The patent for the Wright Brothers’ “flying machine,” the invention that gave birth to modern aviation as we know it, was returned to the National Archives earlier this week. What’s strange is that it was never missing in the first place.
While it’s fun to imagine Orville and Wilbur’s plans as the centerpiece of an Oceans Eleven-style heist, the truth about its absence is far more pedestrian: someone simply misplaced it.
via Gizmodo
Image: National Archives and Records Administration
