Humans' desire to fly probably dates back to prehistoric man. Some people think human flight starting with the airplane in the 1900s. But in fact, people had already been soaring for about 120 years. Around the 9th century the Muslim Moors Armen Firman and Abbas Qasim Ibn Firnas are the first to have been known to have built and flown gliders.

After visiting China, Marco Polo brought back stories of human-carrying kites. These kites would stay aloft by the wind's power, but the kites were tethered to the ground. There was a Chinese book written in the fourth century that had some ideas related to rotary wing aircraft or helicopters. About two centuries later, Leonardo da Vini designed an aircraft that resembled a glider and his drawings still exist. The design was constructed in the late 20th century from materials that would not have been available to him. This prototype really did fly, but the design was interpreted with modern knowledge of aerodynamics. Leonardo had also sketched deigns for a helicopter but this design would not have flown.

It was in the 17th century that Lagari Hasan Celebi, a Turkish scientist, managed to launch himself into the air with a rocket. The rocket was made of a large cage with a top filled with gunpowder. It is believed to have landed in the Bosporus and he was justly rewarded by the Sultan with a military position in the Ottoman army. His rocket flight lasted about twenty seconds and his height reached about 300 meters.

It was in Paris that the first known human flight took place in 1783. It was a hot air balloon carrying Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois d'Arlandes. The flight went about 5 miles. This hot air balloon was not steerable and was powered by a wood fire. It was guided by wherever the wind took it. In 18th century Europe ballooning became the thing to do. It was then that the first detailed understanding of the relationship between the atmosphere and altitude began.

In 1852 Henri Giffard flew 15 miles in France with a steam engine powered balloon or then was called an airship. There was an electric powered airship that became the first controllable free flight. The airship was 170 feet long and it flew 5 miles in 23 minutes with an 81/2 horsepower electric motor. This was in 1884. These aircraft were very short lived and very fragile. Airships were used in both World Wars and still continue on a limited basis. Countless people tried to build different types of aircrafts over the decades, then came the familiar names that most people think about when they think of the history of aviation - the Wright Brothers. Following principles previously discovered, the brothers finally flew their heavier than air, controlled and powered flight, the Kitty Hawk, in North Carolina on December 17, 1903.

It was Alberto Santos-Dumont that made a public flight in Europe on September 13, 1906, in Paris. Since this plane did not need catapults or headwinds to take off, some considered this flight to be the first true powered flight.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Aviation