History of Flight

For our course, we will define flight as meeting the following characteristics: – The act, manner, or power of flying or moving through space above the ground and/or water –Act must be controlled – Flying device must be intended to return to the ground safely and be able to be used repeatedly

First “known” flights Icarus – Ancient Greek mythology – Icarus and his father Daedalus were imprisoned on the island of Crete – Minotaur guarded cell

Daedalus was an talented craftsman – Build 2 sets of wings for he and Icarus to escape the prison by flying – Wings made of wood frame with wax and feathers

What did Daedalus warn Icarus of before they took off? “Do not fly too close to the sun or too close to the sea.”

“Do not fly too close to the sun or too close to the sea.”

Too close to the sea… …the feathers would get wet and become too heavy to work Too close to the sun… …wax melted and the feathers fell off Icarus fell into the sea below and drowned

The oldest recorded flying objects were…. – …..kites! – Originated in Ancient China – The earliest recorded flying kite was in 200 B.C.E.

First Successful Human Flight (maybe) 559 C.E. Chinese Prince Yuan Huangtou – Imprisoned for using a puppet to impersonate the Emperor – Escapes by tying himself to a kite and flying out of prison – (there are no records of this- so we are not sure if the story is 100% true)