CURRENT ISSUE

March 2003

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine image Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine mobile image

Features

Miracle: A view of flight as it turns 100

Inventions seldom resemble the refined devices that evolve from them

WrightBros.jpg

Meeting Wilbur and Orville

To understand the brothers, one historian found that what you know is less important than who you know.

1903 flyer.jpg

The Original

How the 1903 Flyer got where it is today.

Wright-SI-2003-19429~A-631.jpg

The 1903 Wright Flyer

Find out why the world's first controllable airplane was a bear to control.

I Have Today Seen Wilbur Wright and his Great White Bird

The airplane debuted to rave reviews.

Aviation's Birth Certificate

When a private collection of Wright Company papers went public, we discovered that many of our notions about the Wrights' business practices were wrong.

defining.jpg

Defining Moments

The inventions, institutions, gadgets, and lucky breaks that have shaped the story of the airplane

Wrong Turns

When's the last time you caught a ride in an autogiro?

Doolittle Curtiss_Racer.jpg

10 All-Time Great Pilots

Machines alone could not have pushed the airplane forward

10 Milestone Flights

You wouldn't have wanted to be along on most of them.

Departments