Wings of fame

If Clément Ader coined the word airplane in the 19th century, it was the Wright brothers of Dayton, Ohio, who were the first to fly on Dec. 17, 1903. Subsequently, women became aviators, air shows became the rage and the major newspapers began to finance record-setting exploits, such as Louis BlŽriot's flight across the English Channel in 1909. Then came the Great War of 1914-18: a conflict in which air combat became ruthless duels. There was also the adventure of the French airmail service, with Mermoz and Saint-Exupéry, the great long-distance flights across the Atlantic and the triumph of Charles Lindbergh. This was the age of air passenger transport, and the tragic history of the German dirigibles, the Zeppelins, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart over the Pacific and the start of World War II, with its kamikaze fever. The propeller age came to an end. The jet engine allowed aircraft to reach incredible new speeds. Charles Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. After the Caravelle and the Boeing came the Concorde, then the space race began. Here began our age of uncertainty with its jumbo jets and, most of all, the pilotless airplanes: will the "drones" conquer the skies? (Verleiher-Text)