Early Flight Many people have flown in an airplane or are going to at some point in their lifetime, but most people do not know how the airplane came about or about aviation history at all. Samuel P. Langley played a very big part in the history of aviation. Although Langley was not always into aviation, he gained interest in it in the latter part of his life. Before aviation, Langley was a distinguished mathematician and astronomer who later became the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Langley was the first major aviation figure in the U.S. Langley did not always have great success in the aviatio