This date in history: First airplane crash
During the flight trials at Ft. Myer on September 12, 1908, tragedy struck. At a height of 75 feet, on a turn, one of the new nine foot propeller blades broke. The machine pitched to the ground resulting in the death of Lieutenant Selfridge and the painful injury of Orville Wright. The collapsed Wright airplane was photographed just after it struck the ground. This was the first airplane crash and fatality in history.