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History of air Transport
We could go back to the days, when men use to jump off cliff tops strapped to flimsy wings, trying to copy birds, but found out the hard way that gravity is very strong and constant. But we have decided to leave that part out. Leonardo de Vinci ( 1452-1519 is often described as one of the great pioneers of modern aeronautics. A professional engineer, as well as a great painter, very interested in mechanical, and scientific matters. Its men like this who put they life on the line , who paved the way to the aircraft that we see today. although he's ideas came to nothing.
Most of the big and ingenious inventions that have came about, didn't come from men working for big corporations or business's No their worked on there ideas from the basement of their home , or from the garden sheds /shacks or from the kitchen table. We would like your help with this site, if you have any Pictures or stories you would like to share please Email then to us. Thanks
The Mongolfier brothers
Joseph born in 1740 Elienne 1745 in Lyon France
It was in 1783 when
man made his first air flight. No one is around today who lived then to tell the
whole story so we just have to rely on books, and websites to get that
information. The Mongolia brothers flow across Paris in a
Hot Air Balloon. They got the idea from watching smoke and sparks going up the
chimney on a cold winters night. They thought it was some kind of gas which made
a paper bag rise, and named the gas Mongolfier Gas. but it was just hot air.
Click here for Books on the Mongo Brothers
To book a flight experiences of a life time on a hot Air Balloon Click Here
Sir George Cayley 1773-1854
Birth place Scarborough Yorkshire England
Sir George Cayley’s ‘New Flyer’
From the age of 11 he became interested in toy helicopters Two contra-rotating airscrews made from feathers stuck into a cork. and were driven by a small bow-drill motor, powerful enough to make the toy fly into the air when the bow was released. Inspired by this Cavley built his own version in 1796 and kept on thinking about the idea of Rotary until 1809 He published a modified design of his own with a commentary on its function. having thought about multiplane structures since 1843 , he built a triplane glider in 1849 and twice tested it in very short flights with a boy on board. In 1952 he returned to his early concern for monoplanes, designing, but not building, a graceful glider with large wide wings and incorporating many refinements of construction and flight control . In 1853 he built his most famous machine a glider in which his footman/servant (coach driver) was reluctantly flown across a shallow valley ( Ravine )
For more pictures and information on George Cayley the Father of flight click Here
William Henson 1805=1868 carr4ied out a lot of serious work and also designed an Aerial Steam Carriage, Although it was never built, it contained many prophetic features, which included monoplane wings of 45.75m span, twin pusher propellers, and a enclosed cabin. and tricycle landing gear. it could have flown ,but had no control system and no suitable powerful engine was available to power it.
In 1857 Jean-Marie Le Bris built a glider based on what he had seen, and launched it from a cart which was pushed down hill until take-off speed was reached with Le Bris on board . a short flight resulted encouraged by this he had another go, and flew a short distance but had no means of control and crash-landed in which he broke his leg. Never the less he did fly and its men like this who pushed the progress of aviation to the limits.
Felix du Temple 1823-1890
Felix du Temple a French naval officer carry's out the first piloted powered ‘hop’, after first running down a ramp in 1874. flew a few feet off the ground then landed.
More
information can be found on Felix du Temple by Clicking Here
Clement Ader 1841-1925
Clement Ader’s Eole is the first piloted a bat -like aeroplane with a wingspan of 15 m to take off under its own power, a steam engine for a brief uncontrolled hop, although it only managed a brief flight the French military funded further experiments For more on Clement Ader and his Eole Click Here
More pioneering work was carried out in England by Horatio Phillips (1845-1924 who ran experiments on aero foils of differing shapes. demonstrating that the greater part of the lifting force of a wing is contributed by the low pressure on top rather than by the high pressure below. He went on to paten a series of aero foils of various thickness and cambers. In 1893 he built a large powered multiplane which travelled on a circular track and demonstrated the validity of some of his theories.
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Otto Lilienthal 1848-1896
One of the greatest of all aviation pioneers German Otto Lilienthal. He believed that success lay in a really careful study of the control system before applying power. He believed that if he copied birds it would be the best way forward. So he began with a fixed-wing gliders which he flew to gain experience of the air . In the 1890s he built a series of 18 different types, all of them gliders, from which the pilot was suspended in a harness. Light, fragile but nevertheless structurally sound. In 1893 he had a hangar built to house his gliders, which he use the roof to launch from. Later he made a 50ft high mound from which he could fly in any direction and launch himself directly into the wind. He flew his gliders using the same method as modern hang-gliders of today.
On the 9th August 1896 , when Lilienthal was flying one of his Monoplanes, he was thrown out of control by a sudden gust of wind. The glider suffered a "wingdrop Stall " falling sideways out of control from a height of about 15m (50ft) giving Lilienthal insufficient time in which to recover . As a result he died on the 10th of August. 1896
More can be found on Otto Lilienthal by Clicking Here
Percy Pilcher 1866-1899
A young Scot Percy Pilcher a friend of Lilienthal who he used to visit in Germany on one of his visits was allowed to fly one of his gliders. He build his own first glider in 1895 Pilcher made his own modifications , including the useof wheeled landing gear , and a take-off technique using a tow-line. He tried flying with out a tailplane, but later accepted that Lilienthal was right a tailplane was needed. Later Pilcher built The Hawk a famous machine which he flew until his untimely death in 1899 when doing a demonstration flight in the Hawk for Lord Braye of Stanford Hall, a bamboo rod in the tail assembly snapped when he was at a height of 10m (33ft). The glider plunged to the ground out of control and Pilcher died two days later as a result of his injuries. ( It is said that at the speed that he worked , and the well thought out plans that he drew up, and the success of his engine all suggest that if he had lived, may well have developed a controllable powered air-craft before the Wright Brothers.)
Octave Chanute 1832-1910
A French man who lived in America, Pilchers main contribution to the history of aviation lay in his enthusiasm and in his further development of Lilienthal's ideas, Octave Chanute interest in flying machines came much later in his life. made practical advances which materially assisted the Wright Brothers to achieve their success.
He published a book named Progress in Flying Machines in 1894. Then inspired by Lilienthal ,Chanute began building gliders. The first was a complex multiplane which underwent a strange series of modifications. It had six pairs of wings, then he converted it to a five pair winged machine by July 1896 the original sixth wing now serving as a tailplane. Four weeks late the mainplains were reduced to four wings with one of the original wings sill forming a tailplane then the gliders were abandoned. He then tried a triplane which he altered to become a biplane. By this time Chanute's had incorporated a number of structural refinements into his gliders , including in particular the light and rigid system of bracing which the Wright Brothers adopted after becoming friends with Chanute in 1900 .
Chanute now in his 60s he wisely considered him self too old to fly himself, so he employed a young engineer A.M. Herring to fly his biplane glider which incorporated one or two of his own ideas. Herring made several successful flights in August and September of 1896. Despite his attempts to find ways of manoeuvring his gliders. Chanute shared with most of his contemporaries an understandable concern for stability and safety. Indeed , he always gave absolute priority to stability , seeking , as he put it "exclusive equilibrium " In this he differed fundamentally from the young men to whom he was to offer so much encouragement and support. Wilbur and Orville Wright.
Wright Brothers
Wilbur Wright 1867-1912 Orville Wright 1871-1948
The Wright Brother were not the inventors of the Aeroplane , but what the Wright did achieve was something more significant, they designed and built a machine which, after rising from flat ground under its own power, could sustain its self in the air in level flight and could be controlled in three dimensions of space. The Wright Brothers live in a town called Dayton which is in Ohio USA their father was a Bishop of the United Brethren Church . Their have a Family business, a very successful bicycle manufacturing business, so that their had the advantage a work shop and the necessary skills in design and working with machines.
Money was not in short supply, and with plenty of spare time at hand, so when in 1896 they learned of the death of Lilienthal, whose brave efforts caught their imagination that , they decided to look into and do a methodical study of all the information they could find about experiments in flying. In 1899 work began on they studies , corresponding with Octave Chanute who recognized the talent and offered to help in various ways. especially in the adoption of the biplane configuration, and in particular to the light, rigid trussed structure which Chanute had pioneered successfully. At the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina known for its favourable steady winds they carried out trials on their full-scale biplane glider in the autumn in 1900. Their small glider only 5m (17ft) wingspan was equipped with a forward elevator which was to remain characteristic of all Wrights machines. Only a few of these gliders were made, with the pilot lying prone between the wings, so to reduce the drag,
In 1901 the Wrights built a second and bigger glider with a wing span of about 17m (22ft) reaching a distance of over 100m (328ft) when wind conditions were good. With this later aircraft the Wrights were beginning to experience control problems, which led them to be suspicious of the findings of their predecessors, In the process of their work on the second glider, they discovered that although the wing-warping system produced the desired action of banking the wings, there was sometimes an alarming and unexpected tendency for the glider to begin to yaw, or turn horizontally. in the wrong direction. So if the left wing was lowered, with the idea of turning to the left, the glider would , then substantial warping was used, turn to the right instead. This turn against the direction of the bank often led to the start of a spin and then to a crash.
In 1902 when the Wrights built they third glider a similar problem confronted them, this third glider had a larger wingspan of about 10m (33ft) but it differed from its predecessors in a more important respect. for the first time vertical surfaces were used, in the form of a double fixed fin mounted behind the wings. The Wrights had introduced the fin in the hope of steadying the glider in the turn and so curing the yaw in the unwanted direction. The fix fins did not ,however, provide the necessary degree of correction and the problem was solved only when they took another vitally important step. The Wrights had given a great amount of thought to the "adverse yaw" and had been puzzled over its cause. this led to their most important single insight and to what was probably their greatest contribution to the history of manned flight.
When the wings were warped so as to vary the lift on the two sides of the glider, thereby making one wing rise while the other was lowered, the increase in lift on the up-going wing was accompanied by an increase in drag on the same side. As the wing was raised it was therefore also retarded by the drag. swinging the glider into a turn against the bank. Although the fixed fins did not hold the glider against the turn, the Wrights realized that they could cure the problem by converting them into a movable rudder. The rudder now acted so that whenever bank was initiated to one side or the other, the tendency to yaw in the opposite direction was counteracted. The glider could then both execute balanced turns and roll back from a turn to straight and level flight without loss of control.
By now the Wright brothers were in a position to think about building a powered craft. Their started by looking for a suitable lightweight engine, having problems finding a suitable one they decided to design and build the own, and ended up with their own 12hp petrol engine which would drive two pusher propellers which their also designed and built. Their called the new air craft THE FLYER as they called it was a newly built biplane with a wingspan of 13m (40ft) with forward biplane elevators and a double moveable rudder at the rear. The light undercarriage consisted of skids which for the take-off were laid on a small wheeled truck running along a wooden rail.
By December 1903 the wrights were ready to experiment with power. After a minor accident on the 14th December, which delayed them for three days, Orville made the first powered , sustained , and controlled flight at 10.35 on Thursday 17 December 1903. Although it only lasted for 12 seconds, it was followed by three other flights taking turns as pilots , the last covered 260m (852ft) in 59 seconds. The Flyer formed the basis for the aircraft which they rapidly developed their flying skills over the next few years. In 1904 Flyer 11 came into play using a slightly more powerful engine and made many successful flights on one account lasted more than five minutes . This was followed by Flyer 111 in 1905 similar in size to the previous machine, but with the rudder and elevators placed further from the wings so as to increase their effectiveness, it used the excellent engine that had been installed in Flyer 11 . Airspeeds of 55km/h (35mph) could now be achieved, but the faster aircraft created new problems. In this aeroplane , all three control surfaces-elevators, wing-tips and rudder-could be moved independently, making the aircraft fully controllable about all three axes. With the modified Flyer111 the Wrights could circle, perform figures of eight, and remain safely airborne for as long as half an hour. Then the brothers tried to arrange the sale of their invention.
In the years to follow many individuals pushed along the development of aviation. Two world wars pushed the development of the Aeroplane even faster .
For books on the Wright Brothers Click Here
The first passenger aircraft, the Zeppelin LZ 7 Deutschland of 1910,
It was the largest airship ever built; over eight-hundred feet long from its nose to its massive tail fins. It was the height of luxury travel and carried over 2,656 people across the Atlantic from Germany to New York and Rio de Janeiro. It was the Hindenburg. In the space of 37 seconds the mighty zeppelin was destroyed in a fire that killed a third of its crew and passengers and left spectators crying in horror. The reporter who took this picture was in tears as he broadcasted it to the world.
For more on the Zeppelin Click
The First Passenger Aircraft ventures.
In 1917, the Germans mounted the first bombing raids on London
The first passenger Aeroplanes were converted bombers D.H.4As
The Passenger Aeroplane the DC3
When the
Douglas DC-3 was developed in 1935 and brought into service in 1936, it was the
only aircraft large enough to make passenger service profitable. The DC-3 had a
seating capacity of 21 passengers when it was first developed. This resulted in
an increase in the number of people booking air passage, bringing a new appetite
to the general population for flying. Some of these Aeroplanes are sill flying
today.
May 27, 1960: The
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) introduces the Boeing 707-436
1969: Concorde flies for the first time
1969: Concorde
flies for the first time
The supersonic airliner, Concorde, has made a "faultless" maiden flight.
The Anglo-French plane took off from Toulouse and was in the air for just 27
minutes before the pilot made the decision to land.
The first pilot, Andre Turcat, said on his return to the airport: "Finally the
big bird flies, and I can say now that it flies pretty well."
The test flight reached 10,000ft (3,000m), but Concorde's speed never rose above
300mph (480kph). The plane will eventually fly at a speed of 1,300mph
(2,080kph).
Mr Turcat, his co-pilot and two engineers taxied to the end of the runway at
about 1530GMT. Strong winds meant the test flight was in doubt for much of the
day. Spontaneous applause
Two previous test flights had to be abandoned because of poor weather
conditions. Concorde sped down the runway and there was a spontaneous burst of
applause from watching reporters and cameramen as the wheels lifted off the
ground.
The noise from the four Olympus 593 engines, built jointly by the Bristol
division of Rolls Royce and the French Snecma organisation, drowned out any
noise from the crowd.
Less than half-an-hour later, the aircraft was brought back down to earth using
a braking parachute and reverse thrust.
The crew emerged at the top of the steps, led by Mr Turcat, who gave the thumbs
up signal with each hand.
The first British test pilot, Brian Trubshaw, who watched today's flight from
the news stand, said, "I was terribly impressed by the way the whole flight was
conducted. It was most professional and I would like to congratulate Andre on
the way he handled this performance."
The British government has so far invested £155m in the project. It is hoped
Concorde will begin flying commercially in 1973, when it will cut the flying
time between London and New York from seven hours 40 minutes to three hours 25
minutes.
Picture Of Concorde taking off
The
supersonic airliner, Concorde, has made a "faultless" maiden flight.
The Anglo-French plane took off from Toulouse and was in the air for just 27
minutes before the pilot made the decision to land.
The first pilot, Andre Turcat, said on his return to the airport: "Finally the
big bird flies, and I can say now that it flies pretty well."
The test flight reached 10,000ft (3,000m), but Concorde's speed never rose above
300mph (480kph). The plane will eventually fly at a speed of 1332 mph (2,143kph).
Concord is a slim delta-winged aircraft with four Olympus 593 turbojets, a span of 25.37m (85ft 10in) a maximum take-off weight of 181,436kg (400,000lb)
The last days of Concord.
Before
taking the final transatlantic flight, Captain Mike Bannister said: "Concorde
was born from dreams, built with vision, and operated with pride "
Concorde makes last NY Flight. Over 1,000 people
gathered at Heathrow airport to watch Concorde roar into the night sky for its
last commercial flight. Its swansong journey to New York took around three
and a half hours and it landed at 2244 BST, largely carrying avid enthusiasts of
the plane.
The £9,000-per ticket plane reached 1,350MPH and 60,000ft over the Atlantic
Ocean shortly after it took off at 1920 BST.
A trio of Concordes will land in quick succession at Heathrow airport at 1600
BST on Friday, 27 years after the first Concorde flew.
Thousands are expected to gather to watch the planes land and airport officials
have ordered netting to be installed around the runway's perimeter to stop
traffic grinding to a halt.
The day would be one of "mixed emotions" said Lord Colin
Marshall, chairman of BA, the only airline apart from Air France to fly the
Concorde.
Air France retired its planes at the end of May. "Everyone has enormous pride in
all that she has achieved but there is inevitable sadness that we have to move
on and say farewell," Mr Marshall said.
"Concorde's magic has attracted millions of loyal fans who enjoy her unique
blend of speed, grace and beauty. "The decision to retire Concorde was a tough
one, but it is the right thing to do at the right time." Although it is not
known yet exactly what will happen to the decommissioned planes, some will be
given to museums.
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Boeing
launched the 747-400 in October 1985 and the first development aircraft first
flew on April 29 1988. US certification (with PW-4000s) was awarded in January
1989.
The 747-400 externally resembles the -300, but it is a significantly improved
aircraft. Changes include a new, two crew digital flight deck with six large CRT
displays, an increased span wing with winglets (the -400 was the first airliner
to introduce winglets), new engines, recon toured wing/fuselage fairing, a new
interior, lower basic but increased max takeoff weights, and greater range.
Airbus A380 jet lands at Heathrow
The
Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger jet, has landed at London's Heathrow
Airport for the first time. The Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger jet,
has landed at London's Heathrow Airport for the first time. Staff at the
facilities in Broughton, Flintshire, and Filton, near Bristol, cheered as it
passed low above them.
The 555-seat aircraft and its crew are visiting Heathrow to test the airport's
facilities before flying out on Friday.
"This is truly a monumental day in aviation history," said Heathrow's managing
director Tony Douglas.
Singapore Airlines A380 Experience Click
Here
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HERE
Space Travel has arrived with...Virgin Galactic
SpaceShipOne
Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has signed a £14m agreement which will see his company take passengers into space. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has signed a £14m agreement which will see his company take passengers into space. The California-based rocket plane became the first privately developed carrier to go above 100km in June. Sir Richard says it will cost around £100,000 to go on a "Virgin Galactic" spaceliner, and the first flights should begin in about three years' time.
Virgin Galactic expects to carry 500 passengers in its
first year and 50,000 over 10 years, reducing
costs to as little as £10,000 per flight. The White Knight, powered by four
ultra-efficient jet engines perhaps run on biofuel, will be developed to carry
unmanned rockets that will launch satellites into low orbits. Virgin is also
talking to the Met Office about developing small satellites that could monitor
climate change, including whether pledges to slow rainforest destruction are
being maintained.
For books on Space Travel Click Here
You too can take to the air and experience the time of
your life, take control of a light plane and be a pilot for the day.
To Be Continued with Space Travel. . .we hope you enjoyed your visit.
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