1903 was a monumental year for heavier-than-air flight and communications expansion. Just as a fledgling Signals Corps Lieutenant, William “Billy” Mitchell, was finishing his assignment to place 500 miles of telegraph wire in the Alaskan territory, Orville and Wilber Wright were preparing to launch the first airplane into flight. The Wright brothers’ ambitious achievement December 17, 1903, heralded the beginning of capabilities that would eventually lead to an independent United States Air Force. The following 40 years would prove to be the pioneering era for both powered flight and electronic communications.
