Brief History of Flight Pre-WWI

Early Attempts At Flight For centuries, humans have tried to fly just like the birds. Early myths about flight and many early attempts involved fashioning wings out of birds' feathers. The results of these early attempts were often disastrous. early attempts video

Early Attempts At Flight Around 400 BC, the Chinese discovery of a kite that could fly started humans thinking about ways to fly. Kites were often used by the Chinese in religious ceremonies.

Early Attempts At Flight Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance artist, architect, inventor and engineer; made the first real studies of flight circa 1480. He produced many drawings that illustrated his theories on flight.

Early Attempts At Flight Although never actually built and tested, da Vinci’s flying machine known as the "Helical Air Screw“ is the primary concept on which modern day helicopters are based.

Balloons The Montgolfier Brothers were inventors of the first hot air balloon around 1783. They used the hot air from a fire to inflate a silk bag. The silk bag was attached to a basket. The hot air then rose and allowed the balloon to be lighter-than- air. The first passengers were a sheep, rooster and duck. It climbed to a height of about 6,000 feet, stayed aloft for 8 minutes and traveled more than 1 mile. Click for Video

Gliders – Cayley (1799 to 1850) Sir George Cayley designed many different versions of gliders over a 50 year period. Cayley was the first to identify the four forces of flight (lift, weight thrust and drag) He was also the first to build a successful human-carrying glider.

Gliders - Otto Lilienthal (1891) German engineer, Otto Lilienthal, worked to design a glider that could carry a person and fly long distances. After more than 2500 flights, he was killed when a gust of wind caused him to lose control and crash.

Gliders – Chanute (1894) Octave Chanute was a railroad engineer by trade. In 1894, he published "Progress in Flying Machines” summarizing the accomplishments of the world's aviation pioneers up to that time. In 1896 he built a series of gliders which flew successfully.

Powered Flight – Langley (1896) Samuel Langley, an astronomer, physicist and inventor, understood that human flight needed power He built a model of a plane, called “The Aerodrome” , that had a steam-powered engine. In 1891, his model flew for almost a mile before running out of fuel. His full-sized aircraft was too heavy and crashed.

The Wright Brothers The brothers operated a bicycle repair and sales shop in 1892 With a developing interest in flying and learning from preceding aviation pioneers, the brothers began experimenting with kites and gliders

The Wright Brothers By 1901, in order to check the accuracy of the aerodynamic formulas they were using, the Wright’s were testing scale models of their gliders in a wind tunnel they designed

The Wright Brothers The Wrights, realizing the need for a propulsion system, designed and built a 12-horsepower engine that weighed only 170 pounds Using their wind tunnel, they designed, tested and built the propellers

The Wright Brothers The "Flyer" lifted-off north of Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina at 10:35 am, December 17, 1903 The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered a distance of 120 feet. It was the world's first successful controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight

Pre-WWI 1904: The Wrights apply for patents for their machine 1908: U.S. Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge is the first person to die in the crash of a powered airplane. He was a passenger while Orville Wright was piloting 1908: Glenn Curtis wins Scientific American Trophy for the first public flight in America of one kilometer 1909: Wright Flyer sold to U.S. Army 1909: Louis Blériot is first to cross English Channel in airplane 1911: U.S. Navy orders Curtiss hydroplanes

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