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MIAMI TWP., Montgomery County — Two men were being questioned after federal agents and local officers learned the men planned “to show up at the VA Center and basically shoot a bunch of people up,” police said Monday. Federal agents found a rocket launcher and other weapons at the Miami Bluffs apartment Monday, according to Miami Twp. Deputy Police Chief John DiPietro. DiPietro said Miami Twp. police are assisting the FBI following the threat to the Dayton VA Medical Center. Police are now at the Miami Bluffs apartment building at 6337 Springboro Pike. One of the two men being questioned...

EDWARDS AFB - The Wright brothers may be noted for their pioneering work as aeronautical engineers, but their piloting skills are worthy of recognition as well, said one modern-day pilot who took the unsteady controls of an accurate replica of the Wrights' 1903 powered flyer. Kevin Kochersberger , a mechanical engineering professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, took part in the Wright Experience, an attempt to re-create the brothers' historic 1903 flight in celebration of the centennial of the beginning of modern aviation. Kochersberger shared his experiences with the Wright Flyer replica before an appreciative audience at NASA Dryden Flight...

In... 1970, a Washington gossip columnist found herself seated at a dinner party next to rocket engineer Wernher von Braun. "One of the most fascinating men in the world has just moved to town," she gushed to her readers afterward. "The rocket genius is a brilliant conversationalist, extremely handsome and socially charming." It might seem odd to judge the mastermind of the Apollo program's Saturn V launch vehicle -- and, earlier, the German V-2 -- by his savoir faire. Yet Dr. von Braun's gift for talk and salesmanship, together with his technical skill and managerial prowess, were indispensable to his...

The world was fairly warned of the peaks and perils of human flight by the daring mythical adventure of Daedalus and Icarus, the father and son who flew to freedom on wings of feathers and wax. Daedalus survived his first flight, while Icarus, overcome by the joy of flying, ignored his father's admonitions, flew too close to the sun and perished after the wax melted. Orville and Wilbur Wright's historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903, in an airplane fashioned from wood, wire and cloth, realized the age-old dream of human flight and transformed the 20th-century...

On the anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic flight, the Air Force recognized 10 years of service for one of its most potent weapons, the B-2 stealth bomber. On Dec. 17, 1993, the first operational B-2, the "Spirit of Missouri," was delivered from Northrop Grumman's assembly site at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo. That memorable delivery flight was re-created Wednesday as "Spirit of Missouri" once again took to the skies from Palmdale, landing at its home base in Missouri. "(The B-2) is probably the best flying machine ever built in this...

<p>KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. -- One hundred years to the day after Orville and Wilbur Wright soared into history on man's first powered flight, modern-day aviators sought to duplicate the feat, with a little help from 21st-century technology and supercomputers.</p> <p>They flopped badly.</p>

Today, as several hundred million people watched, reenactors attempted to duplicate the first flight of the Wright Flyer 100 years to the day after that monumental achievement. They had carefully built an exact replica of the Flyer from the original plans. After having been delayed several hours by rain, an attempt was made. It failed. That it failed is less important than why it failed: impatience, a characteristic with which the Wright Brothers were wholly unfamiliar, but one which now governs the United States. The Wrights worked meticulously for ten years before they succeeded with the Flyer. On December 17,...

The 12-second flight 100 years ago this morning reached a height of just 10 feet, less than the 63-foot height of a Boeing 747, and covered just 120 feet of ground, less than a 747's 195-foot wingspan. But the Wright brothers' fourth and final flight that day in North Carolina lasted 59 seconds and went 852 feet. So by sunset, the 20th century's themes -- farther, faster, higher, now -- were, so to speak, in the air.

President Bush made a quick trip to pay tribute to the Wright brothers' first flight Wednesday, saying those who witnessed the event 100 years ago sensed "that the world might never be the same." They may not have envisioned just how commonplace flight would become — especially if you live in the White House. Bush breezed down to North Carolina early Wednesday, delivered his speech, and left in time to be back in Washington by midday. "In the future, flight will advance in ways that none of us can imagine as we stand here today," said Bush, his hair soaked...

Fox News just showed, live, the attempted centenial flight of the replica of the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. With an audience of dignitaries in the stands, including President Bush, a smattering of astronauts, and John Travolta watching, the flight was a failure. After great difficulty in getting the engines running, the reproduction flyer came down the wooden runway, got its nose up just before the end of the wooden rail it was to launch from. But then it reached the end with its tail still dragging, and dropped unceremoniously into a puddle. I'm willing to wager...

December 17, 1903. The Day Man First Flew Thursday, December 17 dawned, and was to go down in history as a day when a great engineering feat was accomplished. It was a cold day with winds of 22 to 27 miles an hour blowing from the north. Puddles of water near the camp were covered with ice. The Wrights waited indoors, hoping the winds would diminish. But they continued brisk, and at 10 in the morning the brothers decided to attempt a flight, fully realizing the difficulties and dangers of flying a relatively untried machine in so high a...

Comment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A weapon with wings The centenary of the Wright brothers' flight should be a day of international mourning George Monbiot Tuesday December 16, 2003 The Guardian They will probably be commemorating the wrong people in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, tomorrow. Five months before the Wright brothers lifted a flying machine into the air for 12 seconds above the sand dunes of the Outer Banks, the New Zealander Richard Pearse had travelled for more than a kilometre in his contraption, without the help of ramps or slides, and had even managed to turn his plane in mid-flight. But history...

The centenary of the Wright brothers' flight should be a day of international mourningThey will probably be commemorating the wrong people in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, tomorrow. Five months before the Wright brothers lifted a flying machine into the air for 12 seconds above the sand dunes of the Outer Banks, the New Zealander Richard Pearse had travelled for more than a kilometre in his contraption, without the help of ramps or slides, and had even managed to turn his plane in mid-flight. But history belongs to those who record it, so tomorrow is the official centenary of the aeroplane....

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. - The Wright brothers envisioned early on that their flying machine would have a place in the machinery in the war. Their hope was that it would result in peace. A century later, military aviation has a mixed legacy, giving nations the ability to level cities from miles away while protecting troops from deadly close combat. "It's an integral part of how we operate," said Navy Cmdr. Rich Dann, a military historian. Orville and Wilbur Wright suspected their invention could be. The first potential buyer they contacted immediately after their first flights on Dec. 17, 1903,...

The White House Friday confirmed that President George W. Bush will travel to North Carolina next week to participate in the First Flight Centennial Celebration. News of the president's upcoming visit to the Outer Banks came as the six-day celebration of Orville and Wilbur Wright's first successful heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk got underway. ``It's just a grand day for Dare County that the president will be here to join in our celebration of the accomplishment of the Wright brothers,'' said Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Warren Judge. According to a release from the White House, Bush will make...

Wednesday, Dec. 17, is the centennial of the Wright Brothers' flight over the dunes near Kitty Hawk, N.C. Tributes are appearing everywhere, and understandably so: It is one of the great achievements of modern history. The Smithsonian Institution, home of the brothers' 1903 Flyer, is celebrating the milestone with an elaborate Web presentation of the Wright Brothers' story and the grand opening of its much touted new branch of the Air and Space Museum. But the Smithsonian's tribute is really an act of audacity, considering that, beginning in 1914, the museum waged a 28-year campaign to rob the Wright Brothers...

<p>As Americans prepare to celebrate the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight, a whole country is cringing at what it believes to be a historical injustice against one of its most beloved heroes.</p> <p>Ask anyone in Brazil who invented the airplane and they will say Alberto Santos-Dumont, a five-foot four-inch (1.6 meter) bon vivant who was as well known for his aerial prowess as he was for his dandyish dress and high society life in Belle Epoque Paris.</p>

One of the greatest inventions of the 20th century -- indeed, one of the landmark inventions in the history of the human race -- was the work of a couple of young men who had never gone to college and were just a couple of bicycle mechanics in Dayton, Ohio. That part of the United States is often referred to disdainfully as "flyover country" because it is part of America that the east coast and west coast elites fly over on their way to what they consider more important places. But they are able to fly over it only because...

CHANTILLY, United States (AFP) - The airplanes hung from the rafters have the allure of models in a child's bedroom, but each of the giant trusses holding them up could hold nine tonnes: the new National Air and Space Museum is a modeler's dream -- made life-size. AFP/File Photo   The giant hangar is "perhaps the largest room in the world," Smithsonian Institution (news - web sites) secretary Lawrence Small said. It contains the first copy of the space shuttle, the B-29 that first dropped an atomic bomb as a weapon and the supersonic Concorde airliner. The 311-million-dollar museum includes...

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. - (KRT) - No one knows who first harnessed the awesome power of fire. No date is recorded for the first spin of a wheel. But here where the turbulent Atlantic meets the dunes of North Carolina's Outer Banks, on a blustery Dec. 17, 1903, man first conquered the air. Nothing has ever been the same. "An event occurred right there that we know changed the course of history," said National Park Service ranger Jim Cross, pointing to a spot about 50 feet away in what used to be the outskirts of Kitty Hawk. Orville Wright's...