Aviation history
The first human flight ever took place in Paris in 1783: Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois d'Arlandes went 5 miles in a hot air ballon called the Montgolfiere.
The first powered (and controlled and sustained) flight took place in 1852 (15 miles, Henri Giffard, France, with a steam engine mounted on a dirigible).
The first recorded flight by a manned heavier-than-air glider took place in 1853 at Brompton, near Scarborough in Yorkshire. The craft was designed and built by Sir George Cayley, and flown by his coachman.
The first powered heavier-than-air flight took place in 1890 (Clement Ader, France, steam engine on bat-winged monoplane, 60 yards).
The first controlled heavier-than-air flights took place in the 1890s (Otto Lilienthal, 400 yards), the first long-distance rigid-body flights in 1901 (Zeppelin, many miles, later the first passenger flights).
Englishman Percy Pilcher built a working glider called The Hawk which he flew in 1899. He had advanced plans for a powered version, but lacking sponsorship, was unable to built a prototype. He crashed to his death giving a gliding demonstration to a would-be sponsor, and his plans were forgotten. Recent research shows that his powererd design was very likely to have worked.
Cayley's work was known to the Wright brothers of the United States, who extended the technology of flight with the principles of control still used today. The Wright brothers had researched and initially relied upon the aeronautical literature of the day, including Otto Lilienthal's tables, but found that they had errors. So they built a wind tunnel. They were the first to use a wind tunnel in the design of an aeroplane.
The Wrights made the first photographed controlled powered heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. The first flight by Orville Wright, of 120 feet in 12 seconds, was recorded in a famous photograph. In the fourth flight of the same day, Wilbur Wright flew 852 feet in 59 seconds.
In New Zealand, South Canterbury farmer and inventor Richard Pearse constructed a monoplane aircraft that he reputedly flew before the Wright brothers. There is evidence that Pearse flew on March 31, 1903. However even Pearse himself admitted the flight was uncontrolled and ended in a crash landing on a hedge. Contradictory statements from Pearse and the lack of good contemporary documentary evidence means the year of Pearse's flight is uncertain and for many years was accepted as 1904. More recent research strongly indicates the flight took place in 1903. Unlike the Wrights, Pearse was unable to repeat his flights in a sustained manner.
Alberto Santos-Dumont made the first public flight on September 13, 1906 in Paris. His design, like the Wrights' design, used a canard elevator and wing-warping, and covered a distance of 221 metres. Unlike the Wright bros he did not need headwinds or catapults to start his plane - his flights qualify as the first truly self-powered ones.
Around the same time, two English inventors Henry Farman and John William Dunne were also working separately on powered flying machines. In January 1908, Farman won the Grand Prix d'Aviation with a machine which flew for 1km.
Dunne's early work was sponsored by the British military, and tested in great secrecy in Glen Tilt in the Scottish Highlands. His best early design, the D4, flew in December 1908 near Blair Atholl in Perthshire. Dunne's main contribution to early aviation was stability, which was a key problem with the planes designed by the Wright brothers and Samuel Cody.
Controversy in the credit for invention of the airplane has been fueled by the Wrights' secrecy while their patent was prepared, by the pride of nations, and by the number of firsts made possible by the basic invention. For example, the Romanian engineer Traian Vuia (1872 - 1950) also has been credited with the first self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft, able to take off autonomously and entirely driven by its on-board installations throughout its evolution (Ader has priority over Vuia though).
The last phrase disqualifies the Wright brothers because during the development of their aircraft they used a catapult takeoff system to compensate for the lack of wind at Huffman Prairie, Ohio. Vuia piloted the airplane he designed and built on March 18, 1906, at Montesson, near Paris. None of his flights were even 100 feet in length. In comparison, by the end of 1904, the Wright brothers had sustained flights of 5 minutes, circling over Huffman Prairie.
Barnstorming was a common lifestyle for Gypsy pilots who landed in fields near small towns across the United States, performed impromptu airshows, and sold rides.
The first helicopter flight took place in 1907 (Cornu, France); the first satisfactory helicopter was the Focke FA-61 (Germany, 1936).
The first jetplane was the Heinkel He-178 (Germany), flown by Warsitz in 1939.
Commercial Aviation really took hold after World War I using mostly ex-military aircraft in the business of transporting people and goods. Within a few years, many companies existed with routes that criss-crossed North America, Europe and other parts of the world.
See also: Incidents in Aviation, Milestones in Aviation
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