Aircraft

Aircraft History

Important Dates in Airplane Development:

1500--The Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci made drawings of flying machines with flapping wings.

1783--Two Frenchmen--Jean F. Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Adlandes--made the first free lighter-than-air ascent. They made the ascent in a hot-air balloon.

1804--Sir George Cayley of Great Britain flew the first successful model glider.

1843--William S. Henson, a British inventor, patented plans for a steam-driven airplane that had many of the basic parts of a modern airplane.

1848--John Stringfellow of Great Britain built a small model based on Henson's plane. It was launched but remained in the air only briefly.

1891-1896--Otto Lilienthal, a German, became the first person to successfully pilot a gliders in flight.

1896--Samuel P. Langley of the United States flew a steam powered model plane.

1903--Orville and Wilbur Wright of the United States made the first engine-powered, heavier-than-air flights, near Kitty Hawk, N.C. Their first flight went 120 feet (37 meters) and lasted only about 12 seconds.

1906--Trajan Vuia, a Romanian inventor, built the first full-sized monoplane, but it could not fly.

1909--Louis Bleriot of France became the first perso to fly across the English Channel.

1913--Igor I. Sikorsky, a Russian inventor, built and flew the first four-engine plane.

1915--The first flight of an all-metal, cantilever-wing plane, the Junkers J 1, took place in Germany.

1924--The first all-metal, tri-motor transport, the Junkers G 23, was test-flown in Germany.

1927--The Lockheed Vega, a single-engine transport, flew for the first time. It became one of the most popular transport planes of the 1920's and early 1930's

1936--Douglas DC-3 transport planes entered airline service in the United States. They became the most widely used airliners in history.

1939--The first successful flight of a jet-engine airplane took place in Germany.

1942--The Bell Aircraft Company built the first jet airplane in the United States. It was flown by Robert M. Stanley at Muroc Dry Lake, California.

1947--Charles Yeager, a U.S. Air Force captain, made the first supersonic flight, in a Bell X-1 rocket plane.

1952--De Havilland Comets, the world's first large commercial jetliners, began service.

1953--The first turboprop transport, the Vickers Viscount, began regular airline service.

1953--The North American F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter became the first operational supersonic fighter.

1958--The Boeing 707 began the first US jet transport service between the United States and Europe.

1968--Russian pilots test-flew the world's first supersonic transport plane, the TU-144.

1970--The first jumbo jet, the Boeing 747, entered airline service.

1976--The Concorde, a supersonic transport plane built by Britain and France, began passenger service.

1983--A Rockwell Sabreliner became the first plane to cross the Atlantic Ocean with a pilot guided only by a satellite navigation system.

1995--The Boeing 777 airliner, the world's largest twin-engine jet, began passenger service.

Important Dates in the Lives of the Wright Brothers

1890--The brothers' father gives them a flying toy made by the Frenchman, Penaud. It is their first exposure to a winged craft and it sparks their imaginations.

August 1896--The brothers read about Lilienthal's death and discuss his work and research on flight. This is when the first seeds of how to fly were planted in their minds.

June 1899--Wilbur writes a letter to the Smithsonian Institution, asking for research information about flight. This forms the basis of their design.

May 1900--Wilbur begins corresponding with Octave Chanute who shared research information he had been gathering about flight. This gave the brothers someone with whom they could discuss aeronautical ideas.

July 1899--Wilbur's observations of how birds use their wings during turbulence give him the idea of "wing warping." He successfully tries out the theory on a biplane kite.

October 1900--The brothers fly their first glider at Kitty Hawk where they are baffled by a problem with the center of air pressure and how unstable it is. This causes them to redesign the wings' horizontal rudders to a proper size and shape to counterbalance the changing center of air pressure on the wings.

August 1901--Although they had broken the distance for glider flight carrying humans, they are still confounded by the problem of control during turning (drag caused the aircraft to slip sideways and lose control). This inspires them to create a wind tunnel with which to test wing theories.

November 1901--The brothers create their own wind tunnel to test the effectiveness of different types of wing camber on lift and drag.

September 1902--Orville unexpectedly discovers the stalling angle of wings.

October 1902--Trouble with "tailspin" prompts the brothers to redesign the vertical rudder that features one large movable flap.

February 1903--An engine especially designed for their aircraft is made by the brothers and their mechanic, Charlie Taylor. Previously there were no engines small, light or powerful enough to be used for aircraft. The brothers design one just for this purpose. Propellers are also designed. And just like the engine, the brothers do the original research and experiments to design the best type of propellers.

November 1903--While testing the engine, the drive shafts are damaged. Even after repairing the drive shafts, the brothers realize that the shafts have to be made of steel, not wood. This makes the shafts stronger.

December 1903--They make four powered flights.

1905--Wilbur stays airborne for 38 minutes, flying 24 miles.

1908--Orville flies for over an hour with a passenger. They also sign a contract with the governments of the US and France to manufacture aircraft.