First flying machine

A 1786 depiction of the Montgolfier brothers' balloon.

There are conflicting views as to what was the first flying machine.

Much of the debate surrounding records of early flying machines depends on the exact definition of what constitutes a "flying machine", "flight", and even "first".

Claims to first flying machine (unmanned) by date

Planophore model airplane by Alphonse Pénaud , 1871

• An early successful model airplane was the rubber-powered "Planophore", by Alphonse Pénaud in 1871. Length of the August 18 flight : 60 m (200 ft). Conventional layout (main wing and stabilizing aft tail), span 45 cm (1.5 ft), pusher propeller.

Claims to first piloted flight by date

Antiquity

• According to Aulus Gellius, Archytas, the Ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and strategist, was reputed to have designed and built, around 400 BC, the first artificial, self-propelled flying device, a bird-shaped model propelled by a jet of what was probably steam, said to have actually flown some 200 metres. This machine, which its inventor called The Pigeon (Greek: Περιστέρα "Peristera"), may have been suspended on a wire or pivot for its flight.

Pre-19th century

• The 9th century Muslim Berber inventor Abbas Ibn Firnas covered his body with vulture feathers and 'flew faster than a phoenix" according to a contemporary poem. Despite a lack of contemporary accounts and the similarity to Icarus, it is still considered by John Harding to be the first attempt at heavier-than-air flight in aviation history.
• In 1010 AD an English monk, Eilmer of Malmesbury, purportedly piloted a primitive gliding craft from the tower of Malmesbury Abbey. Eilmer was said to have flown over 200 yards (180 m) before landing, breaking both his legs. He later remarked that the only reason he did not fly further was because he forgot to give it a tail, and he was about to add one when his concerned Abbot forbade him any further experiments.
• Bartolomeu de Gusmão, Brazil and Portugal, an experimenter with early airship designs. In 1709 demonstrated a small airship model before the Portuguese court, but never succeeded with a full-scale model.

Le Globe, the first unmanned hydrogen balloon built by Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers is attacked by terrified villagers in Gonesse near Paris.

• Pilâtre de Rozier, Paris, France, first trip by a human in a free-flying balloon (the Montgolfière), built by Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, 9 km covered in 25 minutes on October 15, 1783. (see Le Globe below for first unmanned flight, 2 months earlier)
• Professor Jacques Charles and Les Frères Robert, two French brothers, Anne-Jean and Nicolas-Louis, variously shared three milestones of pioneering flight :
  • Le Globe, the first unmanned hydrogen gas balloon flew on 26 August 1783.
  • On 1 December 1783 La Charlière, piloted by Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert, made the first manned hydrogen balloon flight.
  • On 19 September 1784, La Caroline, an elongated craft that followed Jean Baptiste Meusnier's proposals for a dirigible balloon, completed the first flight over 100 km from Paris to Beuvry.

19th century

• Hans Andreas Navrestad, Norway — 1825

  Allegedly flew manned glider.

• John Stringfellow, England — 1848

  First heavier than air powered flight, accomplished by an unmanned free flight steam powered monoplane of 10-foot (3.0 m) wingspan. In 1868, he flew a powered monoplane model a few dozen feet at an exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London.

• George Cayley, England — 1853

  First well-documented Western human glide. Cayley also made the first scientific studies into the aerodynamic forces on a winged flying machine and produced designs incorporating a fuselage, wings, stabilizing tail and control surfaces. He discovered and identified the four aerodynamic forces of flight - weight, lift, drag, and thrust. Modern airplane design is based on those discoveries including cambered wings. He is sometimes called the "Father of aviation".

• Matias Perez, Havana, flight in 1856

  Matias Perez was a Portuguese pilot, canopy maker and Cuban resident who, carried away with the ever increasing popularity of aerostatic aircraft, disappeared while attempting an aerostatic flight from Havana's "Plaza de Marte" (currently Parque de la Fraternidad) on June, 1856.

• Jean-Marie Le Bris, France, flight in 1856

  Jean-Marie Le Bris was the first to fly higher than his point of departure, by having his glider pulled by a horse on a beach, against the wind.

• Jan Wnek, Poland — controlled flights 1866 - 1869.

  Jan Wnek controlled his glider by twisting the wing's trailing edge via strings attached to stirrups at his feet. Church records only—Kraków Museum unwilling to allow verification.

• Goodman Household, South Africa, 1871

  Goodman built and flew his own glider over one hundred meters. The story is that he crashed breaking both glider and a leg. The event took place in the Kwazulu Natal Midlands near Curry's Post in 1871 and is recorded variously in legend and local literature.

• Félix du Temple de la Croix, France, 1874.
  

  First take-off of a manned and powered aircraft, from a downsloped ramp, resulting in a brief hop a few feet above the ground.

• Victor Tatin, France, 1874.
  

  First airplane to lift itself under its own power, the Aeroplane was an unmanned plane powered by a compressed-air engine.

• John Joseph Montgomery, United States of America 1883

  First controlled glider flight in the United States, from a hillside near Otay, California.

• Alexander Feodorovich Mozhaiski, Russian Empire — 1884

  First powered hop by a manned multi-engine (steam) fixed-wing aircraft, 60–100 feet (20–30 meters), from a downsloped ramp.

• Clément Ader, France — October 9, 1890

  He reportedly made the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight over a significant distance (50 m), but at insignificant altitude, from level ground in his bat-winged monoplane, the Ader Éole. Seven years later a different machine, the Avion III, was said by Ader to have flown 300 metres. In fact it had only lifted off the ground and lost control due to crosswind (the intended course was a circular one). The event was not publicized until many years later, as it had been kept a military secret. The events were poorly documented, the aeroplane was not suited to controlled flying and there was no further development. Later in life Ader claimed to have flown the Avion II in 1891 for over 200 meters.

• Otto Lilienthal, Germany — 1891

  The German "Glider King" was a pioneer of human aviation—the first person to make controlled untethered glides repeatedly and the first to be photographed flying a heavier-than-air machine. He made about 2,000 glides until his death August 10, 1896 from injuries in a glider crash the day before.

• Lawrence Hargrave, Australia—November 12, 1894,

  The Australian inventor of the box kite, linked four of his kites together, added a sling seat, and flew 16 feet. By demonstrating to a sceptical public that it was possible to build a safe and stable flying machine, Hargrave opened the door to other inventors and pioneers. Hargrave devoted most of his life to constructing a machine that would fly. He believed passionately in open communication within the scientific community and would not patent his inventions. Instead, he scrupulously published the results of his experiments in order that a mutual interchange of ideas might take place with other inventors working in the same field, so as to expedite joint progress. [1]

• Hiram Stevens Maxim, United Kingdom — 1894

  The American inventor of the machine gun built a very large 3.5 ton flying machine that ran on a track and was propelled by powerful twin naphtha fueled steam engines. He made several tests in the huge biplane that were well recorded and reported. On July 31, 1894 he made a record breaking speed run at 42 miles per hour (68 km/h). The machine lifted from the 1,800-foot (550 m) track and broke a restraining mechanism, crashing after a short uncontrolled flight just above the ground.

• Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, India; 1895

  The Sanskrit scholar Shivkar Bapuji Talpade designed an unmanned aircraft called Marutsakthi (meaning Power of Air), supposedly based on Vedic technology. It is claimed that it took off before a large audience in the Chowpathy beach of Bombay and flew to a height of 1,500 feet.

• Samuel Pierpont Langley, United States — May 6, 1896

  First sustained flight by a heavier-than-air powered, unmanned aircraft: the Number 5 model, driven by a miniature steam engine, flew half a mile in 90 seconds over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. In November the Number 6 flew more than five thousand feet. Langley's full-size manned powered Aerodrome failed twice in October and December 1903.

• Octave Chanute, United States — Summer 1896

  Designer of first rectangular wing strut-braced biplane (originally tri-plane) hang glider, a configuration that strongly influenced the Wright brothers. Flown successfully at the Indiana shore of Lake Michigan, U.S. by his proteges, including Augustus Herring, for distances exceeding 100 feet (30 m).

• Carl Rickard Nyberg, Sweden — 1897

  Managed a few short jumps in his Flugan, a steam powered, manned aircraft

• Gustave Whitehead, United States — 1899

  Reportedly flew a steam-powered monoplane almost a mile and crashed into a three-story building in Pittsburgh in April or May 1899.

• Percy Pilcher, England — 1899

  Pioneer British glider/plane builder and pilot; protege of Lilienthal; killed in 1899 when his fourth glider crashed shortly before the intended public test of his powered triplane. Cranfield University built a replica of the triplane in 2003 from drawings in Philip Jarrett's book "Another Icarus". Test pilot Bill Brooks successfully flew it several times, staying airborne up to 1 minute and 25 seconds.

• Augustus Moore Herring, United States — 1899

  Claimed a flight of 70 feet (21 m) by attaching a compressed air motor to a biplane hang glider. However, he was unable to repeat said flight with anyone present.

20th century

• Dr Wilhelm Kress, Austria — 1901

  Tested Drachenflieger, tandem monoplane seaplane similar to Samuel Langley, which made brief airborne hops from a lake in Austria but could not sustain itself.

• Gustave Whitehead, United States — August 14, 1901

  On August 14, 1901, in Fairfield, Connecticut, Gustave Whitehead reportedly flew his engine-powered No.21 for 800 metres (2,600 ft) at 15 metres (49 ft) height. Aviation experts disagree about the claim; a few decided for Whitehead, while the great majority, such as Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith, said the flights could not have occurred.

• Lyman Gilmore, United States — May 15, 1902

  Gilmore claimed to be the first person to fly a powered aircraft (a steam-powered glider). No witnesses. But he was an able inventor, rotary snow plow, 8-cylinder rotary motor, etc.

• Gustave Whitehead, United States — January 17, 1902

  Whitehead claimed two flights on January 17, 1902 in his improved Number 22, with a 40 Horsepower (30 kilowatt) motor and aluminium structural members. He said the flights took place over Long Island Sound and covered distances of about two miles (3 km) and seven miles (11 km) at heights up to 200 ft (61 m), ending with safe landings in the water by the boat-like fuselage. Experts disagree whether the flights occurred.

• Orville & Wilbur Wright, United States — October 1902

  Completed development of the three-axis control system with the incorporation of a movable rudder connected to the wing warping control on their 1902 Glider. They subsequently made several fully controlled heavier than air gliding flights, including one of 622.5 ft (189.7 m) in 26 seconds. The 1902 glider was the basis for their patented control system still used on modern fixed-wing aircraft.

• Richard Pearse, New Zealand — March 31, 1903

  Several people reportedly witnessed Pearse make powered flights including one on this date of over 100 feet (30 m) in a high-wing, tricycle undercarriage monoplane powered by a 15 hp (11 kW) air-cooled horizontally opposed engine. Flight ended with a crash into a hedgerow. Although the machine had pendulum stability and a three axis control system, incorporating ailerons, Pearse's pitch and yaw controls were ineffectual. (In the mockumentary Forgotten Silver, director Peter Jackson recreated this flight, supposedly filmed by New Zealand filmmaker Colin McKenzie. The film was so convincing, Paul Harvey reported it as genuine on his syndicated News and Comment program).

• Karl Jatho, Germany — August 18, 1903

  On August 18, 1903 he flew with his self-made motored gliding aircraft. He had four witnesses for his flight. The plane was equipped with a single-cylinder 10 horsepower (7.5 kW) Buchet engine driving a two-bladed pusher propeller and made hops of up to 200 ft (60 m), flying up to 10 ft (3 m) high.

• Orville & Wilbur Wright, United States — December 17, 1903

  First recorded controlled, powered, sustained heavier than air flight, in Wright Flyer. In the day's fourth flight, Wilbur Wright flew 852 ft (260 m) in 59 seconds. First three flights were approximately 120, 175, and 200 ft (61 m), respectively. The Wrights laid particular stress on fully and accurately describing all the requirements for controlled, powered flight and put them into use in an aircraft which took off from a level launching rail, with the aid of a headwind to achieve sufficient airspeed before reaching the end of the rail. Modern analysis by Professor Fred E. C. Culick and Henry R. Rex (1985) has demonstrated that the 1903 Wright Flyer was so unstable as to be almost unmanageable by anyone but the Wrights, who had trained themselves in the 1902 glider.

• Orville & Wilbur Wright, United States – May–December 1904

  The brothers resume flight experiments at a cow pasture called "Huffman Prairie" with a new heavier machine Wright Flyer II. In September Wilbur makes the first turn in an aeroplane. On September 20 he flies the first complete circle, a flight witnessed by business owner Amos Root, who writes an article about the event in his company's magazine.

• Horatio Phillips, United Kingdom – 1904

  experimented with slat-winged configured aircraft. It was a fully self-propelled, autonomous take-off fixed wing aircraft using an internal combustion engine and a single tractor propeller that included its own wheeled landing gear and modern looking tail empenage. It flew 50 feet. A later and larger version of the slat-wing flew 500 feet in 1907.

• John Joseph Montgomery and Daniel Maloney, United States 1905

  First high altitude flights with Maloney as pilot of a Montgomery tandem-wing glider design. The glider was launched by balloon to heights up to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) with Maloney controlling the aircraft through a series of prescribed maneuvers to a predetermined landing location in front of a large public gathering at Santa Clara, California.

• Wilbur Wright, United States — October 5, 1905

  Wilbur Wright pilots Wright Flyer III in a circling flight of 24 miles (39 km) in 39 minutes (a world record that stood until Orville Wright broke it in 1908).

• Traian Vuia, Romania — March 18, 1906

  Made a manned hop by a fully self-propelled, autonomous take off, fixed-wing aircraft using an external combustion powerplant and a single tractor propeller that included its own completely wheeled, four-wheel landing gear as an integral part of the airframe. He flew for 12 m in Paris on March 18, 1906, approximately 1 m off the ground.

• Jacob Ellehammer, Denmark — September 12, 1906

  Built monoplane, which he tested with a tether on the Danish Lindholm island.

• Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazil — October 23, 1906

  The "14 Bis" at Bagatelle field, Paris. The Aero Club of France certified the distance of 60 m (197 ft); height was about 2–3 m (6–10 ft). Winner of the Archdeacon Prize for first official flight of more than 25 m. The 14-Bis biplane flew and landed without a rail, catapult, or the presence of high winds, propelled by an internal combustion engine.

• Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazil — November 12, 1906

  Bagatelle field, Paris, first world record certified and registered by FAI was a flight of 220 m (722 feet) in a version of the "14 Bis" with primitive ailerons.

• Henri Farman, France; 13 January 1908

  The first to fly an officially controlled complete closed circuit of 1 km (3280 ft), winning the 50,000 franc Grand Prix d'Aviation offered by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe.

See also

• Timeline of aviation
• List of early flying machines
• Early flight
• List of years in aviation
• Aviation history
• Accidents and incidents in aviation
• World War I Aviation
• History by contract

External links

• Aerospaceweb - Who was the first to fly?
• Aerospaceweb - Why do Brazilians consider Alberto Santos-Dumont the first man to fly if he didn't fly until 1906 and the Wright brothers did so in 1903?
• Listing and descriptions of pre-wright flying machines
• Prehistory of Flight
• Octave Chanute, Progress in Flying Machines, 1891 - 1894
• "The Maxim Flyer". http://www.bondle.co.uk/personal_pages/jon/maxim/. Retrieved 2007-06-26.