Interesting Moments and Milestones In Flight History

Early flight history started out with looking at the birds. They were one of the first species that made attempts to fly. After that, people tried to copy them by creating wings from feathers and wax. This concept seemed to work up until the 17th century. People would use different materials and jump from tall buildings.

Also in Greece (ancient times and part of the early flight history), a flying instrument was created. The creation was based on model of a bird and supposedly flew 200 meters. This creation was dubbed 'The Pigeon'. This flying instrument flew by hanging on a wire or a pivot.

Early flight history also produced hot air balloons in China. It was previously known as the 'Kongming lantern'. The word 'Kongming' was related to Zhuge Liang, who was a general and use these devices to frighten their enemy in the military.

How it worked was an oil lamp was placed under a paper bag (preferably a big one). When the lamp supplied the air with heat, the bag would float in the air. With that concept, the enemy would get scared by seeing that. They were under the impression that the general and his troops were possessed with a divine intervention to scare them.

There were other events that were considered milestones in flight history. If it weren't for these inventions and inventors, the concept of flight might not have existed.

One of the first milestones in flight history was the airplane from Orville and Wilbur Wright, otherwise known as the Wright Brothers. The date of their accomplishment was December 17, 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The 1903 Wright Flyer was a flying instrument that was operated with more than just air. In order for it to fly properly with someone flying, it had to be equipped with a lot of power. As it flew on this historic December date, the flight was successful.

It was able to fly and keep its speed. In fact when it was time for landing, it did so at a high point than its initial take off. After creating their first airplane, they were able to figure out solutions to initial problems of lift, mechanical flight, propulsion and control after they designed it.

Another milestone in flight history was the liquid propellant rocket. This rocket was created on Robert H. Goddard, who was an engineer. The rocket took off on March 16, 1926. The launching place was Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket was able to blast off up to 41 feet and it took about 2.5 seconds to do that. Across the horizon, the rocket was able to span about 184 feet.

Robert Goddard was the first one to work with liquid-propellant rockets. However, no one knew much about what he did. He didn't keep good records of his work with the rockets. He was not known as one who was instrumental in technology later in life.

Part of the reason for this is because Goddard was known as a reclusive person who was not interested in sharing his findings with others. Even with that and the fact that there wasn't much interest in this type of research, he was still able to get financial support from the Smithsonian Institution.