|
The first flight
Human flight is a dream that has obsessed man from the earliest of times. A
look at the ancient literature of the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Assyrians and
the Chinese reveal stories of kings, gods and heroes who all endeavoured to harness
the power of flight. Of course, man’s earliest inspiration to fly was the
bird. He has for centuries tried to imitate the winged flight of these creatures.
As early as the 3rd Century, the Chinese were building and experimenting with
kites, understanding and perfecting the laws of aerodynamics. It wasn’t until
the 16th Century, however, that the West started making real progress. It was
Leonardo da Vinci, a skilled mechanical engineer – among many other things
– who sketched crude designs for helicopters, and parachutes as well as for
gliders with flapping wing tips. He even built models of some of these designs.
Over the next couple of centuries various men attempted to defy gravity by
strapping wings to their arms and flapping vigorously as they leapt from hillsides
and tall buildings. None of them, however, were successful.
In 1783, two French brothers, the Montgolfier’s, discovered that they
could make small paper balloons rise swiftly and smoothly into the air by inflating
them with hot air. On November 21, 1783 a large-scale ‘fire balloon’
carried two passengers on a 25 minute ride over Paris. Soon balloon technology
was enhanced and hydrogen began to be used to inflate the balloons. By 1862, ‘aeronauts’
had travelled by balloon all over the United States and Europe, having reached
altitudes of over 8 kilometers.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, gasoline and electric powered dirigibles
were developed. These made air navigation more possible, but they were very slow
and inefficient. Something better was needed.
In 1889 German engineer Otto Lilienthal published a book entitled ‘Bird
Flight As the Basis of Aviation.’ Two years later he built the first simple
glider. Lilienthal’s design was enhanced by others. A double winged glider
made a huge advancement in the design of heavier than air flying machines. Orville
and Wilbur Wright, bicycle shop owners from Dayton, Ohio began their first glider
experiments in 1900. Over the next three years they built on their accomplishments,
experimenting at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. They built a four cylinder, 12-horse
powered engine and mounted it on the lower wing of their plane. The engine powered
two wooden propellers, one on each side of the plane’s rear rudder.
On December 14, 1903 the Wrights' plane stayed in the air for three and a half
seconds. Three days later the plane stayed airborne for nearly a full minute.
It covered a distance of 260 meters. At the time of this turning point in history,
only three newspapers in the United States bothered to publish the story.
What began thousands of years ago with a desire to soar like a bird, and was
enlarged upon through the ages by such men as da Vinci, the Montgolfier’s,
Lilienthal and the Wright Brothers has totally changed the world we live in. The
world has become a much smaller place as Concordes can zoom us around it in record
time. So, next time you find yourself strapped to a seat thousands of feet above
the earth, spare a thought for those early pioneers of flight – the dreamers
who made it possible for us to fly like a bird.
|
