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Period: Jan 1, 1400 to
Time Space Convergence
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Jan 3, 1496
1400s- Da Vinci came up with the thought of a “Flying Machine,” one of the first concepts of an airplane.
CiteOne of da Vinci's famous inventions known as the flying machine, or ornithopter demonstrates his imagination, and dream of man being able to fly. The design was inspired by winged animals. This was one of the first times the flight of man seemed like a possibility. Designed and created, it was unsuccessfully tested on January 3rd 1496. -
1799, Sir Georges Cayley defined the forces of lift and drag and presented the first scientific design for a fixed-wing craft.
CiteHe built his first aerial device in 1796, a model helicopter with contra-rotating propellers. Three years later, Cayley inscribed a silver medallion which showed how the device was able to fly and the forces used. On the other side of the medallion Cayley sketched his design for a monoplane gliding machine, which would further expand on the idea of flight. -
1874- The du Temple Monoplane is built
CiteFelix du Temple de la Croix patented his design for a flying machine in 1857. The design featured retractable wheeled landing gear, a tractor propeller, an internal engine and a boat-shaped hull. This was a huge advancement of the airplane due to it's added features of landing and propulsion. -
First successful flying model propelled by an internal combustion engine
CiteSamuel Pierpont Langley built a gasoline-powered device, the first successful flying model to be propelled by an internal combustion engine. This would change the machinery involved in aircrafts, with gasoline being used as a main power source. -
First sustained flight with a powered, controlled airplane
CiteWilbur and Orville Wright completed the first four sustained flights with a powered airplane, able to be controlled manually. The best flight of the day covered 852 ft. in 59 seconds. This is known to be one of the biggest developments in aircraft history, -
Automatic gyrostabilizer leads to first automatic pilot
CiteLawrence Sperry demonstrates an automatic gyrostabilizer at Lake Keuka, Hammondsport, New York. This is essentially a system that will keep the airplane flying without the use of a pilot constantly steering. A gyroscope linked to sensors is used to achieve this. Two years later Sperry and his inventor father, Elmer, add a steering gyroscope to the stabilizer gyro and demonstrate the first "automatic pilot." -
First Transcontinental Airmail Service
CiteFebruary 22, 1920, the first transcontinental airmail service arrives in New York from San Francisco in 33 hours and 20 minutes, nearly 3 days faster than mail delivery by train. This brought the world closer together by making mail service faster with a different mode of transportation. Before the use of passenger planes, letters were able to arrive at a destination in a matter of days. -
First Modern Commerical Airliner.
CiteIn February, Boeing introduces the 247, a twin-engine 10-passenger monoplane that is the first modern commercial airliner. This also changed the way people would be able to fly, as more passengers could travel in a single trip, and this meant planes would become more and more bigger and more and more safer. -
First Successful Trans-Atlantic Flight
Cite“As the world’s first four-engined, land-based passenger aircraft, with its record time, the Fw 200 indicated the possibilities of transatlantic air travel in the future,” Lufthansa said. “The revolutionary aircraft offered room for 26 passengers who traveled in comfortable upholstered seats. For the first time, specially-trained stewardesses were employed onboard and looked after the passengers.” -
The British Airways Concorde
CiteBritish Airways Concorde made just under 50,000 flights and flew more than 2.5m passengers supersonically. With a takeoff speed greater than twice the speed of sound - a typical London to New able to cover the world in less than two days.
