
18 July – Daniel Maloney launches a tandem-wing glider designed by John Montgomery at Santa Clara, California. A balloon cable damages the glider and upon release Maloney and the aircraft fall uncontrolled to the ground, killing Maloney.[2] This is the third death of a heavier-than-air aircraft pilot after Otto Lilienthal in 1896 and Percy Pilcher in 1899.[citation needed]
31 August –Balloonist John Baldwin accidentally killed during a premature dynamite/balloon stunt at County Fair, Greenville Ohio[4]
September – The Wright Brothers resume flight experiments with the re-designed Flyer III with performance of the airplane immediately in the positive. Smooth controlled flights lasting over 20 minutes now occur.
7 September – Flying circles over a cornfield near Dayton, Ohio, and chasing flocks of birds, Orville Wright records history's first bird strike. The dead bird lays on the airplane's wing before Wright makes a sharp turn and dumps it off.[5]
↑ Brotak, Ed, "When Birds Strike," Aviation History, May 2016, p. 46.
↑ Daniel, Clifton, ed., Chronicle of the 20th Century, Mount Kisco, New York: Chronicle Publications, 1987, ISBN0-942191-01-3, p. 82.
↑ Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN1-902304-04-7, p. 7.
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