August 19th is National Aviation Day! National Aviation Day was established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939. Why August 19th? Because that is the same date as Orville Wright’s birthday. For thousands of years man has dreamed of flight, and it was Wright, with his brother Wilbur who made it happen. To celebrate National Aviation Day we’re taking a look at how flight has evolved over the years.
The desire to fly has been with man since our early days. In China humans were flying kites dating back hundreds of years B.C. In 1490 Leonardo da Vinci made drawing that tinkered with the idea of personal man-made flight, although he never built any of his ideas.
As the centuries moved on we developed the technology for balloon flights. In the 18th century hydrogen powered balloon flights became very popular. About the same time the technology for hot air balloons was developed by the Montgolfier brothers in France. The 18th century was also a popular time for the study of aerodynamics, thanks in part to Newton’s law of motion. Sir George Cayley, an English engineer, was one of the first people to start to develop fixed-wing flying machines. It was Cayley who discovered the four forces for the implementation of heavier than air flying: weight, lift, drag and thrust. In 1804 Cayley developed and piloted a glider, which was kite-shaped with a vertical fin.
Big advances in aviation wouldn’t happen again for almost a full century. While the term aviation was coined in 1863, development on Cayley’s ideas didn’t move forward until the Wright Brothers. Wilbur and Orville built gliders similar to Cayley’s and tested them in the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the early years of the 19th century. In 1903 the Wrights built their first powered aircraft, a biplane called “The Flyer.” This is what many refeer to as the Big Bang of aviation. On December 17, 1903 the brothers made the first four engine powered flights.
The first practical airplane, “The Flyer II,” was developed in 1904 and flown by the Wright Brothers for 24 miles. The flight, which lasted 39 minutes led the brothers to patent the flying machine. The Wright Brothers would spend the next decade improving their aircraft, and the modern airplane was established by 1909. Short Brothers in Ireland became the first company to produce aircraft in 1908, and the military’s around the world would begin to use flight in WWI.
It wasn’t until WWII, however, that commercial flight became popular with people all over the world. Ex-military aircraft was in abundance and used to transport both people and cargo. Many commercial and cargo aircraft in the period were made from frames of the B-29 and Lancaster. Sustained regular jet services began in the USSR by Aeroflot in September of 1956.
In the final decades of the 20th century aircraft design and manufacturing changed with the digital age. The digital age led to increased stability in the friendly-skies and longer flights without the need to refuel. Automatic piloting took over and the United States military started operating unmanned aircraft, starting in 2001.
Travel Care Air joins everyone else in the aviation community celebrating National Aviation Day! We are proud to be a part of an industry that has been an innovator and has given mankind new and loftier goals and ambitions. For more on our air ambulance services and aviation news and notes, like us on Facebook!
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