Heavier than Air Machines

If we look at the history of heavier than air machines, that is gliders and aeroplanes, then the obvious starting point is the man who can truly be called the "Father of the Aeroplane". Sir George Cayley made his experimental glider flights in Britain in the 1800's. He laid down the practical designs that were to be developed into powered flight. Unfortunately for Cayley, a suitable machine capable of producing the power to fly an aircraft, in this case the internal combustion engine, was not developed until the end of the 19th century.

Attempts were made to produce powered flight with the aid of steam machines. The most successful of these was made by the Frenchman Clement Ader. He built a bat-winged monoplane, named Eole, which flew for fifty metres. Ader's experiment was based upon the groundwork of men such as Cayley and Otto Lilienthal of Germany who had been brave enough to fly in their experimental gliders and, in so doing, proved that heavier than air flying machines were feasible.

It was in America that Orville and Wilbur Wright built and flew the first successful aeroplane, powered by an internal combustion engine, in 1903. Their success stimulated aircraft development and, by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the aircraft had advanced to the point where it could be developed as a weapon of war.

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