Ancient Greece Daedalus and Icarus, his son, escape from Crete with feather wings. Icarus falls and dies
(They know this is a myth, right?)
1485 Leonardo da Vinci designs Ornithopter, a bird-like flying machine, and a parachute. Neither tested
1783 Sebastien Lenormand of France invents first successful parachute
1896 Otto Lilienthal of Germany killed after making successful hops with bird-like glider
1903 Wright brothers achieve first powered flight
(I wonder what country these guys are from?)
1951 Francis Rogallo of Nasa invents flexible wing later used for hang-gliding
(I've never heard of this country, odd.)
1980s power added to create microlight aircraft
July 2003 Felix Baumgartner of Austria parachutes to land at Calais after flying across English Channel in a wing suit
November 2006 Yves Rossy flies for six minutes over the Swiss Alps
Has anyone speculated that Icarus made a successful hang-glider with more primitive materials? My view has always been that some of these ancient stories weren't made up just for the entertainment value. It's a thought, anyway.