History of Aviation Handout 1
Transcript of History of Aviation Handout 1
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BAM 2 History of AviationHandout 1 : Early Attempts of Flight and Pioneers
4.14.13
HISTORY OF AVIATION
With the invention of the internal combustion engine, in the late nineteenth century,
new possibilities of motive force became available. By 1903 the automobile was set
tochallenge the horse. Transportation would soon change even more dramatically
because
of a new invention the aeroplane. Within the century that followed, humankind
took to
the air, led by the pioneering example of Wilbur and Orville Wright. First in frail
craft, but
soon in sturdy and reliable machines, aviators shattered long-standing barriers of
time and
distance. By midcentury air travel was common, and by the late 1950s it had
replaced the
train and steamship as the preferred mode of transport. By the last quarter of the
twentieth
century, with large, efficient jet-powered aircraft, air travel was commonplace and
affordable
to all.
Flying has become second nature to hundreds of millions of people and is so deeply
intertwined into the fabric of society that it is impossible to imagine a world without
it.
Legend of Icarus
In the most famous of the ancient stories related to the sky, the skilled craftsman
Daedalus makes wings of feathers and wax so he and his son Icarus can escape
their imprisonment on the island of Crete. The technology improbably works, but
Icarus flies too close to the sun and melts the wax, falling to his death.
Chinese Role
As early as 400 BC, kites were made mainly for religious ceremonies in China. They
helped to establish basic principles of aerodynamics. Traced back to city of Qufu
from 475-221 BC
Marco Polo reported in the fourteenth century that the Chinese had developed kites
powerful enough to carry a man aloft. These kites were brought to Europe by sailors
and merchants
Chinese made four main types of kites Centipede ; Hard Winged; Soft Winged; Flat
Kites and lanterns.
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Muslim Contribution in Aviation
Abbas Ibn Firnas was a Muslim inventor, engineer, aviator, physician, Arabic poet,
and musician.
He covered himself with feathers for the purpose, attached a couple of wings to his
body, and flung himself down into the air. He flew a considerable distance, as if hehad been a bird, but, in alighting again on the place whence he had started, his
back was very much hurt.
In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba (Qurtuba) using
a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. The cloak is considered the first
parachute.
In 875, using a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again and flew for 10
minutes. Landing was improper, but he is credited with these two attempts.
The crater Ibn Firnas on the Moon is named in his honor.
FIRST BALLOON FLIERSIn June 1783 the Montgolfier brothers conducted the first public display of a hot-air
balloon, and the following November Franois Piltre de Rozier and the Marquis
dArlandes made the first manned ascent. Early French aeronauts achieved some
spectacular flights. In February 1784 Jean-Pierre Blanchard soared to over 3,800m
(12,500ft) in a hydrogen balloon.
The Montgolfier brothers established credibility through their invention and made
their place in the history books. They sent animals up first on a test flight a duck,
a sheep, and a chicken. All landed safely.
The first free manned flight followed on 21 November, when young physicianFranois Piltre de Rozier and the Marquis dArlandes, an army officer, drifted over
Paris covering 8km (5 miles) in about 25 minutes.
Jean-Pierre Blanchard, with American expatriate John Jeffries on board, flew across
the Channel from England to France in January 1785, 124 years before Louis Blriot.
BALLOONS
THE BALLOON FLIGHTS OF 1783 began a tradition of lighter-than-air flight. The
drawbacks of balloons were:
1. A huge balloon was needed to carry even a small weight.
2. It was only marginally controllable.
3. Balloon was at the mercy of the winds.
Some practical uses for balloons in the 19th century were:
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1. they were employed as observation platforms during the American Civil War,
2. In some wars, they were used to carry messages.
AIRSHIP
The first controlled powered balloon also known as dirigible or airship was
demonstrated by
Frenchman Henri Giffard in 1852.
It used a steam powered propeller under a cigar-shaped bag filled with coal gas. It
flew 27km (17 miles) at around 10kph (6mph).
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CAYLEY
Belonging to Yorkshire, England was George Cayley, who was to make the first
serious practical and theoretical progress towards heavier-than-air flight. He defined
the challenge of heavier-thanair flight in these famous words:
The whole problem is confined within these limits to makea surface support a given weight by the application of
power to the resistance of air.
Cayley addressed himself to these problems of lift and drag through careful
observation of bird flight, systematic experimentation, and mathematical
calculations. He used an early device called whirling arm like a wind tunnel, to
test the lift created by different aerofoils, or wings, at various angles and speeds.
As early as 1799 made a crucial step forwards in design as compared to others. He
suggested that the wing was not a mean of propulsion, instead a device to generate
lift. He tested this by building gliders. His calculations of lift and drag, and his
comments on how an aircraft could be stabilized and controlled, constituted a solid
basis for potential progress towards heavier-than-air flight.
Unfortunately, they were largely ignored.
Sir George Cayley, worked to create the worlds first manned heavier-than-air flight
in a glider in 1853. It was a success, but kept private. It came to light many years
after his death.
First Wind Tunnel
Francis Wenham, a distinguished marine engineer and a founder of the Aeronautical
Society, built the first wind tunnel and produced improved data on the lift providedby different wing shapes.
Aeronautical Society
The foundation of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain in 1866, a dignified
association of scientists and engineers who staged the worlds first exhibition of
flying machines. They made some notable efforts to advance understanding of
aerodynamics.
Early Engine Powered Flight
The first serious of the steam powered experiment was a French naval officer, Flix
du Temple de la Croix. In the 1850s, with his brother Louis, he designed and flew amodel aeroplane powered first by clockwork and then by a miniature steam engine.
He then designed a full-size monoplane with a lightweight steam engine and
retractable undercarriage.
Russian experimenter, Aleksander Mozhaiskii in 1884, at Krasnoe Selo outside St
Petersburg, tested a two-engined monoplane which momentarily lifted in the air.
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French electrical engineer Clment Ader tested a batwinged steam-powered aircraft
in 1890. It flew at a height of around 20cm (8in) for a distance of 50m (165ft).
Otto Lilienthal
BORN IN POMERANIA, Otto Lilienthal (18481896) was fascinated from an early age
by the flight of birds. Although he trained as an engineer and ran a factory buildingsteam engines, he remained convinced that ornithology held the key to human
flight and his publication Birdflight was the Basis of Aviation.
Although he became famous for his experiments with gliders, flying his first one in
1891, he never abandoned the idea of flapping wings as a means of propulsion.
Between 1891 and 1896, Lilienthal designed and built 16 different gliders, mostly
monoplanes but some biplanes.They were light and flimsy structures, made by
stretching cotton material over willow and bamboo ribs. In all, Lilienthal carried out
more than 2,000 flights, the longest covering a distance of 350m (1,150ft).
A key lesson he learned from these experiences was that the air could be a
dangerous and turbulent medium to move through. Since Lilienthals gliders had no
control system, he used his body weight to maintain balance and stability amid the
shifting air currents.
Lilienthal died on 10 August 1896 following a crash in his glider.
Chanute
FRENCH-BORN in CHICAGO USA Octave Chanute was a civil engineer. He published
Progress in Flying Machines in 1894. Chanute developed a variety of hang-gliders.
Chanute also tested a glider with nofewer than 12 movable wings. His principle was that the wings should move, not
the man.
Genuine success came late in the summer when a biplane glider designed jointly by
Chanute and Herring achieved flights of up to 110m (360ft). The two wings were
braced by a Pratt Truss system, which made an important contribution in designs of
many aircraft in the following years. The machine proved so reliable and easy to fly
that visitors were invited to joy-ride on this aircraft.
FIRST FUEL POWERED AERO ENGINE
Percy Pilcher was the first would-be aviator to develop a gasoline aero-engine.
He intended to use the 4hp power plant to drive a propeller attached to one of his
gliders. But before he could test it, his glider crashed and he died.
The deaths of Lilienthal and Pilcher were a major setback for those who believed in
gliding as the route to powered manned flight.
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SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY
Langley, (18341906) rose to prominence as an astrophysicist working at the
Allegheny Observatory in
Pennsylvania. Recognized as one of Americas leading scientists, he was appointed
to the prestigious position of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
D.C., in 1887.
Langley began investigating the practicality of flight in the 1880s and continued his
experiments at the Smithsonian, exploiting its resources. He progressed from
building small models powered by rubber bands to larger steam-powered
Aerodrome models.
Langley believed that the application of sufficient power to an aerodynamically
stable machine would solve the problem of flight. In 1896, he felt he had proved his
point by flying steam-powered model aircraft which he called Aerodromes had a
wingspan of around 4.25m (14ft). One flew for 1 minute
30 seconds and another for 1 minute 45 seconds.
In stark contrast to the Wright brothers, Langley developed no hands-on experience
of either building flying machines or piloting them. His manned aeroplane, the Great
Aerodrome, was the product of money and bureaucratic organization applied to the
problem of flight, but it failed to fly.
Had Langley ended his work there, his contribution to aviation history would have
been a resounding success. But the temptation to pursue manned flight proved too
strong.