Free Republic

In 1849, Cayley built his first full-sized glider based on the same designs he created back in 1799, and successfully flew a 10 year old boy on one short flight. In 1853, he built a larger glider and sent his coachman flying 900 feet across a Brompton dale. Some say it was his grandson and not the coachman who took flight. Still others insist it was neither, but the butler instead.

For centuries, humans have been fascinated by flight. In ancient China, kites few to investigate the weather. Inventors such as Leonardo da Vinci developed many ideas about flight, too. Gliders and balloons lifted humans into the sky, but none of the inventions gave a person control of where they flew. Before Powered Flight The physics of flight and propulsion play key roles in who became pioneers. George Cayley used aerodynamics while designing fixed-wing aircraft. His designs would later inspire Orville and Wilbur Wright. Since propulsion is one of the primary requirements to lift a human into the sky for flight,...