MODULE 7

AVIATION HISTORY: THE

PIONEERS
 Aviation history

The accounts of flight since primeval past are almost

legends. The true origin of flight has been manifested in
very basic implements and primitive devices that were
invented some by intent, some by accident.

These then became the growing foundation of aerial

activities that led to what the aircraft is humanity today.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF FLIGHT IN THE
REAL WORLD

Chinese Kites and Tops

1100BC China turned up the first recorded implements of flights that would go
down the generation inspiring man to a persistent pursuit of flight.

It is from this and Archimedes' rotating screw that Da Vinci propounded his
concept of aerial screw that evolved into rotating wing aircraft or the helicopter.

During the 13th century, Venetian Marco Polo made the historic voyage to china
and discovered these magnificent implements of flights. Marco polo brought the
information back to Europe.
Archimedes’
Rotating Screw
In 200 BC Greece, the famous Greek
mathematician, Archimedes,
perfected his thoughts on the
principles of the rotating screw.
It was used to fasten two surfaces
together.

Big screws with wide grooves were

invented for pumping water. Soon,
the rotating screw was used for
pushing back big volume of water to
propel a watercraft forward, like
ocean liners do today.
 Through ages, science also used the rotating
screw of Archimedes for their inventions. In the
15th century the basis of Aerial Screw of Da Vinci
has conceptualized the helicopter.

The air resistance applied against the movement

of a rotating screw created the basis aerodynamic
concept of both lift and propulsion. Eventually,
the grooves of the screw were cut and
straightened into long and slim blades that
turned into fan used to stir the air, and into
propellers for gliders, airships, dirigibles,
airplanes and helicopter.

Da Vinci’ s Aerial
Screw
 AR CHY T AS ’ CLAY
P I GE ON
Ancient Greek philosopher.

The conquest of outer space is now being made possible because of

powerful rocket boosters that push their payload beyond the
gravitational pull of Earth onto the endless outer space beyond.

The 360 BC Greek named Archytas is recorded to have been the

first to demonstrate the reaction principle of rockets.

Archytas devised a hollow clay pigeon and filled it with water.

Then he suspended the clay pigeon by string over a fire. The
heating of the water produced steam, and the clay pigeon moved
under its own power as steam escaped through holes that were
strategically located.

That very rudimentary demonstration became the basis principle

for sending men to outer space.
Chinese In 200 BC, the prolific Chinese invented the gunpowder. It was
originally adapted for use in firecrackers and fireworks used to
Gunpowder light up the skies during special occasion.
In 1000 AD, the gunpowder was being used to launch fire arrows in
battle. Eventually, led to invention of guns in which gunpowder
would prove to the primary ingredient of the first true ballistic
rockets.

In 1379, an Italian named Muratori used the word “ rochetta” were

fire arrows propelled by gunpowder. Later translated into English
word “rocket”.
 Hero’s Heron Ho Alexandria, also known as Hero of Alexandria,
a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in
Aeolopile his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. He is
considered as “The Greatest Experimenter of Antiquity”
and his work is representative of the Hellenistic
scientific tradition.

·In 100AD, another demonstration of the reaction

principle is recorded in Alexandria (Egypt).

The aeolopile or reaction wheel was a primitive version

of the steam turbine first demonstrated by Alexandria
Hero. It was an oddity similar to the pigeon clay pot of
Archytas.
Hollow globe that is rotated when steam passed
through internal tubes
Stage Set for the Pioneers
The fantasy of flying, as manifested as lives of people during ancient civilizations
from the Chinese homemade flying tops to the rotating screw of Archimedes,
would continuously evolve. However, flight was destined to be a protracted
odyssey for almost two millennia.

Works of early Geniuses helped the 20th century man to achieve powered fight.

Innumerable tales of attempts to fly and the consequence successes and failures
are recorded in the manuscripts, scientific notes and other writings of early
pioneers.

In the recesses of the human mind lurked the knowledge and the conviction that
man could one day fly, and they took gold steps to prove it in countless,
painstaking experiments in some of which the pioneers paid dearly with their
lives.
 Beyond
The first notions of aerodynamics would be perceived
as far back as ancient times, but would be systemically

Earth’s probed only during the period immediately preceding

the Renaissance and would lead to the inventions of the
A tm ospher e propeller, the engine,the box kite,the glider,the
airship,helicopter and the airplane.

Rocket ships, satellites and space stations would have become a reality.
Rocket ships, satellites and space stations would have become a reality.
Flying saucers are still within the realm of fantasy despite the early 18th
century ruminations of Swedenborg.

Some might have been perceptive and some more resourceful. But individually,
and oftentimes almost simultaneously, these geniuses would labor on some
lonely missions, sometime away from the view of community lest they be
labeled as visionaries if not cranks. They each had their contributions and they
learned on the works of one another. It might have taken almost two millennia
since the emergence of the first legends of flying for man to perfect the aircraft,
but he unquestionably did it.
 EVOLUTION OF THE AIRCRAFT
The aircraft and spacecraft are close cousins born out of the same instinct for flying, and
would share many technological breakthroughs that the genius of man would achieve in
time.
There have been many types of aircraft that came up since the dawn of man.

The Chinese tops

the kites
the gliders
the hot air balloons
the airships
the helicopters
and the airplanes

At the dawn of flight, the endeavor logically started with unmanned vehicles during the
latter part of the 19th century until the invention of the engine allowed for carriage of
payload in the flying machines that evolved in time from solo fighters to giant airfreighters.
 EVOLUTION OF THE AIRCRAFT

The explorations of outer space, most
often than not, are performed by
unmanned vehicles boosted by rockets.
Spaceships on the other hand, could be
transport enterprise in the immediate
future.
The flight of the bird became the focus
of early investigations into the
mysteries of flight. For millennia, the
bird and its wings, and how it flies,
were studied and emulated.

There were just a few basic prerequisites to

achieve flight with modicum of control:
wings to provide the lift, propellers to provide
the lift, propellers to propulsion engine to
rotate the propeller, elevators to go up and
down, aileron to bank and roll and rudder to
turn left or right.
Each component and other
refinements of the aircraft that made
it a more efficient means of transport
and aerial combat have interesting
story to tell
Birds: Primeval Flight Model
Crude wings attached to the arms and feet were tried by ancient people only to discover that
the human body is not strong enough to propel man for sustained flight.

The one simple principle in the wing technology that many pioneers apparently stumbled upon
is the optimum lift achieved with the curved wing.

Recognition of aerodynamics and how it helped achieve flight resulted in the experimentation
of kites and box kites that gave birth to gliders and ultimately fixed-wing aircraft.

Many pioneers would be credited for the invention of the curved wing. And indeed no one
person has the right to claim credit for it was apparent that in the pioneers’ respective
experimentations many stumbled upon the concept while the others improve upon the crude
findings of their predecessors.
Sir George Cayley (1773-1957) – develop
fixed wing aircraft
In 18th century, he emerged in Great Britain and led
the development of fixed-wing aircraft.

He was the first to identify the four aerodynamic

forces of flight: weight, lift, drag and their
relationships.

He tag as the “Father of aerial navigation” by

inventing the concept of the fixed-wing aircraft in
1799 becoming the first to build a successful human-
carrying glider.
 Louis Pierre Mouillard (1834- 1897) –
proposed fixed wing glider with
chamber bird- liked wing

A Frenchman experienced with gliders

as early as 1865in Cairo, Egypt.

His experiments were largely

unsuccessful, but they provided him
with invaluable insights such that he
was able to write 1881 an authorative
book on aviation, L’Empire de l’Air
(Empire of the Air), which became a
widely recognized classic at that time.
 OTTO LILIENTHAL (1848- 1896) – EXPERIMENTED
WINGS FASTENED TO THEIR BACKS AND
ATTACHED TO ARMS AND LEGS

In 1867, he and his brother Gustav experimented with wings

fastened to their backs and attached to the arms and legs.

He was the first man to work systematically on the development of

gliders and put gliding in its proper theoretical and practical
footing.
 Thomas Moy (1828-1910) – built and tested first
unmanned airplane to fly from ground level
An Englishman built and tested In 1875 the
first unmanned airplane to fly from ground
level.

He meant to observe the underwater swirls

created by the wings he attached to his
craft.

He was surprised to fin the craft rise from

water.
 Horatio Phillips (1845- 1924) – designed
a wing with curved airfoils of various
shapes, thickness and cambers

In 1884 in England designed a wing with curved airfoils of

various shapes, thickness and cambers. The airfoil became an
integral part of new type of aircraft, the airplane at the same
time that Phillips invented the airfoils.

He also patented what could be the first wind tunnel when he

tested an eight wing- like sections of various widths and
curvature in what he called a “ wind box” where he determined
the speed of the oncoming stream of the air against the wing-
like structures and their sustaining capacity. This is where he
proved the properties of curved wings.
 Clement Ader (1841- 1926) – built
“ Eole” – bat like monoplane with a
wingspan of 15meters and “Avion” –
larger bat- winged machine

A French first to rise from level ground in a

powered aircraft on Oct. 9,1890.

The Eole, a bat- like monoplane with wingspan

of 15meters, managed a short 50 meters of
flight near Paris, which convinced the French
military to provide him subsidy fo further
experiments.

Between 1894 and 1897, Ader built a larger but

still bat- winged machine he named the Avion.
Lawreance Hargrave (1850-
1915) – invented and
successfully experimented
box- like kite and continued
An Australian who invented the box
to experiment with
kite and successfully experimented
monoplane models. on it on Nov. 12,1884 and continued
to experiment with monoplane
models until 1892.

He subsequently came up with the box kite in

1893,which provide the first theoretical wing model
that helped in the development of the first
generation of airplanes.
Octave Chanute (1832-1910) – incorporated wing
design and several advances

AFrench-born
American and a
renowned civil
engineer, started a
newcareer
building several
models of gliders.
 Wright Brothers – adopted Chanute’s
wing design in their Flyer aircraft
The curved wings, as discovered in
hundreds of experiments in a crude wind
tunnel they built in 1903, provided the
optimum lift with the curve closer to the
leading edge of the wing.

Prior to Wright Brothers the early

pioneers were using either flat out or
slightly cambered wings or cambered
wings in which the curve is improperly
located, all of which proved to be
aerodynamically inefficient as lift they
created was inadequate.
 Matthew Boulton - first to obtain a
British patent on a design for ailerons
In 1868, Matthew Boulton was the first to obtain a British
patent on a design for ailerons. At that early stage, the
aileron was merely seen and used as control surface. It would
become a significant part of the modern aircraft for the
purpose of banking and rolling.

The very first Flyer of the Wrights in 1903 had the

cumbersome warped wing operated laboriously by the pilot
through some struts and wires to execute banking and
rolling. What looked like tiny wings aft the Wright’s Flyer
were elevators that made the Flyer go up and down.
Enrico Forlanini of Milan perfected the
first hydrofoils.
In 1875, Englishm an Thom as M oy
(1828- 1910) built and tested
unmanned airplane to fly from
ground level.

It was an early recognition of the need for

changing blade pitch. Moy’s researches
on the aerodynamics of wings resulted
also in his accidental invention of the
hydrofoil. Enrico Forlanini of Milan
perfected the first hydrofoils.
H iram M axim
Another inventor who ventured
in to the new age of fixed-wing
aviation was Sir Hiram Maxim,
who, in 1890, conducted a m ore
expensive experiment by
building a huge, 4-ton biplane
in which he tried his
experim ents on huge propellers
of over 17 feet in diam eter that
produced over 1,100 lbs thrust
each.

At the onset of the 1900s, other

inventors led by the Wright
brothers would improve upon
the properties of the propellers.
 Sir Frank Whittle – Gas Turbine
The invention of the gas
turbine by Sir Frank Whittle
of the UK in April 1937 fired . Despite being half
up the world’s first jet the size, early stage
engine. jet engines could
deliver 10 tim es,
which in terms of
thrust is 50 tim es or
more.

The German Heinkel He 178, The most reliable of pistons

though, garnered the honor engines then, the sleeve valve
of being the first to fly Bristol Hercules and Centaurus
powered with the jet engine. could manage only a maximum of
3,000 hours between overhauls.
 Supersonic M isadventures: Payload
Technology Trade- offs
The invention of the turbo-superchargers by
General Electric experimented during the First
World War eventually led to the gas turbine of
the 1930’s. The absolute power enhanced both
speed and altitude through engine models like
those of Roll-Royce Griffon and its
supercharger impeller and the Darts with its
centrifugal compresso.
vs. Speed
The Americans were apparently more astute in
dropping their SST plan even before it took off.
The Europeans were m ore audacious and plunged
into it headlong. the first supersonic transport of
Western Europe, a joint project of Sud-Avaition
of France and British Aircraft Corporation (BAC)
of UK, became the first fly-by-wire airliner and
first to fly supersonic on October 1, 1969.

Rockets were the earliest propulsion devices ever

invented by m an. It all started when in 200 BC the
Rockets are not for Aircraft Chinese invented the gunpowder. By 1000, they
were launching pyrotechnics and fire arrows in
battle. Shortly thereafter, in the 1200, the
gunpowder and pyrotechnics were exported to the
West through early travelers like Marco Polo.
Robert Goddard
The man though who earned the
sobriquet “Father of Modern
Rocketry” in 1926 was Robert
Goddard who experimented with
liquid fueled rockets leading to a
successful flight to an altitude of 50
feet.
The initial rocket was, in fact, a
system of propellant lines and an
engine, not just a tube filled with
gunpowder.

This made the flight of his rocket to

Auburn, Massachusetts as epochal as
the Flyer I of the Wright brothers.
Theodore von Karman In the 1930’s, a group of young
men called the “Suicide Squad,”
enlisted the assistance of
Theodore von Karman of the
California Institute of Technology
in conducting rocket research.
The groups include Jack Parsons
and Chinese graduate student
Tsien Hsue-shen.

They conducted rocket engine

tests at Arroyo Seco, northwest
of Pasadena, planting the seeds
of what would become the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the
backbone and progenitor of the
National Aviation & Space
Administration (NASA).
 Limitation of Nuclear Power
As early as the 1950s, the prospect of nuclear
power as propulsion device was overshadowed
by its threat to the environment.
The US had to dump multibillion projects in
adapting nuclear powered- engines for the
aircraft. Fortunately, mini-nuclear reactors, too
heavy to be carried aloft by aircraft, proved
adaptable to power ships and submarines.

Demands for Payload and Pressurization

The invention of the hot air balloon by the Montpelier brothers paved the
way to cater to the desire of man for payload. For the first time, man
achieved the practical carriage of passengers and goods by air despite low
speed and lack of effective control that made the air balloon susceptible to
the whims and caprices of the elements. The air balloon’s cumbersome
lumbering against the wind led to its restructuring into cigar-like shape
for greater efficiency in cutting through air thus giving birth to the airship
and its rigid version, the dirigible.
Radio Communication to Safe Navigation
Flight became a practical mode of transportation only when the
radio was invented to ensure the safe navigation of the aircraft
through real time communication between the pilot in the air and
the air traffic controller on the ground. The radio itself took quite
an odyssey before it became a practical reality.

From Struts and Wires to Powered Controls

The advent of the hydraulic powered controls in bombers
and transport planes during World War II immediately
benefited the commercial airliners right after the war. The
De Havilland’s DH106 Comet benefited by being among the
early commercial aircrafts to be equipped with harmonized
and balanced powered controls, which ensured agility,
smoothness and precision in the maneuvers of the aircraft.