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Lighter than air craft first gave humans the ability to fly. Balloons and airships
were the first chapters in the story of the history of flight which have seen mankind reach for the
stars.
These craft were magical in their ability to float through the air, but they had
many drawbacks. Balloons only went where the wind blew them, and were limited to
good weather. Dirigibles were controllable, but were saddled with inappropriate
engines in their beginning stages and also were vulnerable to storms. They were
also very slow.
The dream of controllable, powered flight was an ancient aspiration which had
occupied some of the philosophers thoughts early in our history. Many believed that
flight could be achieved by imitating the wing movements of birds, but human body is
too weak and heavy to achieve flight this way. Recent years muscle powered flight
has been achieved using a bicycle-like apparatus. Only athletes in top condition can
fly these machines.
The first aircraft built were kites, which apparently made their appearance sometime
in the fifth century. They were flown chiefly for amusement, but were also used by
early scientists studying the possibilities of flight. An English monk, and scientist,
Roger Bacon was the first person in history that we know of who seriously studied the concept of
flight. He lived from 1214 - 1294, and was one of the western world’s first real
scientists. His studies convinced him that if a craft were properly constructed,
air would support it in the same manner in which water supports a boat.
We had to wait three hundred years before the next notable advancements came in the
history of flight. Leonardo Da Vinci never flew, but he thought about it a lot. He
designed three different types of flying machine - the helicopter, glider, and
ornithopter. The ornithopter was designed with wings which were supposed to flap
like a bird’s. These craft were never built, and wouldn’t have flown anyway, as they
were designed to use the human body as a power source. Da Vinci lived about four
hundred years before the steam or internal combustion engine was developed and
muscle power was the only power source he knew.
As we’ve seen earlier in this series, advances in engine technology proved
revolutionary the history of transportation and flight. The invention of the internal
combustion engine in the nineteenth century virtually created the aircraft
revolution. The light, powerful engines were ideal for aircraft. Although steam
engines were used by some early aviators, they were too heavy and cumbersome for
airplanes.
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