| People have dreamed of flying since ancient times. | | | | 36.5 meters, the length of a modern Boeing 747. By |
| About six thousand years ago drawings on tombs in | | | | 1905, they could fly for thirty minutes and do circles |
| Egypt showed gods that could fly. Leonardo da Vinci, | | | | and figure eights. |
| who lived five hundred years ago, was very interested | | | | By the time the first World War broke out, airplanes, |
| in flight and believed the way to do it was to flap | | | | though unreliable were used in combat. As the war |
| wings as birds do. He drew numerous pictures of flying | | | | progressed, airplane design improved. Better engines |
| machines, but never tried to build any. | | | | resulted in bigger planes, higher speeds and longer |
| The invention of the steam engine changed everything | | | | flights. By this time people thought of airplanes as |
| and contributed to the development of flight. Machines | | | | military machines, so once the war ended, production |
| could make products such as new kinds of steel, cloth | | | | of new airplanes stopped for awhile. By the mid-l920's, |
| and metal wire. Inventors used these materials to try | | | | other uses evolved for the airplane, which changed the |
| and build flying machines. Between 1891 and 1896, Otto | | | | perception of it being only a military tool. Pilots flew to |
| Lilienthal of Germany, made over two thousand flights | | | | remote areas, bringing supplies and opening up the lines |
| in gliders constructed of wood, cloth, and wire and | | | | of communication. Surplus bi-planes from the war |
| proved that flight was possible. | | | | were being used for stunt flying, airplane races and |
| Then the Wright brothers came along. Though they | | | | short rides for ordinary citizens. |
| repaired bicycles for a living, they were very interested | | | | All this changed in 1927, when Charles Lindbergh flew |
| in flight, and after studying the work of Lilienthal, they | | | | from New York to Paris in thirty three hours. This |
| decided to design a flying machine with strong but | | | | stirred people's imagination and eventually led to flights |
| lightweight materials. The Wright brothers used metal | | | | into unheard of territory. Amelia Earhart became the |
| tubes from bicycle frames, the wires from the wheel | | | | first woman to fly a plane. In the l930's planes became |
| spokes and the bicycle chain to drive the propeller. | | | | people movers, and as they say, the rest is history. |
| After thousands of test flights and a long search for a | | | | Things will only get better with development of new |
| light engine they came up with the first biplane. Their | | | | technologies and materials. The next great frontier to |
| first historic flight on December 17, 1903, took place | | | | be explored will probably be space. |
| near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and they traveled at | | | | |