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17th December

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1903: First airplane flies


Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Americans Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. The Wright brothers, self-taught inventors from Dayton, Ohio, were bicycle manufacturers before they turned their attention to the possibilities of flight. Their first airplane, a double-winged biplane, had a wingspan of 39 feet, a 12-horsepower engine, and movable wing tips to control direction. Orville made the first flight, which lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. By 1909, Wright-designed planes were staying aloft for more than an hour at a time, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to meet widespread demand for their flying machines.

1991

Russian leaders Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev agree to dissolve the USSR and proclaim a new Commonwealth of States (CIS)on New Years Day.

1986

Mrs Davina Thompson creates medical history when given a new heart, lungs and liver during an operation at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England.

1983

An IRA car bomb kills six Christmas shoppers and injures scores of others outside the Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London.

1973

Arab terrorists kill 31 during the hi-jacking of a German airliner at Rome Airport.

1967

Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt is presumed drowned after disappearing while swimming at Portsea.

1967

British yachtsman Alec Rose arrives in Australia aboard his boat The Lively Lady after sailing solo from Britain - a voyage of 14,500 miles.

1941

World War II: Japanese troops begin the invasion of North Borneo.

1939

World War II: German battleship Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled at the entrance of Montevideo Harbour after being defeated in the Battle of the River Plate.

1922

Last British troops leave Irish Free State.

1909

Albert I becomes King of Belgium following the death of Leopold II.

1903

The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, make the first controlled powered flight

1892

The Russian Imperial Ballet gives the first performance of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in St Petersburg.

1888

Opening of the Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, London.

1849

Thomas and William Bowler, makers of felt hats, sell their first 'bowler'.

1819

In South America, Simon Bolivar becomes President of the Republic of Colombia - created by the union of Venezuela and New Granada.

1788

The Russian Army, commanded by Gregori Potemkin, captures the city of Ochakov on the Black Sea.

1718

England declares war on Spain.

1538

Pope Clement VII excommunicates King Henry VIII of England.

1945

English actor Christopher Casenove.

1936

English entertainer Tommy Steele.

1934

American musician Carl Denver.

1853

Artist Vincent Van Gogh. Dies in 1890.

1778

Sir Humphrey Davy - inventor of the miner's safety lamp.

1907

British mathematician and physicist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) born in Ireland.

1830

Simon Bolivar, the 'Liberator', the revolutionary leader who freed large areas of South America from the Spanish.

1638

Pere Joseph Francois De Tremblay, Cardinal Richelieu's secret agent.