The technological evolution throughout the history has been so fascinating that it has never failed to grasp at our hindsight now. We are so familiar and used to being surrounded by technology since we were born in the time when the whole world of technology had already been advanced and we may find it mundane to dig deeper. For those wanderers, looking back through time can give a sheer chill to the bone. This is no wonder that how much an aeroplane plays one of the most crucial roles in the development and comfort of the modern world we are living in.
The early roots of aircraft
Most of us might have learned in the school days about the invention of aeroplane and various other myths involved surrounding the early stage of the development of the aeroplane. Such as the Greek legend about Icarus and Daedalus. Through the time, the aeroplane that we came to know have gone through a tremendous stage of development. We are talking about the stage when this was just a mere idea on a paper and prototypes.
This goes way back, as back as 400 BC in Greece, where one of the Greek philosophers, Archytas had quite a reputation for designing and building a first flying object, like one resembling a mechanical bird. This was said to have flown about 200m or 660ft from its lifting point. The bird was flown by the means of heavy force exerted by the early jet which could have been steam. There are even records of pilots getting badly injured during the experimental process of these early birds.
These early works also included the works of the legendary Leonardo da Vinci. He wrote an early codex on his findings regarding a wing of birds and how it is technically working and helping birds to fly. He wrote these findings in the form of a codex on the flight of the birds in 1502. This piece of work significantly contributed to the whole development of the aeroplane we know now.
The standards for aircraft
Through the continuous experimentation and testing it was about time, in 1867 and 1896 when the German icon of human aviation Otto Lilienthal eventually developed the whole idea of heavier-than-flight in practice. These are also called the fixed-wing aircraft. He is known as the first person to leave a neatly documented, repeated, successful flights in gliding.
The subsequent bodies who carried out the experiment further into the expansion was based on the Otto Lilienthal’s findings. Eventually, it was The American Wright Brothers who set the standard for all the aeroplanes that was ever to come afterwards. The Wright Brothers were recognized by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) in 1903. From here on, the Wright Flyers set examples of the stable flight with fully capable of controlling the flying machine.