I recently stumbled upon a very exciting resource for aviation history geeks like myself. Flight Global has an archive of aviation news, pictures, cutaways, etc. from 1909 to 2005. It is an amazing resource.
For example, In aviation news from today, 12/4 – 100 years ago i1909, we can read about a monoplane constructed by Howard T. Wright (a British aircraft builder – not a forgotten Wright Brother..) 27 ft wide by 28 ft. long, weighing 500lbs with motor – a 30 HP air-cooled motor.
Just a little over a year later in Dec. 18th 2010, a Howard T. Wright biplane set a new cross-country world record flying 169 miles from England to Belgium – flown by Thomas (“Tommy”, a.k.a Sir Thomas) Sopwith when he was 22 years old.
Tom Sopwith himself went on to found the Sopwith Aircraft Company in 1912 – a major manufacturer of WW-I military aircraft – many animal-named (such as “Pup” or “Camel”) which gave the company a nickname “The Flying Zoo”.
Interestingly, Tom Sopwith lived to a remarkably old age – especially for anyone involved in aviation in those days. He lived to be 101 years old and died in 1989.
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