The Wright Brothers take wing in today’s #stampoftheday, a 6-cent airmail stamp issued in 1949.

But why today, when the stamp was issued on December 17, 1949, on the 46th anniversary of their famous first flight at Kitty Hawk, on December 17, 1903? Because today is the anniversary of another, lesser-known but arguably much more important flight, also undertaken by the two brothers.

Specifically, on July 27, 1909, Orville Wright flew a plane for one hour and 12 minutes, which was a record at the time. In comparison, on December 17, 1903, Orville flew for 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet and, on the same day, Wilbur flew for 59 seconds and covered 852 feet. Even more important, it was the 1909 flight – which was the culmination of six years of work after the flight of Kitty Hawk – that greatly spurred the development of aviation in the early 20th century.

Here’s a bit of the story: Despite the Wright brothers’ successful demonstration of powered flight in 1903, their innovation remained largely unknown for about five years. This was due in part to the fact that since they were worried about patent theft (especially since their application for a patent was rejected in 1903). Nevertheless, they continued to improve their machines flying techniques. In 1904, they made a total of 104 flights but spent only about 45 minutes in the air. However, on October 5, 1905, their machine flew 24.2 miles, remaining airborne for 38 minutes and 3 seconds.

In 1906, they received a patent for the first airplane. However, when they approached the US military about their invention, they were met with skepticism. The brothers were relatively unheard of, and the military had just spent $50,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to create a flying machine. In 1907, the brothers went to Europe where they with government officials and businessmen from France, Germany and Great Britain.

In France, where enthusiasm for aviation was especially high, Wilbur Wright also met Frank P. Lahm, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Aeronautical Division. Writing to his superiors, Lahm smoothed the way for Wilbur to give an in-person presentation to the U.S. Board of Ordnance and Fortification in Washington, D.C. when he returned to the U.S. This time, the Board was favorably impressed and, with further input from the Wrights, in December 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps inviting bids for construction of a flying machine under military contract. The Wrights submitted their bid in January.

In early 1908, Wilbur Wright returned to Europe where he faced much skepticism in the French aeronautical community and outright scorn by some newspapers that called him a “bluffeur.” Finally, on August 8, 1908, he began official public demonstrations at the Hunaudières horse racing track near the town of Le Mans, France. His first flight lasted only one minute 45 seconds, but his ability to effortlessly make banking turns and fly a circle amazed and stunned onlookers, including several pioneer French aviators, among them Louis Blériot. In the following days, Wilbur made a series of technically challenging flights, and showed that his plan far surpassed those of all other pioneering aircraft and pilots of the day.

The French public was thrilled by Wilbur’s feats and flocked to the field by the thousands, and the Wright brothers instantly became world-famous. Former doubters issued apologies and effusive praise. Leading French aviation promoter Ernest Archdeacon wrote, “For a long time, the Wright brothers have been accused in Europe of bluff…They are today hallowed in France, and I feel an intense pleasure…to make amends.”

Orville followed his brother’s success by demonstrating another nearly identical plane to the United States Army at Fort Myer, Virginia, starting on September 3, 1908. On September 9, he made the first hour-long flight, lasting 62 minutes and 15 seconds. However, a few weeks later, on a flight with Army lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, who was serving as an official observer, a propeller split and shattered, sending the Flyer out of control. Selfridge suffered a fractured skull in the crash and died that evening. Orville was badly injured, suffering a broken left leg and four broken ribs. The brothers’ sister Katharine (who played a largely unsung role in all their successes) rushed from Dayton to Virginia and not only stayed by Orville’s side for the seven weeks of his hospitalization but also helped negotiate a one-year extension of the Army contract.

Shocked and upset by the accident, Wilbur determined to make even more impressive flight demonstrations; in the ensuing days and weeks he set new records for altitude and duration. In January 1909 Orville and Katharine joined him in France, and for a time they were the three most famous people in the world, sought after by royalty, the rich, reporters and the public. They finally returned to the US in the summer.

On July 27, 1909 Orville, with Wilbur assisting, completed the proving flights for the U.S. Army, meeting the requirements of a two-seater able to fly with a passenger for an hour at an average of speed of 40 miles an hour and land undamaged. They sold the airplane to the Army’s Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps for $30,000 (equivalent to about $850,000 today) including a $5,000 bonus for exceeding the speed specification. So because it really marked the shift of aviation from pleasant hobby to a potentially useful (and dangerous) innovation, the July flight arguably is more significant than the original December 1903 excursion.

There’s a long and convoluted history involving the Wright brothers in the years after the 1909 flight. They formed their own airplane company in 1909 but Wilbur died of typhoid fever in 1910. Orville continued a long-running, ultimately successful lawsuit over patents that was decided in his favor in 1914. But Orville didn’t like business and left the firm in 1915. He made his last flight in 1918 and became an elder statesman, serving on many boards and committees.

He died in 1948, having seen the destruction wrought by airplanes he had helped invent. Asked about that legacy, he replied: “We dared to hope we had invented something that would bring lasting peace to the earth. But we were wrong…No, I don’t have any regrets about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no one could deplore more than I do the destruction it has caused. I feel about the airplane much the same as I do in regard to fire. That is, I regret all the terrible damage caused by fire, but I think it is good for the human race that someone discovered how to start fires and that we have learned how to put fire to thousands of important uses.”

So when you see a plane in the sky, think for a moment about that flight in July 1909 and about the ways that advances, like airplanes, can be used for good or for ill.

Be well, stay safe, fight for justice, and try to invent things that bring lasting peace to the world.