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Before the first airplane was invented, ornithopters were machines that could strap onto the arms of the flyer and imitated the look birds' wings. Leonardo DaVinci was a Renaissance inventor who famously drew and tested flying with the aid of an ornithopter.
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Aeronauts invented and large balloons filled with hot air or hydrogen gas that would lift the flyer, (in a basket attached to the balloon) into the sky.
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This aircraft was also also the first glider. It was, crudely, a large kite mounted on a stick with a moveable tail and was the inspiration for some of the first true airplanes.
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Orville and Wilbur Wright experimented with aerodynamic surfaces to control an aircraft which lead to the first ever manned, controlled, sustained and powered airplane flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
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During WWI, airplanes were viewed as weapons that could be used to cause massive casualties to the enemy forces. First aerial victory of WWI was by a German fighter aircraft armed with a machine gun in 1915.
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The first non-stop transatlantic flight was completed by British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown. The flight lasted for 72 consecutive hours and was used for a small delivery of mail.
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The German Heinkel He 178 was the first operational jet powered aircraft.
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Bell-X was an American a rocket engine-powered aircraft and reached up to 1000 miles and hour exceeding the speed of sound.
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The de Havilland Comet was the first commercial jet airliner developed by Great Britain. The first Comets were adapted for a variety of military uses.
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The Airbus A380 is the worlds' largest multi-national, double decker passenger jet airliner seating up to 853 passengers.
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