A Flight Through The History Of Aviation-00-4542

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Aviation has developed massively since its first days that saw many risk life and limb flying gliders and kites right through to space travel and supersonic flights.

Kites and hot air balloons

Physicists played a huge part in the creation of modern-day aerodynamics with Newton's laws of motion and studies of fluid dynamics being major contributors to what many now take for granted. Back in 200BC Chinese emperors regularly attached prisoners to kites made from paper; the majority of whom died from the fall. In the third century hot air balloons were used for signalling for military reasons but it wasn't until the 18th century that they became manned.

The first hot air balloon flight carrying humans was recorded in 1783 when the Montgolfier brothers invented a balloon that was fuelled by a wood fire and took its passengers to wherever the wind was blowing.

Gliders and airships

A few hundred years after the introduction of the first hot air balloons, the first flight on a glider was recorded in Spain when Abbas Ibn Firnas successfully took to the skies in the ninth century. By the 15th century ...
... famous names such as Leonardo da Vinci were attempting to express their art through flight designs of gliders but none were ever made.

By the 19th century many would-be-inventors had come to a gruesome end after taking flight but then crash landing. However, by the 20th century the simple yet effective form of gliding was mastered and is now a popular way to fly short distances; mainly for leisure.

Airships were used as a steerable version of the first hot air balloons in the 18th and 19th centuries and are known as ‘lighter than air' aircraft. Although they still exist today, their development in the aviation sector has been overshadowed by the more successful ‘heavier than air' aircraft.

Aircrafts

In the beginning of the 18th century, Emanuel Swedenborg designed what resembled an aircraft as we know it today: a robust canvas stretched over a light frame with two wings either side. Although the inventor was aware that his invention would not take off, he was sure that the problem would be solved (and he was correct, but it was after his lifetime). The physics involved in flying were devoured at the end of the 18th century and the lift and drag problems, along with issues involving gravity, were studied in depth until, in 1853, Sir George Cayley flew a full scale version of an aircraft near Scarborough in Yorkshire.

From then on, numerous versions of aircraft were designed ranging from those powered by steam to those drawn by horses! The Wright Brothers, however, took the aviation industry by storm when theyapplied their knowledge of bicycle mechanics to design an aircraft that revolutionised the world of aviation when its 1903 maiden flight was successful.

Passenger aircraft were introduced by Boeing after the First World War but many people were dubious about flying and airlines attempted to win them over in the late 1920s by introducing on-board air stewards. By the 1930s, transatlantic flights were taking place and many routes covered European and American flightpaths. The Second World War saw commercial aviation grind to a halt although post-war quickly witnessed a huge progression in commercial flights that has since grown into an industry that has welcomed Concorde, spaceships and the new giant Airbus A380.

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Over the last 50 years Air Partner has been providing the highest standards in http://www.airpartner.com/en-gb/ services. It is the only aviation company to have received a Royal Warrant from HM Queen Elizabeth II. Air Partner is recognised as a leading provider of http://www.airpartner.com/en-gb/privatejets/ with a dedicated team specifically for VIPs.