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

1. History of Flight. UEET Kid's Site. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://www.ueet.nasa.gov/StudentSite/historyofflight.html

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

3. Theory of Flight. MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://web.mit.edu/16.00/www/aec/flight.html