Who was the first man to fly an aeroplane?
To fly in the air had been man’s dream for ages. Before 1903,
flights in balloons and gliders had been tried successfully. But the first
successful aircraft was designed and used by two brothers Orville Wright and
Wilbur Wright.
At about 10.30 in the
morning, on December 17, 1903, the Wright brother’s plane took off from the
track and remained in the air for a short successful flight. The two brothers
became famous forever.
When the two brothers were ready to test their new invention,
they tossed a coin to decide who would be the first to fly the new machine.
Wilbur won the toss, but the plane did not take off.
So after a few
adjustments, the two brothers tried again three days later. Since Wilbur was
given the first chance earlier, it was now Orville’s turn to fly. And he became
the first man to fly the aeroplane because he had lost the coin flip earlier!
This famous historic flight wasn’t a long flight by any of
today’s standards. The plane never got more than 12 feet above the ground, and
the entire flight lasted just twelve seconds!
Early planes were made of wood and canvas to keep down
weight. Not until the 1930s did metal planes take to the skies.
Most of the planes that fought in World War I were biplanes
(double-winged). They looked rather like box kites, with their wings held
together by wooden struts and wires.
The monoplane has a single set of wings. It is better for
high-speed flight because its shape is more streamlined (smooth). One of the
first monoplane fighters was the Russian Polikarpov 1-16 of 1933.
The German designer Hugo Junkers began building all-metal aircraft
the most famous of which was the JunkersJu-52 (1932). The new metal aircraft
had bodies shaped like smooth tapering tubes.
Light but strong alloys (mixtures of metals) were used to
build them. Today almost all aircraft are built of metal, specially made to
withstand the heat and stress of high speeds.
When did the first
airliners fly?
Passenger air travel began after World War I. The aircraft
were unwanted warplanes, slow and uncomfortable. But by the 1930s larger,
faster and more comfortable airliners had appeared.
In the 1920s an air journey was often cold and bumpy. Long
flights took days, for the plane had to land several times to refuel. The first
‘modern’ airliner was the all-metal American Boeing 247 of 1933. It carried ten
passengers.
One of the largest 1930s airliners, however, was an old-fashioned biplane, the HP 42. This British airliner flew slowly, but
comfortably, from London to America and India. Another famous airliner was the
Douglas DC-3 of the 1940s. It carried 21 passengers.
Flying boats were also popular in the 1930s. They crossed the
great oceans, landing on the water rather than on concrete runways.
When did the first jet
aircraft fly?
The fastest a propeller-driven plane can fly is around 750
kilometres an hour. In 1939 a new age of speed began, with the first flight by
a jet plane.
A British engineer named Frank Whittle had worked on the
theory of jet flight since the early 1930s. He wanted to build an engine which,
because it needed no propeller, would work well in the thin air at great
heights.
Germany was also at work on the jet engine. In 1939 the
Heinkel He 179 made the world’s first jet flight. The Germans also built the
first jet warplane, the Me 262. It was a twin-jet flighter-bomber.
Whittle’s own engine was first flown in 1941. The plane was
the Gloster E28/39. The jets came too late to play much part in World War II.
When were helicopters
invented?
Inventors drew plans for flying machines very like
helicopters in the 1400s. But it was not until 1936 that the first practical
helicopter took to the air.
A helicopter has no wings. It lifts itself off the ground by
means of a large rotor, or propeller. Once aloft, the rotor is tilted slightly
forward to make the helicopter fly forward. Helicopters can fly backwards too,
and even however in one spot in mid-air.
The famous Italian artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci drew
a helicopter. But his machine never flew. The first successful helicopter was
the German FW-61 of 1936.
It had two rotors. A Russian, Igor Sikorsky, did much to
advance helicopter design, and Sikorsky helicopters during World War II.
After the war, the use of helicopters increased enormously.
Which was the first
supersonic airliner?
Aircraft first broke the so-called ‘sound barrier’ in the
1940s. Today Concorde carries passengers at over twice the speed of sound.
At sea level, sound travels at about 1200 kilometres an hour.
Higher up, the speed is slower, around 952 kilometres an hour. When a plane
reaches this speed, it makes a shock wave in the air. This wave can be heard as
a ‘sonic boom’.
Only a jet or rocket plane can reach such high speeds. The
American Bell X-1 was the first piloted plane to break the ‘sound barrier’ and
prove that supersonic flight was not really dangerous.
In the 1960s two supersonic airliners were built. The Russian
Tupolev Tu-144 first flew in 1968 but did not prove a success. The Concorde,
built by Britain and France, flew a year later and went into regular airline
service in 1976.
Concorde is smaller than a jumbo jet, but much faster,
crossing the Atlantic at over 2000 kilometres an hour.