Wright Flyer Crashes: First Aviation Fatality
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
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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…
The Battle of Myriokephalon sees the Byzantine Empire clash with the Seljuk Turks, resulting in a significant defeat that alters the power dynamics in Anatolia.
Emperor Manuel I Komnenos had been pushing into Anatolia for years, reclaiming territory, winning battles, dreaming of a restored empire. Then at Myriokephalon …
Mary of Hungary was crowned 'king' — not queen, but king — in September 1382, because the Hungarian nobility didn't have a mechanism for a female ruler and refu…
Piotr Dunin’s forces crushed the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Świecino, shattering the Knights' military dominance in the region. This victory forced the Ord…
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