HISTORY
OF FLYING MACHINES
1485
Leonardo da Vinci - The Ornithopter
Leonardo da Vinci was probably the first to
study and make detailed drawings of flying machines. He had over 100
illustrations on theories of flight. The Ornithopter which was never built in
his time shows his theory of how men can fly. The design and concept is similar
to a modern day helicopter (1). 
1783 Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier- The
First Hot Air Balloon
The Montgolfier brothers made the
first hot air balloon. They were clever enough to use the smoke from fires and
blow air into a silk bag, the bag was attached to a basket and when the hot air
reached the balloons it allowed them to be lighter than air, causing the basket
to rise. In the first trail, the passengers were a duck sheep and roster (the balloon
rose 6000 feet and travelled more than a mile). The first men driven flight was
on November 21, 1783 and they were, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and
Francois Laurent (1).
1799-1850’s George Cayley – Gliders
George Cayley designed many different versions of gliders
that men could fly. The first to fly one of his glider’s was a young boy. Throughout
a large portion in his life, Cayley made improvements to the wing, tail and
power of his gliders. He adjusted the tails so the stability would be greater,
made corrections to the wings to allow air to flow over and realised that there
would be a need for power if the glider were to stay in the air for a long time (1).
1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright- The First
Flight
The
Wright brothers were very intelligent and through. They did a lot of research
on flight, read most of the published books on flight in their time and tested out
theories using balloons and kites. They researched on how wind and what role it
would play during the flight. They used
shapes similar to George Cayley’s gliders. The brothers would perform tests on how gliders could be controlled and the different
shapes it could fly. Using wind tunnels to test the wings and tails of gilders
the Wright brothers, would examine the trails in the North Caroline Outer Banks
Dunes. After they found designs that would consistently fly, they turned their attention
to propulsion system (a system that provides a propelling or driving force)(2). On
December, 17, 1903 Orville piloted the first plane that was heavier than air,
it weighed six hundred and five pounds and traveled one hundred twenty feet in
twelve seconds. Their inventions are what lead to the modern day airplanes (1).
Theory of Flight
The theory of flight is and has been a part
of our natural world. Birds have the ability to fly because they have wings
that can glide in the air for long distances. Humans unfortunately don’t have
wings, but through time we have developed machines that are cable for flight
and have allowed us to progress. Due to the work of the Wright brothers we have
come to know how to make flying objects that are heavier than air. Four
physical forces must be in play for a heavier item than air to fly: lift,
drag,
weight,
and thrust (3).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2. Propulsion system - definition of propulsion system by the
Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. Dictionary, Encyclopedia
and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/propulsion+system
