Aviation history refers to the history of development of mechanical flight — from the earliest attempts in kite-powered and gliding flight, to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic and spaceflights.

Early Experiments

As early as 400 B.C. Archytas, a Greek scholar, built a wooden pigeon that moved through the air. It is unknown exactly how this was done, but most believe that the Greek connected it to a steam powered arm that made it go in circles. About 300 B.C, the Chinese developed kites, a form of gliders, which much later in history allowed humans to fly in them.

During Greek times a great mathematician, Archimedes discovered the principle of buoyancy in about 200 BC. He discovered how and why some objects float in liquids This fact helped in the progress of true flight. When the great libraries in Alexandria, Egypt were destroyed in 500 A.D. the discoveries of Archimedes and many others were lost for a thousand years. Two thousand years later men used Archimedes’ principle to help them with the hot-air-balloon. Later in 1290 A.D, Roger Bacon theorized that air, like water, has something solid around it, and something built correctly could be supported by the air.

First Attempts

Early attempts to defy gravity involved the invention of ingenuous machines, such as ornithopters. These were based upon designs written in 1500 by Leonardo da Vinci. This type of flying machine utilizes the flapping of the wings in order to achieve flight. Needless to say that all attempts to fly using this type of machine failed. In 1680, Giovanni Borelli stated that people’s muscles are too weak to flap the large surfaces needed to obtain flight. Later, additional reasons were found as the remarkable physiological capabilities of birds can never be matched by human beings. In other words our heart beat rate must have to go up to 800 heart beats per minute in order to be able to achieve flight.

Second Attempts at Flight

The first free flight in an artificial device was done by two Frenchmen, Jean F. Pilatre de Rozier, and Marquis d’Arlandes. They achieved this with a large linen balloon, and floated for more than five miles over Paris, France.

The idea of filling a closed container with a substance that normally rises through the atmosphere was around as early as the thirteenth century. Over a five hundred year span, different substances came to be known as being lighter-than-air. Between 1650 and 1900 this approach was used for flight. The most common gases proposed were water vapor, helium and hydrogen. The first successful attempts at achieving flight using his type of craft were made by the Montgolfier brothers in France. Their most successful attempt was in 1783 when in a public demonstration, they achieved 6000 feet in a balloon with a diameter of more than 100 feet. As time went by, it was soon recognized that balloons, although able to achieve flight, were basically handicapped by a total lack of directional control. This problem was solved with the introduction of power plants or engines in elongated-like balloons. This elongated shape helped reduce drag in order to decrease the power size. The most successful builder of this type of lighter-than-air craft was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, whose name is synonymous with large rigid dirigibles. The term “dirigible” really means controllable. In the early 1930’s the German Graf Zeppelin machine was able to make a Trans-Atlantic flight to the United States. The dirigible flew 18 mph and had a rigid metal frame that kept it in flight even if gas or power was lost. The Zeppelin design was copied and improved by others throughout the world. One such airship was three times larger than a Boeing 747 and cruised at 68 mph. It made regular flights from Europe to South America in which 24 people had their own suites and dined from menus prepared by famous chefs. The large Hindenburg was equally successful until it was destroyed by fire while attempting a landing in 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The Hindenburg marked the end of large scale Zeppelin travel. Nowadays, the blimp has become ubiquitous, appearing over the skies of ballgames and large outdoor events.

Glider Flight

In 1804, a British inventor, George Cayley, built the first successful glider. His original craft was a small model. A later full-sized glider carried his coachman, going unwillingly, across a valley. He founded the study of aerodynamics, and was the first to suggest a fixed wing aircraft with a propeller.

Otto Lilienthal, a German, developed the first gliders in which the glider could be piloted. His work (1891-1896) inspired other inventors to take up the work of gliders. They included: Percy Pilcher of Great Britain, and Octave Chanute of the United States. These early gliders were hard to control, but could carry the pilot hundreds of feet into the air.

Powered Flight

In 1843, William S. Henderson, patented plans for the first plane with a engine, fixed wings, and propellers. After one unsuccessful try the inventor gave up. Then in 1848, John Stringfellow built a small model which worked, but could only stay up for a short period of time.

In 1890, a French engineer by the name of Clement Ader attempted flight in his steam powered plane. His plane failed — he could not control it, or keep the plane in the air. A another steam powered plane, built by Sir Hiram Maxim, lifted off briefly, but did not fly. It was a gigantic steam powered machine with two wings, two engines, and two propellers.

In the 1890’s an American by the name of Samuel P. Langley, a scientist, tried piloted flight. His early experiments involved a small steam powered plane called the aerodrome. In 1896 it flew half a mile in ninety seconds. Later he created a full-sized aerodrome with a gas engine which was designed for piloted flight. Two attempts were made, on October 7, 1903, and December 8, 1903, and both failed.

Piloted Heavier-than-Air Powered Flights

The Wright Brothers first became interested in flight after they began reading of Lilienthal’s gliding flights in Germany. Upon his death they vowed to continue his progress. The Wright Brothers began flying gliders near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. For four years they made 1000 successful gliding flights on those dunes.

Unable to find an engine manufacturer to meet their specifications of 8 horsepower and engine weight of less than 200 pounds, they decided to design and build their own engine. Aided by their bicycle mechanic Charlie Taylor, they were able to build an engine that produced 12 horsepower. With the engine built, they then faced the problem of how to build a propeller since very little was known on the subject. Surprisingly, with their previously collected wing data, they were able to accurately build the engine propellers. Using the basic airframe of their 1902 Glider, the Kitty Hawk Flyer was born.

After numerous improvements, and studying how birds fly they were ready to test the Flyer out. They flipped a coin, and Wilbur won. They tested the Flyer, but the plane crashed after a wing dipped down. On December 17, 1903 it was Orville’s turn which resulted in a 120-foot, 12-second flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The aircraft represented the first powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine.

After their success the Wright Brothers tried to sell their design to other governments. Since the brothers never made an official and public flight the governments were not about to spend money on something they did not even know if it worked.

The first person to fly as a passenger was Leon Delagrange, who rode with French pilot Henri Farman from a meadow outside of Paris in 1908. Charles Furnas became the first American airplane passenger when he flew with Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk later that year.

Early Aircraft Companies

In 1905, Charles and Gabriel Voisin started the world’s first aircraft company. They two French fliers set up a factory outside of Paris to build the custom planes. This was the first of many European companies to start.

The first US airplane company was founded by Glenn Curtiss in Hammondsport, New York. The first commercial airplane sale was made by this company to the Aeronautic Society of New York for $5,000.

In 1909, two other American airplane companies were formed. The Wright brothers established one, and Glenn Martin formed another. The Wright brothers had their first official public flight in 1908. The United States government, amazed by the capability of the plane, ordered a specialized plane for $30,000. The world’s first military plane was for use in the Army Signal Corps. In November of 1909, a group of wealthy Americans loaned the Wright brothers money to start their own plant. They started the Wright Company which quickly became the leading supplier of military planes. Later Wilbur died of typhoid in 1912, and Orville sold his portion out in 1915 to Eastern investors.

First scheduled air service

The first scheduled air service began in Florida on Jan. 1, 1914. Glenn Curtiss had designed a plane that could take off and land on water and thus could be built larger than any plane to date because it did not need the heavy undercarriage required for landing on hard ground. Thomas Benoist, an autoparts maker, decided to build such a flying boat, or seaplane, built for a service across Tampa Bay called the St. Petersburg-Tampa Air Boat Line. His first passenger was ex-St. Petersburg Mayor A.C. Pheil, who made the 18-mile trip in 23 minutes, a considerable improvement over the two-hour trip by boat or 12-hour trip by rail between the two cities. The single-plane service accommodated one passenger at a time, and the company charged a one-way fare of $5. After operating two flights a day for four months and carrying a total of 1,205 passengers, the company folded with the end of the winter tourist season.

World War I (1914 - 1918)

These and other early flights were headline events, but commercial aviation was very slow to catch on with the general public, most of which was afraid to ride in the new flying machines. Improvements in aircraft design also were slow. However, with World War I, the military value of aircraft was quickly recognized and production increased significantly to meet the rising demand for planes from governments. Most significant was the development of more powerful motors, enabling aircraft to reach speeds of up to 130 mph, more than twice the speed of pre-war aircraft. Increased power also made bigger aircraft possible.

On the other hand, the war was bad for commercial aviation in several ways. It focused all design and production efforts on building military aircraft. In the public’s mind, flying became almost totally associated with bombing runs, surveillance, and aerial dog fights. In addition, there was such a large surplus of planes at the end of the war that the demand for new production was almost non-existent for several years. As a result, many aircraft builders went bankrupt. Some European countries such as Great Britain and France helped commercial aviation by starting air service over the English Channel. However, nothing similar occurred in the United States where there were no such natural obstacles isolating major cities and where railroads could transport people almost as fast as an airplane, and in considerably more comfort. The salvation of the United States commercial aviation industry following World War I was a government program, but one that had little to do with the transportation of people.

Airline Growth

With the surplus of planes left after World War I, thousands of military planes were converted to civilian use. In 1919, bombers were being converted in Europe to form over twenty small new airlines. The first regular international airline service was started by one of those. The company setup by Henry and Maurice Farman used old Farman bombers to make weekly flights between Paris and Brussels.

By 1917, there were seventeen regularly operating airlines in Europe, Africa, Australia, and South America. Some airlines from that era that are still operating include: Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM), SABENA World Airlines, Lufthansa, and Qantas. In the 1920s American aviation was quite slow. There were a few small airlines, but they often failed after only a few months of service. Americans viewed air travel as a dangerous sport, not a safe means of transportation.

By the 1920’s governments started to form national airlines through combining a few private airlines. One such case is the British government who formed Imperial Airways.

Airmail

By 1917, the United States government felt it had seen enough progress in the development of planes to warrant something totally new, air mail. That year, Congress appropriated $100,000 for an experimental airmail service that was to be conducted jointly by the Army and the Post Office between Washington and New York, with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia. The first flight left Belmont Park, Long Island, for Philadelphia on May 14, 1918, and the next day continued on to Washington where it was met by President Woodrow Wilson.

With a large number of war-surplus aircraft in hand, the Post Office almost immediately set its sights on a far more ambitious goal, which was transcontinental air service. It opened the first segment, between Chicago and Cleveland, on May 15, 1919, and completed the service on Sept. 8, 1920, when the most difficult part of the route, the Rocky Mountains, was spanned. Airplanes still could not fly at night when the service first began, so the mail was handed off to trains at the end of each day. Nonetheless, by using airplanes the Post Office was able to shave 22 hours off coast-to- coast mail deliveries.

Beacons

In 1921, the Army deployed rotating beacons in a line between Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, a distance of about 80 miles. The beacons, visible to pilots at 10-second intervals, made it possible to fly the route at night.

The Post Office took over the operation of the guidance system the following year, and by the end of 1923, constructed similar beacons between Chicago and Cheyenne, WY, a line later extended coast-to-coast at a cost of $550,000. Mail then could be delivered across the continent in as little as 29 hours eastbound and 34 hours westbound (prevailing winds from west to east accounted for the difference), which was two to three days less than it took by train.

The Contract Air Mail Act of 1925 - Kelly Air Mail Act

By the mid 1920s, the Post Office mail fleet was flying 2.5 million miles and delivering 14 million letters annually. However, the government had no intention of continuing airmail service on its own. Traditionally, the Post Office had used private companies for the transportation of mail. So once the feasibility of airmail was firmly established, and airline facilities were in place, the government moved to transfer airmail service to the private sector by way of competitive bids. The legislative vehicle for the move was the 1925 Contract Air Mail Act, commonly referred to as the Kelly Act after its chief sponsor, Rep. Clyde Kelly of Pennsylvania. It was the first major legislative step toward the creation of a private United States airline industry. Winners of the initial five contracts were National Air Transport (owned by the Curtiss Aeroplane Co.), Varney Air Lines, Western Air Express, Colonial Air Transport, and Robertson Aircraft Corporation. National and Varney would later become important parts of United Airlines (originally a joint venture of the Boeing Airplane Company and Pratt & Whitney). Western would merge with Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), another Curtiss subsidiary, to form Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA). Robertson would become part of the Universal Aviation Corporation, which in turn would merge with Colonial, Southern Air Transport and others to form American Airways, predecessor of American Airlines. Juan Trippe, one of the original partners in Colonial, would later pioneer international air travel with Pan Am — a carrier he founded in 1927 to transport mail between Key West, FL, and Havana, Cuba; and Pitcairn Aviation, yet another Curtiss subsidiary that got its start transporting mail, would become Eastern Air Transport, predecessor of Eastern Airlines. Because of this act, Henry Ford’s airline was the first airline to transport United States mail. Many of these companies who flew the mail started carrying passengers on flights. In 1926, airlines in the United States carried 6,000 passengers. By 1930, passengers flying on US airlines had soared to 400,000.

The Morrow Board

The same year Congress passed the Contract Mail Act, President Calvin Coolidge appointed a board to recommend a national aviation policy (a much-sought-after goal of Herbert Hoover, who was Secretary of Commerce at the time). Dwight Morrow, a senior partner in J.P. Morgan’s bank, and later the father-in-law of Charles Lindbergh, was named chairman. The board heard testimony from 99 people, and on Nov. 30, 1925 submitted its report to President Coolidge. It was wide-ranging, but its key recommendation was that the government should set standards for civil aviation and that the standards should be set outside of the military.

The New Industry

By 1935, the United States had four major airlines: American, Eastern, Transcontinental, Western Air (now TWA), and United. Other notable, but smaller airlines, were: Delta, Northwest, and Braniff. Pan American World Airways served as the United States’ primary international airline with flights to Latin America. European governments on the other hand were still forming government airlines, such as Air France and Ala Littoria (Italy).

Radio

Another development of enormous importance to aviation was radio. Aviation and radio developed almost in lock step. Marconi sent his first message across the Atlantic on the airways just two years before the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk. By World War I, some pilots were taking radios up in the air with them so they could communicate with people on the ground. The airlines followed suit after the war, using radio to transmit weather information from the ground to their pilots so they could avoid storms.

Perhaps an even bigger development, however, was the realization that radio could be used as an aid to navigation when visibility was poor and visual navigation aids such as beacons were useless. Once technical bugs were worked out, the Department of Commerce constructed 83 radio beacons across the country. They became fully operational in 1932, automatically transmitting directional beams, or tracks, that pilots could follow to their destination. Marker beacons came next, allowing pilots to locate airports in poor visibility. The first air traffic control tower was established in 1935 at Newark International Airport in New Jersey.

Modern Airliners

Boeing built what generally is considered the first modern passenger airliner, the Boeing 247. It was unveiled in 1933, and United Air Lines promptly bought sixty of them, tying up Boeing production lines for two years. Based on a low-wing, twin-engine bomber with retractable landing gear, the 247 accommodated 10 passengers and cruised at 155 miles per hour. Its cabin was insulated to reduce engine noise levels inside the plane, and it featured such things as upholstered seats and a hot water heater to make flying more comfortable to passengers. Eventually, Boeing also gave the 247 variable pitch propellers that reduced takeoff distances, increased the rate of climb, and boosted cruising speeds.

Not to be outdone by United, TWA went searching for an alternative to the 247 and eventually found what it wanted from the Douglas Aircraft Company. Its DC-1 copied Boeing’s innovations and improved upon many of them. The DC-1 had a more powerful engine and accommodations for two more passengers than did the 247. More importantly, the airframe was designed so that the skin of the aircraft bore most of the stress on the plane during flight. There was no interior skeleton of metal spars, thus giving passengers more room than they had in the 247.

The DC-1 also was easier to fly. It was equipped with the first automatic pilot and the first efficient wing flaps for added lift during takeoff. However, for all its advancements, only one DC-1 was ever built. Douglas decided almost immediately to alter its design, adding 18 inches to its length so it could accommodate two more passengers. The new, longer version was called the DC-2, and it was a big success, but the best was still to come.

The DC-3

Called the plane that changed the world, the DC-3 was the first aircraft to enable airlines to make money carrying passengers. As a result, it quickly became the dominant aircraft in the United States following its debut in 1936 with American Airlines (which played a key role in its design).

The DC-3 had 50% greater passenger capacity than the DC-2 (21 seats versus 14), yet cost only 10% more to operate. It also was considered a safer plane, built of an aluminum alloy 25% stronger than materials previously used in aircraft construction. It has more powerful engines (1,000 horsepower versus 710 horsepower for the DC-2), and it could travel coast to coast in 16 hours — a fast trip for that time.

Another important improvement was the use of a hydraulic pump to lower and raise the landing gear. This freed pilots from having to crank the gear up and down during takeoffs and landings. For greater passenger comfort, the DC-3 had a noise-deadening plastic insulation, and seats set in rubber to minimize vibrations. It was a fantastically popular airplane, and it helped attract many new travelers to flying.

Pressurized Cabins

Although planes such as the Boeing 247 and the DC-3 represented significant advances in aircraft design, they had a major drawback. They could fly no higher than 10,000 feet because people became dizzy and even fainted due to the reduced levels of oxygen at higher altitudes.

The airlines wanted to fly higher to get above the air turbulence and storms common at lower altitudes. Motion sickness was a problem for many airline passengers, and an inhibiting factor to the industry’s growth.

The breakthrough came at Boeing with the Stratoliner, a derivation of the B-17 bomber introduced in 1940 and first flown by TWA. It was the first pressurized aircraft, meaning that air was pumped into the aircraft as it gained altitude to maintain an atmosphere inside the cabin similar to the atmosphere that occurs naturally at lower altitudes. With its regulated air compressor, the 33-seat Stratoliner could fly as high as 20,000 feet and reach speeds of 200 miles per hour.

The 1938 Civil Aeronautics Act

By 1938, over 3.5 million passengers were flying on airlines, over a million of them Americans. This extreme growth prompted new government policies. Government decisions continued to prove as important to aviation’s future as technological breakthroughs, and one of the most important aviation bills ever enacted by Congress was the 1938 Civil Aeronautics Act. Until that time, numerous government agencies and departments had a hand in aviation policy. Airlines sometimes were pushed and pulled in several directions, and there was no central agency working for the long term interests and stability of the industry. All the airlines had been losing money since the postal reforms in 1934 significantly reduced the amount they were paid for carrying the mail, and all were at risk of losing postal routes (still key to staying in business) to a low competing bid at the next Post Office auction.

The airlines desperately wanted greater government regulation through an independent agency they could call their own, and the Civil Aeronautics Act gave them what they wanted. It created the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), and gave the new agency power to regulate airline tariffs, airmail rates, interline agreements, mergers, and airline routes. Its mission was to preserve order in the industry, holding rates to reasonable levels while at the same time nurturing the still financially-shaky airline industry by protecting carriers from unbridled competition.

Congress created a separate agency — the Air Safety Board — to regulate the carriers on matters of safety. In 1940, however, President Roosevelt convinced Congress to transfer the safety regulatory function to the CAA, which was then renamed the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). These moves, coupled with the tremendous progress made on the technological side, put the industry firmly on the road to success.

World War II

Aviation had an enormous impact on the course of World War II and the war had just as big of an impact on aviation. There were fewer than 300 air transports in the United States when Hitler marched into Poland in 1938. By the end of the war, over 40 United States aircraft manufacturers were producing 50,000 planes a year. By the end of the war the United States had built more than 300,000 aircraft. During the war aircraft production had become the world’s leading manufacturing industry.

Most of the planes, of course, were fighters and bombers, but the importance of air transports to the war effort quickly became apparent as well. Throughout the war, the airlines provided much needed airlift to keep people and supplies moving to the front and throughout the production chain back home. For the first time in their history, the airlines had far more business — for passengers as well as freight — than they could handle. Many of them also had opportunities to pioneer new routes, gaining an exposure that would give them a decidedly broader outlook at war’s end.

While there were numerous advances in United States aircraft design during the war that enabled planes to go faster, higher, and further than ever before, mass production was the chief goal of the United States. The major innovations of the wartime period — radar and jet engines — occurred in Europe.

The Jet Engine

Isaac Newton was the first to theorize (in the 18^th century) that a rearward-channeled explosion could propel a machine forward at a great rate of speed (Newton’s Third Law). However, no one found a practical application for the theory until Frank Whittle, a British pilot, designed the first jet engine in 1930. Even then, widespread skepticism about the commercial viability of a jet prevented Whittle’s design from being tested for several years.

The Germans were the first to actually build and test a jet aircraft. Based on a design by Hans von Ohain, a student working independently of Whittle, it flew in 1939, although not as well as the Germans had hoped. It would take another five years for German scientists to perfect the design, by which time it was too late to affect the outcome of the war.

Whittle also improved his jet engine during the war, and in 1942 he shipped an engine prototype to General Electric in the United States. America’s first jet plane was built the following year.

Radar

A technological development with a much greater impact on the war’s outcome (and later on commercial aviation) was radar. British scientists had been working on a device that could give them early warning of approaching enemy aircraft even before the war began, and by 1940, Britain had a line of radar transceivers along its east coast that could detect German aircraft the moment they took off from the Continent.

British scientists also perfected the cathode ray oscilloscope, which produced map-type outlines of surrounding countryside and showed aircraft as a pulsing light. Americans, meanwhile, found a way to distinguish between enemy aircraft and Allied aircraft by installing transponders aboard the latter that signaled their identity to radar operators.

Dawn of the Jet Age

Aviation was poised to advance rapidly following the war, in large part because of the development of jets, but there still were significant problems to overcome. In 1952, the British Overseas Airways Corporation (now British Airways) was formed. It used the new jet engine technology in its de Havilland Comets. The Comet was a 36-seat British-made jet which flew from London to Johannesburg, South Africa, at speeds as high as 500 miles per hour. Two years later, the Comet’s career ended abruptly following two back-to-back accidents in which the fuselage burst apart during flight — the result of metal fatigue caused by repeated pressurization cycles. The Comet was later redesigned to be safer.

The cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States following World War II helped secure the funding needed to solve such problems and advance the jet’s development. Most of the breakthroughs related to military aircraft that later were applied to the commercial sector. For example, Boeing employed a swept-back wing design for its B-47 and B-52 bombers to reduce drag and increase speed. Later, the design was incorporated into commercial jets, making them faster and thus more attractive to passengers. The best example of military-civilian technology transfer was the jet tanker Boeing designed for the Air Force to refuel bombers in flight, thus extending their range. The tanker, called the KC- 135, was a huge success as a military plane but even more successful when revamped and introduced in 1958 as the first United States passenger jet, the Boeing 707. With a length of 125 feet and four engines with 17,000 pounds of thrust, the 707 could carry up to 181 passengers and travel at speeds as high as 550 miles per hour. Its engines proved more reliable than piston driven engines, and they produced less vibration, putting less stress on the plane’s airframe and reducing maintenance expenses. They also burned kerosene, which cost half as much as the high octane gasoline used in more traditional planes. With the 707, first ordered and operated by Pan Am, all questions about the commercial feasibility of jets were answered. The jet age had arrived, and other airlines soon were lining up to buy the new aircraft.