Overview

From the moment Orville and Wilbur Wright (1871-1948 and 1867-1912, respectively) took their famous flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the world fell in love with the idea of the airplane. But man's fascination with flight goes back even further. As early as ancient Greece, people gazed in wonder at birds' flight, wishing they too could reach those soaring heights. Of course, for the mythological figure Icarus that wish turned fatal when he flew too high and too close to the sun; the wings his father had created out of feathers and wax melted, sending him crashing to his death.

The Boeing 747 "jumbo jet." (Federal Aviation Administration. Reproduced by permission.)

Background

Many times throughout history, man has tried to copy birds' flight and failed. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) sketched flying machines in the 1500s and even made some models. The first...