Getting There Faster

The girls have spent the past few weeks learning about how to get there from here faster. They started off learning about Henry Ford and how he made the Model-T in 1908 which was affordable and sturdy. They were amazed to find that Ford vehicles are still being assembled to this day.

Of course they also found it quite hilarious about the Red Flag Act that was passed in 1865 when steam powered cars first became popular. The Act made it a law that such steam powered vehicles could only go two miles an hour in town and four miles an hour on open roads. It also required someone to walk in front of the car and carry a red flag. This discouraged people from using steam engines that were very noisy.

They next learned about the accomplishments of Wilbur and Orville Wright. They found that writing to those who have failed previously at making a flying machine like Langley and Chanute was a good idea. They were pretty impressed by the journey that the Wright brothers took from Norfolk, Virginia to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina just to test their gliders and flyers.

The first flight where the Flyer had stayed up under its own power was on December 17, 1903 and the person in the Flyer was Orville Wright. Although it only stayed up for 12 seconds and traveled only 120 feet it was the first flight to take place.