History of Aviation by Anu

A Detail Study on Indigo Airline
INTRODUCTION
History of Aviation
Aviation is the activities surrounding mechanical flights and

the aircrafts industry. Aircraft includes fixed-wings and rotatory -
wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well
as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air balloons and airships.
Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot
air balloons, an apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement
through buoyancy. Some of the most significant advancements in
aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto
Lilienthal in 1896; then a large step in significance came with the
construction of the first powered airplane by the Wright
brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been
technologically revolutionized by the introduction of the jet which
permitted a major form of transport throughout the world.
The term aviation, was coined by a French pioneer

named Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La Landelle in 1863. It
originates from the Latin word avis that literally means bird.
Aviation means all the activities related to flying the aircraft.
1|Page
Soundarya Institute of Management and Science
The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years,
from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at
tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by
powered, heavier-than-air jets.
Kite flying in China dates back to several hundred years and

slowly spread around the world. It is thought to be the earliest
example of man-made flight. Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century
dream of flight found expression in several rational but
unscientific designs, though he did not attempt to construct any
of them.
The discovery of hydrogen gas in the 18th century led to the

invention of the hydrogen balloon, at almost exactly the same time
that the Montgolfier brothers rediscovered the hot-air balloon and
began manned flights. Various theories in mechanics by physicists
during he same period of time, notably fluid dynamics and
Newton's laws of motion, led to the foundation of modern
aerodynamics, most notably by Sir George Cayley. Balloons, both
free-flying and tethered, began to be used for military purposes
from the end of the 18th century, with the French government
establishing Balloon Companies during the Revolution.
2|Page
The modern aeroplane with its characteristic tail was established

by 1909 and from then, the history of the aeroplane became tied
to the development of more and more powerful engines. The first
great ships of the air were the rigid balloons pioneered
by Ferdinand von Zeppelin, which soon became synonymous
with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the 1930s,
when large flying boats became popular.
After World War II, the flying boats were in their turn replaced by
land planes, and the new and immensely powerful jet
engine revolutionised both air travel and military aviation.
Etymology
The term aviation, noun of action from stem of Latin avis "bird"
with suffix - action meaning action or progress, was coined in 1863
by French pioneer Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La Landelle
(1812–1886) in "Aviation ou Navigation aérienne sans ballons.
3|Page
Tower jumping
Since antiquity, there have been

stories of men strapping birdlike
wings, stiffened cloaks or other
devices to themselves and attempting
to fly, typically by jumping off a tower.
The Greek legend of Daedalus and
Icarus is one of the earliest known;
others originated from ancient Asia
and the European Middle Age. During
this early period, the issues of lift, Daedalus working on Icarus wings.
stability and control were not

understood, and most attempts ended in serious injury or death.
According to John Harding, Ibn Firnas' glider was the first attempt
at heavier-than-air flight in aviation history. In 11th century
Benedictine monk Eilmer of Malmesbury attached wings to his
hands and feet and flew a short distance, but broke both legs while
landing, also having neglected to make himself a tail.
Many others made well-documented jumps in the following

centuries. As late as 1811, Albrecht Berblinger constructed
an ornithopter and jumped into the Danube.
4|Page
Kites
The kite may have been the first form of

man-made aircraft. It was invented in
China possibly as far back as the 5th
century BC by Mozi (Mo Di) and Lu
Ban (Gongshu Ban). Later designs often
emulated flying insects, birds, and other
beasts, both real and mythical.
Some were fitted with strings and whistles to make musical sounds
while flying. Ancient and medieval Chinese sources describe kites
being used to measure distances, test the wind, lift men, signal,
and communicate and send messages.
Kites spread from China around the world. After its introduction
into India, the kite further evolved into the fighter kite, where an
abrasive line is used to cut down other kites.
Man-carrying kites
Man-carrying kites are believed to have been used extensively in

ancient China, for both civil and military purposes and sometimes
enforced as a punishment. Stories of man-carrying kites also occur
in Japan, following the introduction of the kite from China around
the seventh century AD.
5|Page
Rotor wings
The use of a rotor for vertical flight has existed since 400 BC in the
form of the bamboo-copter, an ancient Chinese toy. The similar
rotor on a nut appeared in Europe in the 14th century AD.
Hot air balloons
From ancient times the Chinese have understood that hot air rises
and have applied the principle to a type of small hot air
balloon called a sky lantern.
A sky lantern consists of a paper balloon under or just inside which

a small lamp is placed. Sky lanterns are traditionally launched for
pleasure and during festivals. According to Joseph Needham, such
lanterns were known in China from the 3rd century BC.
6|Page
Renaissance
Eventually, after Ibn Firnas's
construction, some investigators began
to discover and define some of the basics
of rational aircraft design. Most notable
of these was Leonardo da Vinci, although
his work remained unknown until 1797, and so had no influence
on developments over the next three hundred years. While his
designs are rational, they are not scientific, and particularly
underestimate the amount of power that would be needed.
Leonardo studied bird and bat flight, claiming the superiority of

the latter owing to its unperforated wing. He analysed these and
anticipating many principles of aerodynamics. He understood that
"An object offers as much resistance to the air as the air does to
the object.” Isaac Newton would not publish his third law of
motion until 1687.
In 15th century, Leonardo wrote about and sketched many

designs for flying machines and mechanisms, including
ornithopters, fixed-wing gliders, rotorcraft, parachutes and a
wind speed gauge. His early designs were man-powered and
included ornithopters and rotorcraft; however he came to realise
the impracticality of this and later turned to controlled gliding
flight, also sketching some designs powered by a spring.
7|Page
Lighter than air
In 1670, Francesco Lana de Terzi published a work that suggested

lighter than air flight would be possible by using copper foil
spheres that, containing a vacuum, would be lighter than the
displaced air to lift an airship. While theoretically sound, his
design was not feasible: the pressure of the surrounding air would
crush the spheres. The idea of using a vacuum to produce lift is
now known as vacuum airship but remains unfeasible with any
current materials.
In 1709, Bartolomeu de Gusmao presented a petition to King John

V of Portugal, begging for support for his invention of an airship,
in which he expressed the greatest confidence. The public test of
the machine, which was set for 24 June 1709, did not take place.
According to contemporary reports, however, Gusmao appears to
have made several less ambitious experiments with this machine,
descending from eminences. It is certain that Gusmao was working
on this principle at the public exhibition he gave before the Court
on 8 August 1709, in the hall of the Casa da India in Lisbon, when
he propelled a ball to the roof by combustion.
8|Page
Balloons
1783 was a watershed year for ballooning and aviation. Between

4th June and 1st December, five were achieved in France:
• On 4th June, the Montgolfier brothers demonstrated their
unmanned hot air balloon at Annonay, France.
• On 27th August, Jacques Charles launched the world's
first unmanned hydrogen-filled balloon, from the Champ
de Mars, Paris.
• On 19th October, the Montgolfiers launched the first
manned flight, a tethered balloon with humans on board,
at the Folie Titon in Paris. The aviators were the
scientist Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier, the
manufacture manager Jean-Baptiste Réveillon, and
Giroud de Villette.
• On 21th November, the Montgolfiers launched the first free
flight with human passengers. King Louis XVI had
originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the
first pilots, but Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, along with
the Marquis François d'Arlandes, successfully petitioned
9|Page
for the honor. They drifted 8 km (5.0 mi) in a balloon-

powered by a wood fire.
• On 1st December, Jacques Charles and the Nicolas-Louis
Robert launched their manned hydrogen balloon from
the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, as a crowd of 400,000
witnessed. They ascended to a height of about 1,800 feet
(550 m) and landed at sunset in Nesles-la-Vallee after a
flight of 2 hours and 5 minutes, covering 36 km. After
Robert alighted Charles decided to ascend alone. This time
he ascended rapidly to an altitude of about 9,800 feet
(3,000 m), where he saw the sun again, suffered extreme
pain in his ears, and never flew again.
Airships
Airships were originally called "dirigible

balloons" and are still sometimes called
dirigibles today. Work on developing a
steerable balloon continued sporadically
throughout the 19th century. The first
powered, controlled, sustained lighter-than-
air flight is believed to have taken place in
1852 when Henri Giffard flew 15 miles (24 km)
in France, with a steam engine driven craft.
10 | P a g e
Another advance was made in 1884, when the first fully

controllable free-flight was made in a French Army electric-
powered airship, La France, by Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs.
The 170-foot (52 m) long, 66,000-cubic-foot (1,900 m3) airship
covered 8 km (5.0 mi) in 23 minutes with the aid of an 8½
horsepower electric motor.
However, these aircraft were generally short-lived and extremely

frail. Routine, controlled flights would not occur until the advent
of the internal combustion engine.
The first aircraft to make routine controlled flights were non-rigid

airships (sometimes called "blimps".) The most successful early
pioneering pilot of this type of aircraft was the Brazilian Alberto
Santos-Dumont who effectively combined a balloon with an
internal combustion engine. On 19th October 1901, he flew his
airship Number 6 over Paris from the Parc de Saint Cloud around
the Eiffel Tower and back in under 30 minutes to win the Deutsch
de la Meurthe prize. Santos-Dumont went on to design and build
several aircraft.
At the same time that non-rigid airships were starting to have some
success, the first successful rigid airships were also being
developed. These would be far more capable than fixed-wing
aircraft in terms of pure cargo carrying capacity for decades.
11 | P a g e
17th and 18th centuries
Italian inventor Tito Livio Burattini, invited by

the Polish King Władysław IV to his court in Warsaw, built a
model aircraft with four fixed glider wings in 1647. Described as
"four pairs of wings attached to an elaborate 'dragon', it was said
to have successfully lifted a cat in 1648 but not himself. He
promised that "only the most minor injuries" would result from
landing the craft. His "Dragon Volant" is considered "the most
elaborate and sophisticated aeroplane to be built before the 19th
Century".
The first published paper on aviation was "Sketch of a Machine for

Flying in the Air" by Emanuel Swedenborg published in 1716. This
flying machine consisted of a light frame covered with strong
canvas and provided with two large oars or wings moving on a
horizontal axis, arranged so that the upstroke met with no
resistance while the downstroke provided lifting power.
Swedenborg knew that the machine would not fly, but suggested
it as a start and was confident that the problem would be solved.
He wrote: "It seems easier to talk of such a machine than to put it
into actuality, for it requires greater force and less weight than
exists in a human body. The science of mechanics might perhaps
suggest a means, a strong spiral spring. If these advantages and
requisites are observed, perhaps in time to come someone might
know how better to utilize our sketch and cause some addition to
be made so as to accomplish that which we can only suggest. Yet
12 | P a g e
there are sufficient proofs and examples from nature that such
flights can take place without danger, although when the first
trials are made you may have to pay for the experience, and not
mind an arm or leg".
19th Century
Balloon jumping replaced tower jumping, also demonstrating with

typically fatal results that man-power and flapping wings were
useless in achieving flight. At the same time scientific study of
heavier-than-air flight began in earnest.
In 1801, the French officer André Guillaume Resnier de

Goue managed a 300-metre glide by starting from the top of the
city walls and broke only one leg on arrival. In 1837 French
mathematician and brigadier general Isidore Didion stated,
"Aviation will be successful only if one finds an engine whose ratio
with the weight of the device to be supported will be larger than
current steam machines or the strength developed by humans or
most of the animals".
Drawing directly from Cayley's work, Henson's 1842 design for

an aerial steam carriage broke new ground. Although only a
design, it was the first in history for a propeller-driven fixed-wing
aircraft.
13 | P a g e
1843 artist's impression of John String fellow's plane "Ariel" flying

over the Nile1866 saw the founding of the Aeronautical Society of
Great Britain and two years later the world's first aeronautical
exhibition was held at the Crystal Palace, London, where John
String fellow was awarded a £100 prize for the steam engine with
the best power-to-weight ratio.
In 1848, String fellow achieved the first powered flight using an

unmanned 10 feet (3.0 m) wingspan steam-powered monoplane
built in a disused lace factory in Chard, Somerset.
In 1871, Wenham and Browning made the first wind tunnel.

Frank H. Wenham, inventor of the wind tunnel, 1871, was a fan,
driven by a steam engine, propelled air down a 12 ft (3.7 m) tube
to the model. Meanwhile, the British advances had galvanised
French researchers. In 1857, Félix du Temple proposed a
monoplane with a tailplane and retractable undercarriage.
Developing his ideas with a model powered first by clockwork and
later by steam, he eventually achieved a short hop with a full-size
manned craft in 1874.
14 | P a g e
It achieved lift-off under its own power after launching from a

ramp, glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground,
making it the first successful powered glide in history.
Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868
Alphonse Penaud, a Frenchman, advanced the theory of wing and

aerodynamics and constructed successful models of aeroplanes,
helicopters and ornithopters. In 1871, he flew the first
aerodynamically stable fixed-wing aeroplane, a model monoplane
he called the "Planophore", a distance of 40 m (130 ft). Penaud's
model incorporated several of Cayley's discoveries, including the
use of a tail, wing dihedral for inherent stability, and rubber power.
The planophore also had longitudinal stability, being trimmed
such that the tailplane was set at a smaller angle of incidence than
the wings, an original and important contribution to the theory of
aeronautics. Pénaud's later project for an amphibian aeroplane,
although never built, incorporated other modern features.
A tailless monoplane with a single vertical fin and twin tractor
propellers, it also featured hinged rear elevator and rudder
surfaces, retractable undercarriage and a fully enclosed,
instrumented cockpit.
15 | P a g e
In 1884, Alexandre Goupil published his work La Locomotion

Aerienne (Aerial Locomotion), although the flying machine he later
constructed failed to fly.
Maxim's flying machine
Sir Hiram Maxim was an American engineer who had moved to

England. He built his own whirling arm rig and wind tunnel and
constructed a large machine with a wingspan of 105 feet (32 m), a
length of 145 feet (44 m), fore and aft horizontal surfaces and a
crew of three. Twin propellers were powered by two lightweight
compound steam engines each delivering 180 hp (130 kW).
The overall weight was 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg). It was intended
as a test ride to investigate aerodynamic lift: lacking flight controls
it ran on rails, with a second set of rails above the wheels to
restrain it. Completed in 1894, on its third run it broke from the
rail, became airborne for about 200 yards at two to three feet of
altitude and was badly damaged upon falling back to the ground.
It was subsequently repaired, but Maxim abandoned his
experiments shortly afterwards.
16 | P a g e
Langley
After a distinguished career in astronomy and shortly before

becoming Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Samuel
Pierpont Langley started a serious investigation into aerodynamics
at what is today the University of Pittsburgh.
In 1891, he published Experiments in Aerodynamics detailing his

research, and then turned to building his designs. He hoped to
achieve automatic aerodynamic stability, so he gave little
consideration to in-flight control. On 6th May 1896,
Langley's Aerodrome No.5 made the first successful sustained
flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven heavier-than-air craft of
substantial size. It was launched from a spring-actuated catapult
mounted on top of a houseboat on the Potomac River near
Quantico, Virginia. Two flights were made that afternoon, one of
1,005 metres (3,297 ft) and a second of 700 metres (2,300 ft), at a
speed of approximately 25 miles per hour (40 km/h). On both
occasions, the Aerodrome No.5 landed in the water as planned,
because, in order to save weight, it was not equipped with landing
gear.
17 | P a g e
On 28 November 1896, another successful flight was made with

the Aerodrome No.6 This flight, of 1,460 metres (4,790 ft), was
witnessed and photographed by Alexander Graham Bell.
Whitehead
Gustave was a German who emigrated to
the U.S., where he soon changed his
name to Whitehead. From 1897 to 1915,
he designed and built early flying
machines and engines. On 14 August
1901, two and a half years before the
Wright Brothers' flight, he claimed to have carried out a controlled,
powered flight in his Number 21 monoplane at Fairfield,
Connecticut. The flight was reported in the Bridgeport Sunday
Herald local newspaper. About 30 years later, several people
questioned by a researcher claimed to have seen that or other
Whitehead flights.
Wright brothers
The Wrights appear to be the first to
make serious studied attempts to
simultaneously solve the power and
control problems. Both problems proved
difficult, but they never lost interest.
They solved the control problem by inventing wing
warping for roll control, combined with simultaneous yaw control
with a steerable rear rudder.
18 | P a g e
Almost as an afterthought, they designed and built a low-powered

internal combustion engine. They also designed and carved
wooden propellers that were more efficient than any before,
enabling them to gain adequate performance from their low engine
power. Although wing-warping as a means of lateral control was
used only briefly during the early history of aviation, the principle
of combining lateral control in combination with a rudder was a
key advance in aircraft control. While many aviation pioneers
appeared to leave safety largely to chance, the Wrights' design was
greatly influenced by the need to teach themselves to fly without
unreasonable risk to life and limb, by surviving crashes. This
emphasis, as well as low engine power, was the reason for low
flying speed and for taking off in a headwind. Performance, rather
than safety, was the reason for the rear-heavy design because
the canard could not be highly loaded; anhedral wings were less
affected by crosswinds and were consistent with the low yaw
stability.
The Wrights continued flying at Huffman Prairie near Dayton,

Ohio in 1904. In May 1904 they introduced the Flyer II, a heavier
and improved version of the original Flyer. On 23 June 1905, they
first flew a third machine, the Flyer III. After a severe crash on 14
July 1905, they rebuilt the Flyer III and made important design
changes. They almost doubled the size of the elevator and rudder
and moved them about twice the distance from the wings. They
added two fixed vertical vanes between the elevators and gave the
wings a very slight dihedral. They disconnected the rudder from
the wing-warping control, and as in all future aircraft, placed it on
19 | P a g e
a separate control handle. When flights resumed the results were

immediate. The serious pitch instability that hampered Flyers I
and II was significantly reduced, so repeated minor crashes were
eliminated. Flights with the redesigned Flyer III started lasting over
10 minutes, then 20, then 30. Flyer III became the first practical
aircraft flying consistently under full control and bringing its pilot
back to the starting point safely and landing without damage.
On 5th October 1905, Wilbur flew 24 miles (39 km) in 39 minutes
23 seconds.
Pioneers in Europe
Although full details of the Wright
Brothers' system of flight control had
been published in L’Aerophile in January
1906, the importance of this advance
was not recognised, and European
experimenters generally concentrated on attempting to produce
inherently stable machines.
On 13th September 1906, a day after Ellehammer's tethered flight

and three years after the Wright Brothers' flight, the
Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont made a public flight in Paris
with the 14-bis, also known as Oiseau de proie (French for "bird
of prey"). This well-documented event was the first flight verified
by the Aero-Club de France of a powered heavier-than-air machine
in Europe and won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize for the first
officially observed flight greater than 25 m (82 ft).
20 | P a g e
On 12th November 1906, Santos-Dumont set the first world record

recognized by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale by flying
220 m (720 ft) in 21.5 seconds. Only one more brief flight was
made by the 14-bis in March 1907, after which it was abandoned.
In March 1907, Gabriel Voisin flew the first example of his Voisin
biplane. On 13th January 1908, a second example of the type was
flown by Henri Farman to win the Deutsch-Archdeacon Grand
Prix d'Aviation prize for a flight in which the aircraft flew a distance
of more than a kilometer and landed at the point where it had
taken off. The flight lasted 1 minute and 28 seconds.
Between the World Wars (1918 – 1939)
The years between World War I and World War II saw great
advancements in aircraft technology. Airplanes evolved from low-
powered biplanes made from wood and fabric to sleek, high-
powered monoplanes made of aluminium, based primarily on the
founding work of Hugo Junkers during the World War I period and
its adoption by American designer William Bushnell Stout and
Soviet designer Andrei Tupolev. The first successful rotorcraft
appeared in the form of the autogyro, invented by Spanish
engineer Juan de la Cierva and first flown in 1919. In this design,
the rotor is not powered but is spun like a windmill by its passage
through the air. A separate powerplant is used to propel the
aircraft forwards.
21 | P a g e
After World War I, experienced fighter pilots were eager to show off
their skills. Many American pilots became barnstormers, flying
into small towns across the country and showing off their flying
abilities, as well as taking paying passengers for rides. Eventually,
the barnstormers grouped into more organized displays. Air shows
sprang up around the country, with air races, acrobatic stunts,
and feats of air superiority.
The air races drove engine and airframe development

the Schneider Trophy, for example, led to a series of ever faster
and sleeker monoplane designs culminating in the Supermarine
S.6B. With pilots competing for cash prizes, there was an incentive
to go faster. Amelia Earhart was perhaps the most famous of those
on the barnstorming/air show circuit. She was also the first female
pilot to achieve records such as the crossing of the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans.
Digital age - 21st Century

21st century aviation has seen increasing interest in fuel savings
and fuel diversification, as well as low cost airlines and facilities.
Additionally, much of the developing world that did not have good
access to air transport has been steadily adding aircraft and
facilities, though severe congestion remains a problem in many
upcoming nations. Around 20,000 city pairs are served by
commercial aviation, up from less than 10,000 as recently as 1996.
22 | P a g e
At the beginning of the 21st century, digital technology allowed

subsonic military aviation to begin eliminating the pilot in favor of
remotely operated or completely autonomous unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs). In April 2001 the unmanned aircraft Global
Hawk flew from Edwards AFB in the US to Australia non-stop and
unrefuelled. This is the longest point-to-point flight ever
undertaken by an unmanned aircraft and took 23 hours and 23
minutes. In October 2003, the first totally autonomous flight
across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraft
occurred. UAVs are now an established feature of modern warfare,
carrying out pinpoint attacks under the control of a remote
operator.
23 | P a g e

History of Aviation by Anu

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

History of Aviation by Anu

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Detail Study on Indigo Airline

Aviation is the activities surrounding mechanical flights and

The term aviation, was coined by a French pioneer

Kite flying in China dates back to several hundred years and

The discovery of hydrogen gas in the 18th century led to the

The modern aeroplane with its characteristic tail was established

Since antiquity, there have been

stability and control were not

Many others made well-documented jumps in the following

The kite may have been the first form of

Man-carrying kites are believed to have been used extensively in

Hot air balloons

A sky lantern consists of a paper balloon under or just inside which

Leonardo studied bird and bat flight, claiming the superiority of

In 15th century, Leonardo wrote about and sketched many

Lighter than air

In 1670, Francesco Lana de Terzi published a work that suggested

In 1709, Bartolomeu de Gusmao presented a petition to King John

1783 was a watershed year for ballooning and aviation. Between

for the honor. They drifted 8 km (5.0 mi) in a balloon-

Airships were originally called "dirigible

Another advance was made in 1884, when the first fully

However, these aircraft were generally short-lived and extremely

The first aircraft to make routine controlled flights were non-rigid

17th and 18th centuries

Italian inventor Tito Livio Burattini, invited by

The first published paper on aviation was "Sketch of a Machine for

Balloon jumping replaced tower jumping, also demonstrating with

In 1801, the French officer André Guillaume Resnier de

Drawing directly from Cayley's work, Henson's 1842 design for

1843 artist's impression of John String fellow's plane "Ariel" flying

In 1848, String fellow achieved the first powered flight using an

In 1871, Wenham and Browning made the first wind tunnel.

It achieved lift-off under its own power after launching from a

Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868

Alphonse Penaud, a Frenchman, advanced the theory of wing and

In 1884, Alexandre Goupil published his work La Locomotion

Maxim's flying machine

Sir Hiram Maxim was an American engineer who had moved to

After a distinguished career in astronomy and shortly before

In 1891, he published Experiments in Aerodynamics detailing his

On 28 November 1896, another successful flight was made with

Almost as an afterthought, they designed and built a low-powered

The Wrights continued flying at Huffman Prairie near Dayton,

a separate control handle. When flights resumed the results were

On 13th September 1906, a day after Ellehammer's tethered flight

On 12th November 1906, Santos-Dumont set the first world record

Between the World Wars (1918 – 1939)

The air races drove engine and airframe development

Digital age - 21st Century

At the beginning of the 21st century, digital technology allowed

You might also like