This Day in History for December 17 – The Wright Brothers Fly and More

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history:

1903 – Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make history’s first successful flight in a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft (More info)

1944 – The US Army announces the end of its policy of holding Japanese-Americans in internment camps, allowing “evacuees” to return home (More info)

1969 – The US Air Force closes its study of UFOs, concluding that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial activity behind UFO sightings (More info)

1979 – Stuntman Stan Barrett blasts across a dry lake bed in a rocket- and missile-powered car, becoming the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound on land (More info)

1989 – The first episode of ‘The Simpsons’ airs in the United States (More info)