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1505
Leonardo Da Vinci analizes the idea of flying
Leonardo started searching for a way that made possible for man flying, so he started paying attetion to the birds, the way they fly, and then tries to reproduce that conditions in a machine, which actually found a solution to a big quantity of mechanical problems thanks to the interest and responsabilty the grat painter and inventor took. -
De Lana Terzi creates the first design of a flying machine
Francesco de Lana Terzi designs a machine, which he pretended to be lighter in the airm in the shape of a ship boosted by a candle. It had the objective of floating through space. It consisted on four sphers, six diameters long each, those which he would have practiced the vacuum on, and oriented by oars. Though the principle was valid, it wouldn't have worked. -
Henry Cavendish discovers Hydrogen
It was called on that time, the "flamable air" because of its properties, however in aviation, it is one, if not "THE" most important discovery, because it helped find the way to lift the objects from the ground because of its light weight. Experiment done by Joseph Black on the University of Edinburgh. -
Experiments and Observations of Different Kinds of Air
Joseph Priestley starts making different kind of experiments to prove Hydrogen force, and also reports more experiments on other gases and "airs". This work was very important, because on one of his six volumes he published the discovery of Oxygen, which he called "dephlogisticated air". -
Montgolfier brothers fly their hot air balloon
Thanks to the years of research of the scientist Priestley and Cavallo, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier learned how to insufflate their paper hot air balloon. He and his brother Jacques-Etienne Motgolfier, they lifted their masterpiece over the city of Annonay. Couple of moths later, Pilatre de Rozier becomes the first man to fly in a balloon. -
History and Practice of Aerostation
Tiberius Cavallo, has been making experiments for years on the ascendent force of Hydrogen in the UK. After all this researchm he starts making exhibitions of soap bubbles filled with gas to prove them, and then finally writes the results of his years researching, in his book "History and Practice of Aerostation" -
Blanchard and Jeffries fly over the English Channel
Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries manages to fly over the whole English Channel in front of all the people in a hot air balloon in January. In June, the first man who flew in a balloon, Pilatre de Rozier, dies trying to replicates Jean-Pierre and Jeffries' achievement and becomes the first victim of air navigation. -
Invention of the Glider
George Cayley, a british engineer, considered as the father of aerodinamic, studied the tenets of how to maintain objects in the air. Taking that into consideration, he learned that his creation should use the hot air streams, however his problem was the ascension, because they should be carried by horses and thrown from a high cliff thanks to the lack of engine. -
Green realices the first balloon international flight
Charles Green starts his adventure in a balloon on London, and finishes it in Nassau. He flew approximately 768 kilometers in a flight about 18 hours long. -
The first "airplane"?
After several failures, a follower of Cayley, William Samuel Henson, designed the first airplane which was equipped with a steam engine, propellers and a fixed wing. This idea was taken also by Henson, Cayley and later by John Stringleflow, who improved some aspects of the design, however it didn't have much success, because as its managed to take off, it only lasted 2 or 3 seconds in the air. Unfortunatelly for them, the next step in the history of the first plane, happened several years later. -
First man to fly on a glider
The first man to fly on a glider, was Cayleys coachman and assistant. He became the first man to fly. This made the surroundings of Scarborough in the british Yorkshire from one day to another. -
Planophore
The Planophore, an invention done by Alphonse Penaud, flies about 200 meters in Tullerias. This was important because it was one of the first designs that started looking like an actual airplane. -
Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst
Otto Lilienthal, considered as one of the fathers of aeronautics, discovered very important things on the origin of airplanes, and made several experiments to prove it. He wrote all his discoveries and compared it to the fly of the birds in his book "Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst". This book was considered like, a Bible on flying machines. -
Ader Eole
Clement Ader was the inventor of one of the first flying machines in history, which was an early steam-powered aircraft. It looked like a bat and relied on its flapping wings. Many people consider this the actual first true airplane, and it managed to stay in the air for about 50 meters and reached a height of 20 centimeters. -
Lilienthal and his glider flights
Otto Lilienthal decided to take advantage of the wind and the natural air steams by throwing himself from a cliff. His experiments happened several times and developed aeronauticas, boosting it to become an exact science. However, he lost his life in one of his attempts. By that time he had already done more than a hundred experiments, where he even managed to control the direction of the glider, by moving his body, however his purpose was sports. -
First piloted flight
In Connecticut, Gustave Whitehead, german inventor, managed to fly three times his "Number 21" in front of witnesses. The longes flight he did whas of 2.5 kilometers at 60 meters of height. He worked with Lilienthal on the gliders he did and in 1900 he worked in his Number 21, to make the first engine flight around the world, and it was even longer than the one achieved by the Wright brothers two years later, also known for being architects of the first flight. -
The Wright brothers
Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved their first piloted flight on december 1903, but their story starts in 1899 where they experimented with the ideas of Lilienthal about the torsion of the wing, and in 1900 they built the first of three glides to start making little flight over the shore of North Carolina, place picked because of the strong and constant wind. Back to december 1903, they built the called "Flyer", boosted by two combustion engines and made the first piloted boosted flight. -
Flyer II
The Wright brothers strike again and create the Flyer II, with 12 meters long, 16 CV engine and a couple of propellers. The masterpiece came on the first airport in history, the Huffman Pairie, next to Dayton, Ohio. This success helped the airplane to nod, dive and turn thanks to the ailerons. -
Dumont's first flight
Alberto Santos Dumont, since he was a little kid showed interest in aeronautics. He dedicated his life building prototypes of airships, which made him gain popularity in Paris. It was until september 6, when he managed to do his first engine airplane flight on the "14-bis", achieving a distance of 221 meters in front of a big audience. This machine used the same warp system as the Wright brothers' model, Flyer, however it didn't need to use rails, wind or catapults. -
The 1,000 mark
Finally, after years of experiments and developmentes, the first airplane with a flight for over 1 kilometers long, is made by Henri Forman in the Issy-les Molineaux. -
First aviation death
On the plane built and piloted by Orville Wright, the lieutenant Thomas Selfridge falls from the airplane and dies in September of the same year that the first 1 kilometer flight was done. -
English Channel mission, done!
The French engineer, Louis Bleriot, was the first person that could fly across the English Channel completely, 21 miles that crossed from Calais, France to Dover, England. -
Crossing the Alps
Jorge Antonio Chávez was a Peruvian aviator, who at a young age, gained popularity thanks to his aeronautical feats. He was the person who took the responsibility and courage needed to win one major achievement in the history of aviation, crossing the Alps. However, his story had a tragic end, as he died of a broken wing on his fragile plane and falling from a twenty meter fall, after achieving his record. -
It's war time now
After all the modernization and development aviation had, governments couldn't let go the opportunity to release their newest toys and used them on the first of many aerial combats along the history of humanity. -
Can metal fly?
At the time, this was the most important discussion among aviation experts. The idea of an aircraft being made entirely of metal seemed technically and financially impossible, so aircraft were built from the lightest possible materials, such as wood and steel cables. However, Hugo Junkers saw things differently and saw the future of aviation. His plane the J-1 was revolutionary because it was the first to be entirely metal and the first to be a monoplane. -
Replicate and improving achievements
The chilen aviator, Dagoberto Godoy, achieves a new award, that looks like his predecesor Geo Chávez, but he crosses a mountain at the other side of the world and manages to fly over the Alndes on its highest zone. -
An Atlantic Achievement
The first aerial service with passenger is created by Luft-Reederei. The inaugural flight is from Paris to London in a transformed bomber from the Farman Society, which started giving international services to passengers. British pilots, Alcock and Whitten-Brown crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Terranova to Ireland in June. -
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The metal transition
Junkers found the J1's steel to be strong and durable, but also heavy and unwieldy. Therefore, he turned to aluminum, which was beginning to emerge as a viable manufacturing material. It was ideal for aircraft because it was a third the weight of steel and stronger. The German used it to develop the first civil aircraft such as the F13 and G24. Junkers' work caught the attention of Henry Ford, who copied it. These aircraft ushered in the era of long-distance civil aviation. -
Women too!
Adrienne Bolland become the first pilot in history, and achieves the same as her predecesor, Godoy, to prove them wrong, and manages to fly over the Andes. -
Lindbergh's flight over the ocean
Charles Lindbergh manages to complete one of the first flights without scales, and crosses all the Atlantic from Paris to New York all alone and on his own. -
Earhart says she can do it just as good
On may, Amelia Earhart, the courageous pilot, believed she could cross the ocean too, and so she did, she managed to cross the Atlantic on her own and alone, just as Lindbergh, but not as long. -
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It's carbon fiber time
Fiberglass was the first super lightweight composite material to be used in aircraft. When it was fitted to fairings, noses, and cockpits. It could also be found on the rotor blades of various helicopters such as the Bölkow Bo 105 and BK 117. The AS350 Écureuil helicopter's main rotor was made of fiberglass composite, which significantly reduced the number of parts used for this design. However, the stiffness of the material resulted in it is little used in the structures of other aircraft. -
War, again and again!
Thanks to the effort of the Royal Air Force, England manages to stop the german invasion, which helped the country not to be conquered, and later be a powerful ally to the Americans and Frenchs to combat the Nazis. -
Atomic bombs, what can be worst?
Maybe one of the worst uses people could have given to an airplane, however, it's history and it's important to mention it. After the Pearl Harbor attack and Oppenheimer's discoveries, USA sends the Air Force to bomb Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, throwing the two known atomic bombs that destroyed thousands of people and land, which also led to the late victory of the Allies. -
I can't hear anything!
The USA creates of the first jet protoypes, but at the time it was still an airplane. It is called the "Bell X-1" and it broke the sound barrier, becoming the fastest plane at that time. -
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Modernity in airplanes
From 1947 to the present, changes have been from minor to hugh, developing newest models, new ways to travel in plane, and new aircrafts, adding engines, pieces, speed, space, making them more comfortable, more visual, however, the important discoveries and events are already told and it helps us to realize where are we, and how, something we didn't even knew or, some considered a bizarre idea, today is more than possible, what will the future bring us? -
New Materials: Post War Era
Aerospace engineers began looking for solutions beyond metal and aluminum as high-speed aircraft became more common. Titanium appeared as a material resistant to corrosion, fatigue and high temperatures that also had strength. However, it was rare and very expensive. The industry began using titanium in small engine parts and in sections of aircraft that were exposed to high temperatures. However, skyrocketing costs and limited reserves of titanium restricted the use of this exotic material. -
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A complex world
Composites have become more common, and advances in manufacturing techniques have allowed the production of larger and more complex parts. However, metals have not become obsolete: the A350 XWB still has parts made of metal and titanium, made of aluminum-lithium alloy, making it possible to use the world's lightest metal, lithium, and reduce the weight of aluminum while improving strength, durability, and corrosion resistance.
