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Ever heard of Dr. Samuel P. Langley? That’s because Dr Samuel P. Langley never did anything of real greatness. He almost did. An accomplished scientist, Langley had published several important works on aerodynamics. He was all set to invent and fly the first heavier-than-air flying machine. And this wasn’t just a pipe-dream. In the 1890’s, he achieved success with large, unmanned plane models. In 1898 the U.S. War Department gave him $50,000 to build an aeroplane. On the 8th of October, 1903, Langley climbed into the pilot’s seat of a craft called 'The Great Aerodrome'. After launching briefly into the air, the plane nose-dived into the ground. The New York times gave him a punishing critique: "A ridiculous fiasco" they called it, adding that "the flying machine that will really fly will take the combined efforts of mathematicians and mechanics, which could take ten million years.”