Air Travel through the Ages

by Michael Doss

Many individuals have had great impacts on the advancement of air travel. The Chinese had made mention of flying machines as early as A.D. 320. Leonardo da Vinci drew sketches of helicopters three hundred years before the first one was ever assembled. Man has always dreamt of flying. The greatest example of this dream is told in the Greek story of Daedalus. In an attempt to fly he constructed wings which melted because of the sun’s heat.

In recent history, the dreams of flying have become a reality. Many different approaches have been taken in attempts to reach the goal of flight but the most success has come with balloons, airplanes, or helicopters.

Two French brothers, Jacques Etienne and Joseph Michel Montgolfier began experimenting with balloons in the late 1700s. They experimented by filling small paper bags with smoke. After several studies they concluded the hot air caused the bags to rise. Annonay, France, was the location for their first test of a large smoke-filled balloon. The first flight on June 4, 1783, was successful, so three months later the brothers launched a balloon carrying a duck, a rooster and a sheep. This flight was another success. The animal flight lasted eight minutes and no animals were harmed in the testing.

Jean Francios Pilatre de Rozier went up in one of the Montgolfier balloons on October 15, 1783. He became the first person to fly in a balloon.

At the same time the Montgolfier brothers were making flights, Jacques Alexandre Charles was experimenting with hydrogen balloons. With the help of two brothers, Anne-Jean and Marie-Noel Roberts, Charles was able to make the first hydrogen balloons take flight. The first flight took place on August 27, 1783, in Paris. Their first manned flight occurred on December 1, 1783. Marie-Noel and Jacque rose 2000 feet above Paris before drifting twenty-five miles away from the city.

While some men were experimenting with balloons, others were enticed by the lure of the helicopter. The first, flying helicopter was built in 1784, by Launoy and Bienvenu. The Frenchmen based their model on the Chinese flying tops. Although the first helicopter was built in 1784, the first manned helicopter flight did not take place until 1907. A French inventor, Louis Breguet flew his helicopter two feet off the ground for one minute. His assistants held ropes attached to the helicopter so he wouldn’t fly away. Paul Cornu, another Frenchman, made the first free flight in a helicopter later that year. His flight only lasted twenty seconds, but he reached the astonishing height of six feet.

Many other individuals worked on the development of the helicopter in the coming years. However, the greatest gains came during and after World War Two. These gains were made by nations who were using the helicopter for military purposes.

The airplane subdivision of air travel really began to take off in 1804. At this time, a British inventor by the name of Sir George Cayley built the first successful glider. At first the gliders flew unmanned but as time passed, manned flights were made. Cayley was also the founder of aerodynamics. Over the next hundred years, man people worked to make manned flights on a glider with a motor a reality.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first people to successfully fly an airplane with a motor. Orville became the first man to successfully fly a power-driven, heavier-than-air machine on December 17, 1903. The flight lasted for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three more flights were made that day. Wilbur made the longest flight, staying in the air for 59 seconds and flying over 852 feet.

Orville	Wilbur

Even though they made ground breaking achievements, the flights went unrecognized for several years since no important officials witnessed the flights. In 1906, Wilbur began making demonstration flights in France. The world has never been the same since. The Wright brothers have received many awards and they will always be remembered as two of the greatest inventors to ever come from the United States of America.

Many advances in airplanes have been made in the ninety-plus years since the Wrights flights. Some advances were made for military purposes, some for commercial purposes and some for the purpose of travel. Another American, William Edward Boeing was responsible for some of the greatest leaps in the travel industry. He founded the Pacific Aero Products Company, which has since been re-named the Boeing Company. He established a pioneer airline for personal travel in 1927. Since that time, airplanes have become one of the most commonly used means of transportation.

In 1969 man took a spacecraft to the moon. There is currently talk of someday soon traveling to Mars. With the advances that are being made in technology today, the reality of Star Trek may not be that far off. Before that happens though, individuals must keep dreaming as Daedalus did and then find ways to make their dreams reality.

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