Leonardo just a whimsical sketcher with little idea of the detail requirements (his drawings replicate a kid's toy well known back then).
Somewhat harsh and oversimple.
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
You said you were looking to inspire pilots. Well the quote from Leonardo shows his soul was in the correct place. All the guff about the first lady this and the first bloke that..... that's just who did what. Inspiring people is about the Why.
And if you introduce Orville & Wright you'll have to expect the odd Australian history student trying to contradict you.
Icarus might have been a myth about a dreamer, but isn't it dreams that inspire? Flight is a magical experience.
The list you have is a history of aviation and personnel. IMHO to make it inspiring it needs a story, both for pilot & engineers.
If you consider the very start in early 1900's it is astonishing that there were fighter planes in WW1. Things went slowly then, but WW2 generated huge advances. And within 60 years there was Chuck Yeager & X2. The rate of progress, before computers, was astonishing and unprecedented. The engineers made it to the moon and back using slide-rules. Amazing.