By Ahmad Ahsan

History of Aviation
Course is designed: To enable students to demonstrate the factors that were conducive to development of aviation; To facilitate students in comprehending the implications aviation has had on human life; To familiarize students with the timeline of aviation, and to shed light on important milestones; To promote and understanding of basic systems, and to bring students up to date with the systems and controls in use today;

History of Aviation
Course is designed: To nurture a basic understanding of the atmosphere, its layers, and properties affecting flight; To accustom students with the different types of civil, military, and general aviation aircraft; To acquaint students about the developments and purposes of space travel.

History of Aviation: Course Coverage

Initial attempts of flight; the earliest devices used for flight; development during World Wars; the earliest passenger aircraft and other civil applications; with military jets and helicopters; passenger jet aircraft, their development, achievements, and role in transforming aviation; latest developments in civil and military aviation; Space travel

History of Aviation: Paper

Why History of Aviation

To establish a baseline or benchmark To identify trends To correlate principles of flight and basic aerodynamics Challenges faced by aviators (technical & social) Safety concerns & alleviation To establish that simple ideas lead to breakthroughs What factors influenced development How aviation transformed the world

Eras of Aviation
EARLY YEARS PRE-POWERED FLIGHT EARLY POWERED FLIGHT WORLD WAR I RECORDS ATTEMPTS WORLD WAR II JETS AND SPEED SPACE SPACE 200 BC - 1890 AD 1860-1903 1903-1914 1914 1918 1918 1939 1939 1945 1945 1958 1958 PRESENT FUTURE

Aviation
Aviation is the field which includes not only flying but all the activities relating to airborne devices created by human ingenuity, generally known as aircraft. Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. History of Aviation refers to the history of development of mechanical flightfrom the earliest attempts in kites and gliders to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic and spaceflights.

Background of Aviation History

It was always a dream of man to conquer the skies. First devices were: spears and boomerangs. Kites revolutionized the development. What did kite flying tell us? Fictional stories and legends have related to flying Legends such as Icarus, Pegasus, Griffins Small insects have been known to fly for the first time 5 mm size 390 million to 408 million years ago

Chinese Role
As early as 400 BC, kites were made Mainly for religious ceremonies Established 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

Chinese Role: Types of Kites

Centipede- or Skolopender Kites Centipedes are kites-trains with a dragon head and a train of equally dimensioned kite disks. Head and disks are interconnected with one, mostly three lines. Centipedes may have enormous power. These kites gives an attractive and vivid in-flight view

Chinese Role: Types of Kites

Hard Winged Kites They have bamboo frames which gives strength. They are covered with paper or silk glued on top. Usually have a separate kite sail which will arch according to the wind.

Chinese Role: Types of Kites

Soft Winged Kites They are based on rigid frames, but have one flexible section. Flat Kites Flat kites are constructed within a single bamboo frame. All (four) sides of the frame or of the frame segments are limited by bamboo spars. These kites are very easy to fly and have stable inflight behavior

Abbas Ibn Firnas

Thousand years before the Wright brothers and Davinci Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba 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.

Hero and the Aeolipile

Ancient Greek engineer, Hero of Alexandria, worked with air pressure and steam to create sources of power. Aeolipile which used jets of steam to create rotary motion. Hero mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, which gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate

Hero and the Aeolipile

Leonardo da Vinci - The Ornithopter

1485 The Ornithopter flying machine was never actually created. It was a design that Leonardo da Vinci created to show how man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this concept.

Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier

The brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, were inventors of the first hot air balloon. They used the smoke from a fire to blow hot air into a silk bag. The silk bag was attached to a basket. The hot air then rose and allowed the balloon to be lighter-thanair. In 1783, the first passengers were a sheep, rooster and duck. It climbed to a height of about 6,000 feet and traveled more than 1 mile. First manned flight was on November 21, 1783

Hot Air Balloons

First uses included military spying Also used for observation

George Cayley
George Cayley designed many gliders that could be controlled. (1799-1850) For over 50 years he made improvements to the gliders. He changed the shape of the wings so that the air would flow over the wings correctly. He designed a tail for the gliders to help with the stability. He tried a biplane design to add strength to the glider. He recognized the need for a power source.

George Cayley

Otto Lilienthal

1891 German engineer, studied aerodynamics and worked to design a glider that would fly. He was the first person to design a glider that could fly a person and was able to fly long distances. Wrote a book on aerodynamics that was published in 1889 and this text was used by the Wright Brothers as the basis for their designs. Had more than 2500 flights Died while flying

Presentation
Chinese role in aviation First glider flights Wright Brothers Wright Flyer

The End