Biological Origins
The earliest flying creature is thought to be the Archaeopteryx, based on the evidence of wing-like apendages. These were dinosaur-esque critters that lived in the Jurassic era millions of years ago. More commonly known is the Pteradacytl; another flying dinosaur long-extinct. Birds, bats, and flying insects are far more familiar to us. These exist in a wide variety as discussed on Flying Things. The birds have long been the main source of inspiration for human flight.
Early Dreamers
Evidence for humans fantasizing about flight goes back thousands of years.
- The Ancient Greeks told the story of heroes riding the winged horse Pegaus, and the boy Icarus whose father built him a pair of bird wings so he could fly.
- Eilmer of Malmesbury was an English monk in the early 1000s who took the legend of Icarus too literally, and attached bird-like wings to his arms and launched himself off of a tower. He managed to glide ~220 yards but was unable to stabilize and crashed hard, breaking both his legs.
Pioneers
The following helped contribute towards advancements in flight:
- Chinese inventors created the first flying kites in 400BC
- Leonardo da Vinci was an inventor and artist in the 1480s. He was the epitome of a Renaissance Man, who, in addition to painting the Mona Lisa, studied bird flight and designed flying devices, including gliders, an early parachute, and an early helicopter. He is rumored to have built and flow a manned bat-like ornithopter, but this is contested and there is no definitive proof. He did however paint a “birds eye” perspective of a nearby valley which raises some interesting questions…
- Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier created and rode the first hot air balloon in the 1780s
- George Cayley created the first wing designs in the early 1800s
- Otto Lilienthal (1848 – 1896) is known as the Father of Gliding Flight. He was a German inventor who studied bird flight and built and flew numerous glider designs. His book, Birdflight as the Basis for Aviation, is an aeronautical classic, though outdated in terms of scientific accuracy. Otto was one of the key sources of inspiration for the Wright Brothers. (Fun fact: Otto met his wife through a common love of music; she played piano and he played French Horn.) On August 9, 1896 Otto fell 49feet in a test flight and broke his back. He died a few hours later saying, “Sacrifices must be made.”
First Powered Flight
- December 17, 1903 – Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the first powered, heavier-than-air craft in a controlled, sustained flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. They tried again later that day and achieved a 59 second flight covering 852 feet. Their vehicle, the Wright Flyer, was a canard (tail-first), bi-plane aircraft, with the pilot laying prone on top of the lower wing. They used wing-warping with their flexible wings to control roll. The Wrights refined their designs and were able to achieve flights up to X minutes, covering Y miles.
Soon after the Wrights’ first flight, the aviation industry exploded and military organizations began utilizing aircraft for war-fighting efforts. (WWI began in 1914; a WWI-era airplane is shown here.)
Higher/Faster/Farther
March 3, 1915 – The United States government founded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to conduct aeronautical research. NACA research included airfoil parameterization (many airfoils are named after NACA), supersonic flight studies, wind-tunnel studies, etc. NACA later became what is now NASA.
May 20/21, 1927 – Charles Lindbergh made the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean (New York to Paris) aboard the Spirit of St. Louis.
June 17, 1928 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air. Later, in an attempt at a round-the-world flight she disappeared off the coast of Hawaii on July 2, 1937 and was never found.
May 6, 1937 – The Hindenburg (airship/dirigible) caught fire and was destroyed, killing 35 of the 97 passengers, and 1 person on the ground. This was a very public disaster that was covered extensively by the media, which destroyed public confidence in airship safety and ended the era of airship transportation.
August 1939 – Heinkel He 178 was the first jet airplane, marking the dawn of a new era of manned flight: Jet Propulsion.
1940s – Aircraft designer/engineer, pilot, and film producer Howard Hughes set several aviation records. Hughes suffered from OCD and is known for his eccentricity and reclusiveness.
October 14, 1947 – Chuck Yeager was the first to reach the speed of sound (Mach 1) aboard the Bell X-1, which he named the Glamourous Glennis, after his wife.
February 26 – March 2, 1949 – The Lucky Lady II aircraft made the first non-stop flight around the world; required 8 in-flight refuelings.
October 4, 1957 – Sputnik-1, the first man-made satellite, was put into Low-Earth Orbit by the Russian Space Agency kicking off the “Space Race” with the United States.
July 29, 1958 – The U.S. government converted NACA into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to perform aeronautic and space-based research. NASA is best known for the Mercury/Gemini missions (which focused on learning to launch rockets, perform rendezvous/docking operations in orbit, and return crew safely to Earth), the Apollo missions (which focused on getting humans to the moon), the Space Shuttle program (which focused on building and transporting crew to/from the ISS), and now the Artemis program (which is focused on returning to and building a sustained presence on the Moon via the Gateway station, in order to pave the way to living on Mars).
April 12, 1961 – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space.
January 27, 1967 – A fire broke out inside the Apollo 1 capsule during a test on the launch-pad prior to flight. The fire took the lives of astronauts Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee.
July 20, 1969 – The Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the moon. Michael Collins monitored from the crew module in orbit while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface, declaring, “Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.” When Neil exited the lander onto the lunar surface he coined the famous phrase, “It’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
April 11 – 17, 1970 – The Apollo 13 mission was cut-short after an explosion in the service module on the outbound leg to the moon. The world watched and prayed as NASA raced against time to save the crew, which they did. Flight Director Gene Kranz led the rescue efforts, and is attributed with the phrase “failure is not an option” (this was just in the movie though, he did not actually say this during the mission).
October 21, 1973 – The Militky MB-E1 was the first manned, electric airplane, marking the dawn of yet another era of manned flight: Electric Flight.
January 28, 1986 – The Challenger Space Shuttle exploded shortly after takeoff due to O-ring failure in the solid rocket boosters. This accident claimed the lives of all 7 crew members.
July 25, 2000 – A Concorde jet (supersonic commerical aircraft) crashed during takeoff, killing everyone on-board. Three years later, the Concorde aircraft were retired.
February 1, 2003 – The Columbia Space Shuttle was destroyed during re-entry due to holes in the heat-shield material that were created by debris impact during ascent. All 7 crew members perished in this accident.
October 14, 2012 – As part of the Red Bull Stratos project, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner flew up 24 miles in a balloon and jumped out with a parachute. He reached 853mph (Mach 1.25) before deploying his chute. His entire descent lasted 10 minutes. At the time, this set the record for the highest manned flight with a balloon and highest altitude jump.
March 9, 2015 – July 26, 2016 – Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg flew around the world in the Solar Impulse 2, using only solar power.
May 30, 2020 – SpaceX (one of Elon Musk’s companies) launched the first crewed commercially-developed rocket; a Falcon-9, carrying a crewed Dragon capsule named the Endurance, wherein astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode to the ISS.
April 19, 2021 – Perseverance (NASA’s latest Mars rover) deployed the autonomous Ingenuity Helicopter which took flight on Mars, becoming the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Aircraft need atmosphere in order to fly. Mars has an atmosphere, but it is much thinner than Earth’s, requiring specially designed blades that were tested on Earth in a chamber that mimics the Martian atmosphere.
June 4, 2021 – Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray successfully performed the first aerial refueling between an autonomous/unmanned tanker (MQ-25) and a manned receiver aircraft (FA-18) during a test in Illinois.
July 11, 2021 – Richard Branson (CEO of Virgin Galactic) becomes first billionaire to ride to space on his own privately developed spacecraft. Jeff Bezos (CEO of Blue Origin & Amazon) followed suit on his own spacecraft 9 days later.