HISTORY OF FLIGHT

Myths and Legends of Flight

Greek Legend - Pegasus
Bellerophon the Valiant, son of the King of Corinth, captured Pegasus, a winged horse. Pegasus
took him to a battle with the triple headed monster, Chimera.
Icarus and Daedalus - An Ancient Greek Legend
Daedalus was an engineer who was imprisoned by King Minos. With his son, Icarus, he made
wings of wax and feathers. Daedalus flew successfully from Crete to Naples, but Icarus, tired to
fly too high and flew too near to the sun. The wings of wax melted and Icarus fell to his death in
the ocean.
Early Efforts of Flight
Around 400 BC China
The discovery of the kite that could fly in the air by the Chinese started humans thinking about
flying and is thought to be the earliest example of man-made flight. Kites were used by the
Chinese in religious ceremonies. They built many colorful kites for fun, also. More sophisticated
kites were used to test weather conditions. The ancient Chinese also flew small hot-air lanterns
and bamboo-copter toys with spinning rotors. Kites have been important to the invention of
flight as they were the forerunner to balloons and gliders
Humans try to fly like birds

For many centuries, humans have tried to fly just like the birds. Wings made of feathers or light
weight wood have been attached to arms to test their ability to fly. The results were often
disastrous as the muscles of the human arms are not like a birds and can not move with the
strength of a bird.
Man-carrying kites
Man-carrying kites are believed to have been used extensively in ancient China, for both civil
and military purposes and sometimes enforced as a punishment. Stories of man-carrying kites
also occur in Japan, following the introduction of the kite from China around the seventh century
AD. It is said that at one time there was a Japanese law against man-carrying kites.

Efforts to analyze the atmosphere from the 17th to 19th centuries led to the discovery of gases
such as hydrogen, which in turn led to the invention of hydrogen balloons. Various theories in
mechanics by physicists during the same period of time, notably fluid dynamics and Newton's
laws of motion, led to the foundation of modern aerodynamics. Tethered balloons filled with hot
air were used in the first half of the 19th century and saw considerable action in several midcentury wars, most notably the American Civil War, where balloons provided observation during
the Battle of Petersburg
Hero and the Aeolipile
The ancient Greek engineer, Hero of Alexandria, worked with air
pressure and steam to create sources of power. One experiment that he
developed was the aeolipile which used jets of steam to create rotary
motion.

Aeolipile

Hero mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle
turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the
sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the
gas to escape, which gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate.

Leonardo da Vinci (1485) - The Ornithopter

Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century dream of flight found
expression in several rational but unscientific designs,
though he did not attempt to construct any of them.
Hes made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. He had
over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on flight.

Leonardo da Vinci's
Ornithopter

The Ornithopter flying machine was never actually created.

It was a design that Leonardo da Vinci created to show how
man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this
concept.

Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier (1783 ) - The First Hot Air Balloon
The brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier,
were inventors of the first hot air balloon. They used the
smoke from a fire to blow hot air into a silk bag. The silk bag
was attached to a basket. The hot air then rose and allowed the
balloon to be lighter-than-air.
In 1783, the first passengers in the colorful balloon were a
sheep, rooster and duck. It climbed to a height of about 6,000
feet and traveled more than 1 mile.
After this first success, the brothers began to send men up in
balloons. The first manned flight was on November 21, 1783,
One of The
the passengers were Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and
Montgolfier's Balloons
Francois Laurent.

George Cayley (1799 - 1850's)

Sir George Cayley and the first modern aircraft

One Version of a Glider

George Cayley worked to discover a way that man could fly. He

designed many different versions of gliders that used the
movements of the body to control. A young boy, whose name is
not known, was the first to fly one of his gliders.
Over 50 years he made improvements to the gliders. He changed
the shape of the wings so that the air would flow over the wings
correctly. He designed a tail for the gliders to help with the
stability. He tried a biplane design to add strength to the glider.
He also recognized that there would be a need for power if the
flight was to be in the air for a long time.
Sir George Cayley was first called the "father of the aeroplane" in
1846. During the last years of the previous century he had begun
the first rigorous study of the physics of flight and would later
design the first modern heavier-than-air craft. Among his many
achievements, his most important contributions to aeronautics
include:
Clarifying our ideas and laying down the principles of heavierthan-air flight. Reaching a scientific understanding of the
principles of bird flight.

Conducting scientific aerodynamic experiments demonstrating

drag and streamlining, movement of the centre of pressure, and
the increase in lift from curving the wing surface. Defining the
modern aeroplane configuration comprising a fixed wing,
fuselage and tail assembly.
Demonstrations of manned, gliding flight.
Cayley's first innovation was to study the basic science of lift by
adopting the whirling arm test rig for use in aircraft research and
using simple aerodynamic models on the arm, rather than
attempting to fly a model of a complete design.
In 1799 he set down the concept of the modern aeroplane as a
fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift,
propulsion, and control.
In 1804 Cayley constructed a model glider which was the first
modern heavier-than-air flying machine, having the layout of a
conventional modern aircraft with an inclined wing towards the
front and adjustable tail at the back with both tailplane and fin. A
movable weight allowed adjustment of the model's centre of
gravity.

One of the many drawings of gliders

Cayley wrote On Ariel Navigation which shows that a fixed-wing aircraft with a power system
for propulsion and a tail to assist in the control of the airplane would be the best way to allow
man to fly.

19th And 20th Century Efforts

Otto Lilienthal (1891)
German engineer, Otto Lilienthal, studied aerodynamics and
worked to design a glider that would fly. He was the first person to
design a glider that could fly a person and was able to fly long
distances.
He was fascinated by the idea of flight. Based on his studies of
birds and how they fly, he wrote a book on aerodynamics that was
published in 1889 and this text was used by the Wright Brothers as
One of Lilienthal's the basis for their designs.
Gliders
After more than 2500 flights, he was killed when he lost control
because of a sudden strong wind and crashed into the ground.

Lilienthal's Glider in Flight

Samuel Pierpont Langley (1891)

Langley's Aerodrome

Samuel Langley was an astronomer, who realized that power was

needed to help man fly. He built a model of a plane, which he
called an aerodrome, that included a steam-powered engine. In
1891, his model flew for 3/4s of a mile before running out of fuel.
Langley received a $50,000 grant to build a full sized aerodrome. It
was too heavy to fly and it crashed. He was very disappointed. He
gave up trying to fly. His major contributions to flight involved
attempts at adding a power plant to a glider. He was also well
known as the director of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington,

DC
First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac
River, October 7, 1903
After a distinguished career in astronomy and shortly before
becoming Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Samuel
Pierpont Langley started a serious investigation into aerodynamics
at what is today the University of Pittsburgh. In 1891 he published
Experiments in Aerodynamics detailing his research, and then
turned to building his designs. He hoped to achieve automatic
aerodynamic stability, so he gave little consideration to in-flight
control. On May 6, 1896, Langley's Aerodrome No. 5 made the
first successful sustained flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven
heavier-than-air craft of substantial size. It was launched from a
spring-actuated catapult mounted on top of a houseboat on the
Potomac River near Quantico, Virginia. Two flights were made that
afternoon, one of 1,005 metres (3,297 ft) and a second of 700
metres (2,300 ft), at a speed of approximately 25 miles per hour
(40 km/h). On both occasions the Aerodrome No. 5 landed in the
water as planned, because in order to save weight, it was not
equipped with landing gear. On November 28, 1896, another
successful flight was made with the Aerodrome No. 6. This flight,
of 1,460 metres (4,790 ft), was witnessed and photographed by
Alexander Graham Bell. The Aerodrome No. 6 was actually
Aerodrome No. 4 greatly modified. So little remained of the
original aircraft that it was given a new designation.
With the successes of the Aerodrome No. 5 and No. 6, Langley
started looking for funding to build a full-scale man-carrying
version of his designs. Spurred by the Spanish-American War, the
U.S. government granted him $50,000 to develop a man-carrying
flying machine for aerial reconnaissance. Langley planned on
building a scaled-up version known as the Aerodrome A, and
started with the smaller Quarter-scale Aerodrome, which flew
twice on June 18, 1901, and then again with a newer and more
powerful engine in 1903.
With the basic design apparently successfully tested, he then turned
to the problem of a suitable engine. He contracted Stephen Balzer
to build one, but was disappointed when it delivered only 8 hp (6.0
kW) instead of 12 hp (8.9 kW) he expected. Langley's assistant,
Charles M. Manly, then reworked the design into a five-cylinder
water-cooled radial that delivered 52 hp (39 kW) at 950 rpm, a feat
that took years to duplicate. Now with both power and a design,
Langley put the two together with great hopes.

To his dismay, the resulting aircraft proved to be too fragile.

Simply scaling up the original small models resulted in a design
that was too weak to hold itself together. Two launches in late 1903
both ended with the Aerodrome immediately crashing into the
water. The pilot, Manly, was rescued each time. Also, the aircraft's
control system was inadequate to allow quick pilot responses, and
it had no method of lateral control, and the Aerodrome's aerial
stability was marginal.
Langley's attempts to gain further funding failed, and his efforts
ended. Nine days after his second abortive launch on December 8,
the Wright brothers successfully flew their Flyer. Glenn Curtiss
made 93 modifications to the Aerodrome and flew this very
different aircraft in 1914. Without acknowledging the
modifications, the Smithsonian Institution asserted that Langley's
Aerodrome was the first machine "capable of flight".

Model of Langley Aerodrome

Orville and Wilbur Wright and the First Airplane
Orville and Wilbur Wright were very deliberate in their quest for flight. First, they read about all
the early developments of flight. They decided to make "a small contribution" to the study of
flight control by twisting their wings in flight. Then they began to test their ideas with a kite.
They learned about how the wind would help with the flight and how it could affect the surfaces
once up in the air.

A Drawing of a Wright
Brothers Glider (1900)

The next step was to test the shapes of gliders much like
George Cayley did when he was testing the many
different shapes that would fly. They spent three years
testing and learning about how gliders could be
controlled at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The "Flyer" lifted from level ground to the north of Big

Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina, at 10:35 a.m., on
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than any before, enabling them to gain adequate
performance from their low engine power. Although
wing-warping as a means of lateral control was used only
briefly during the early history of aviation, the principle
of combining lateral control in combination with a rudder
was a key advance in aircraft control. While many
aviation pioneers appeared to leave safety largely to
chance, the Wrights' design was greatly influenced by the
need to teach themselves to fly without unreasonable risk
to life and limb, by surviving crashes. This emphasis, as
well as low engine power, was the reason for low flying
speed and for taking off in a head wind. Performance,
rather than safety, was the reason for the rear-heavy
design, because the canard could not be highly loaded;
anhedral wings were less affected by crosswinds and

Airship and Zeppelin

Construction of the first Zeppelin airship began in 1899 in a floating assembly hall on Lake
Constance in the Bay of Manzell, Friedrichshafen. This was intended to ease the starting
procedure, as the hall could easily be aligned with the wind. The prototype airship LZ 1 (LZ for
"Luftschiff Zeppelin") had a length of 128 m (420 ft) was driven by two 10.6 kW (14.2 hp)
Daimler engines and balanced by moving a weight between its two nacelles.
Its first flight, on July 2, 1900, lasted for only 18 minutes, as LZ 1 was forced to land on the lake
after the winding mechanism for the balancing weight had broken. Upon repair, the technology
proved its potential in subsequent flights, bettering the 6 m/s speed attained by the French airship
La France by 3 m/s, but could not yet convince possible investors. It would be several years
before the Count was able to raise enough funds for another try.
Although airships were used in both World War I and II, and continue on a limited basis to this
day, their development has been largely overshadowed by heavier-than-air craft.

WORLD WAR

World War I (19141918)

Aviation in World War I
It was not long before aircraft were shooting at each other, but the lack of any sort of steady
point for the gun was a problem. The French solved this problem when, in late 1914, Roland
Garros attached a fixed machine gun to the front of his plane, but while Adolphe Pegoud would
become known as the first "ace", getting credit for five victories, before also becoming the first
ace to die in action, it was German Luftstreitkrfte Leutnant Kurt Wintgens, who, on July 1,
1915, scored the very first aerial victory by a purpose-built fighter plane, with a synchronized
machine gun.
Aviators were styled as modern day knights, doing individual combat with their enemies. Several
pilots became famous for their air to air combats, the most well known is Manfred von
Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron, who shot down 80 planes in air to air combat with
several different planes, the most celebrated of which was the Fokker Dr.I. On the Allied side,
Ren Paul Fonck is credited with the most all-time victories at 75, even when later wars are
considered
France, Britain, Germany and Italy were the leading manufacturers of fighter planes that saw
action during the war, with German aviation technologist Hugo Junkers showing the way to the
future of much of 20th century aviation, through the pioneering of practical all-metal aircraft in
late 1915.

Between the World Wars (19181939)

Aviation between the World Wars
The years between World War I and World War II saw great advancements in aircraft technology.
Airplanes evolved from low-powered biplanes made from wood and fabric to sleek, highpowered monoplanes made of aluminum, based primarily on the founding work of Hugo Junkers
during the World War I period and its adoption by American designer William Bushnell Stout
and Soviet designer Andrei Tupolev. The age of the great rigid airships came and went. The first
successful rotorcraft appeared in the form of the autogyro, invented by Spanish engineer Juan de
la Cierva and first flown in 1919. In this design, the rotor is not powered but is spun like a
windmill by its passage through the air. A separate powerplant is used to propel the aircraft
forwards.

World War II (19391945)

Aviation in World War II
World War II saw a great increase in the pace of development and production, not only of aircraft
but also the associated flight-based weapon delivery systems. Air combat tactics and doctrines
took advantage. Large-scale strategic bombing campaigns were launched, fighter escorts
introduced and the more flexible aircraft and weapons allowed precise attacks on small targets
with dive bombers, fighter-bombers, and ground-attack aircraft. New technologies like radar also
allowed more coordinated and controlled deployment of air defense.
Me 262, world first operational jet fighter
The first jet aircraft to fly was the Heinkel He 178 (Germany), flown by Erich Warsitz in 1939,
followed by the world's first operational jet aircraft, the Me 262, in July 1942 and world's first
jet-powered bomber, the Arado Ar 234, in June 1943. British developments, like the Gloster
Meteor, followed afterwards, but saw only brief use in World War II. The first cruise missile (V1), the first ballistic missile (V-2), the first (and to date only) operational rocket-powered combat
aircraft Me 163 with attained velocities of up to 1,130 km/h (700 mph) in test flights and
the first vertical take-off manned point-defense interceptor, the Bachem Ba 349 Natter, were also
developed by Germany. Not only airplanes, but also helicopters saw rapid development in the
Second World War, with the introduction of the Focke Achgelis Fa 223, the Flettner Fl 282
synchropter in 1941 in Germany and the Sikorsky R-4 in 1942 in the USA.
Apollo 11 lifts off on its mission to land a man on the moon
The Harrier Jump Jet, often referred to as just "Harrier" or "the Jump Jet", is a British designed
military jet aircraft capable of Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) via thrust vectoring.

It first flew in 1969. The same year that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon,
and Boeing unveiled the Boeing 747 and the Arospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic passenger
airliner had its maiden flight. The Boeing 747 was the largest commercial passenger aircraft ever
to fly, and still carries millions of passengers each year, though it has been superseded by the
Airbus A380, which is capable of carrying up to 853 passengers. In 1975 Aeroflot started regular
service on the Tu-144the first supersonic passenger plane. In 1976 British Airways and Air
France began supersonic service across the Atlantic, with Concorde. A few years earlier the SR71 Blackbird had set the record for crossing the Atlantic in under 2 hours, and Concorde
followed in its footsteps.
in 1979 the Gossamer Albatross became the first human powered aircraft to cross the English
channel. This achievement finally saw the realization of centuries of dreams of human flight.

The digital age (1980present)

Aviation in the digital age
Concorde, G-BOAB, in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde
flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and final flight in 2000.
The last quarter of the 20th century saw a change of emphasis. No longer was revolutionary
progress made in flight speeds, distances and materials technology. This part of the century
instead saw the spreading of the digital revolution both in flight avionics and in aircraft design
and manufacturing techniques.
In 1986 Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew an aircraft, the Rutan Voyager, around the world
unrefuelled, and without landing. In 1999 Bertrand Piccard became the first person to circle the
earth in a balloon.
Digital fly-by-wire systems allow an aircraft to be designed with relaxed static stability. Initially
used to increase the manoeuvrability of military aircraft such as the General Dynamics F-16
Fighting Falcon, this is now being used to reduce drag on commercial airliners.
In the beginning of the 21st century, digital technology allowed subsonic military aviation to
begin eliminating the pilot in favor of remotely operated or completely autonomous unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs). In April 2001 the unmanned aircraft Global Hawk flew from Edwards
AFB in the US to Australia non-stop and unrefuelled. This is the longest point-to-point flight
ever undertaken by an unmanned aircraft, and took 23 hours and 23 minutes. In October 2003 the
first totally autonomous flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraft

occurred. UAVs are now an established feature of modern warfare, carrying out pinpoint attacks
under the control of a remote operator.
Humankind was now able to fly! During the next century, many new airplanes and
engines were developed to help transport people, luggage, cargo, military personnel and
weapons. The 20th century's advances were all based on this first flights by the American
Brothers from Ohio.

Wing structure
Airplanes have flexible wing surfaces which are stretched across a frame and made rigid by the
lift forces exerted by the airflow over them. Larger aircraft have rigid wing surfaces which
provide additional strength.
Whether flexible or rigid, most wings have a strong frame to give them their shape and to
transfer lift from the wing surface to the rest of the aircraft. The main structural elements are one
or more spars running from root to tip, and many ribs running from the leading (front) to the
trailing (rear) edge.
Early airplane engines had little power and light weight was very important. Also, early airfoil
sections were very thin, and could not have strong frame installed within. So until the 1930s
most wings were too light weight to have enough strength and external bracing struts and wires
were added. When the available engine power increased during the 1920s and 30s, wings could
be made heavy and strong enough that bracing was not needed any more. This type of unbraced
wing is called a cantilever wing.
Wing configuration

Captured Morane-Saulnier L wire-braced parasol monoplane

The most important wing characteristics are:

Number of wings Monoplane, biplane, etc.

Wing support Braced or cantilever, rigid, or flexible.
Wing planform including aspect ratio, angle of sweep, and any variations along the
span (including the important class of delta wings).

Location of the horizontal stabilizer, if any.

Dihedral angle positive, zero, or negative (anhedral).

A monoplane has a single wing plane, a biplane has two stacked one above the other, a tandem
wing has two placed one behind the other. When the available engine power increased during the
1920s and 30s and bracing was no longer needed, the unbraced or cantilever monoplane became
the most common form of powered type. The four-winged quadruplane and
other multiplane designs have had little success.
The wing planform is the shape when seen from above. To be aerodynamically efficient, a wing
should be straight with a long span from side to side but have a short chord (high aspect ratio).
But to be structurally efficient, and hence light weight, a wing must have a short span but still
enough area to provide lift (low aspect ratio).
At transonic speeds (near the speed of sound), it helps to sweep the wing backwards or forwards
to reduce drag from supersonic shock waves as they begin to form. The swept wing is just a
straight wing swept backwards or forwards.

Two Dassault Mirage G prototypes, one with wings swept

The delta wing is a triangle shape which may be used for a number of reasons. As a
flexible Rogallo wing it allows a stable shape under aerodynamic forces, and so is often used for
ultralight aircraft and even kites. As a supersonic wing it combines high strength with low drag
and so is often used for fast jets.
A variable geometry wing can be changed in flight to a different shape. The variable-sweep
wing transforms between an efficient straight configuration for takeoff and landing, to a lowdrag swept configuration for high-speed flight. Other forms of variable planform have been
flown, but none have gone beyond the research stage.
Fixed-wing

A Qantas Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger airliner

The forerunner of the fixed-wing aircraft is the kite. Whereas a fixed-wing aircraft relies on its
forward speed to create airflow over the wings, a kite is tethered to the ground and relies on

the wind blowing over its wings to provide lift. Kites were the first kind of aircraft to fly,
and were invented in China around 500 BC. Much aerodynamic research was done with kites
before test aircraft, wind tunnels, and computer modelling programs became available.
The first heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled free-flight were gliders. A glider designed
by Cayley carried out the first true manned, controlled flight in 1853.
Wing-in-ground-effect vehicles may be considered as fixed-wing aircraft. They "fly" efficiently
close to the surface of the ground or water, like conventional aircraft during takeoff. Manpowered aircraft also rely on ground effect to remain airborne with a minimal pilot power, but
this is only because they are so underpowered in fact, the airframe is capable of flying higher.

Rotorcraft

An Autogyro
Rotorcraft, or rotary-wing aircraft, use a spinning rotor with aerofoil section blades (a rotary
wing) to provide lift. Types includehelicopters, autogyros, and various hybrids such
as gyrodynes and compound rotorcraft.
Helicopters have a rotor turned by an engine-driven shaft. The rotor pushes air downward to
create lift. By tilting the rotor forward, the downward flow is tilted backward, producing thrust
for forward flight. Some helicopters have more than one rotor and a few have rotors turned by
gas jets at the tips.
Autogyros have unpowered rotors, with a separate power plant to provide thrust. The rotor is
tilted backward. As the autogyro moves forward, air blows upward across the rotor, making it
spin. This spinning increases the speed of airflow over the rotor, to provide lift.
Cyclogyros rotate their wings about a horizontal axis.
Compound rotorcraft have wings that provide some or all of the lift in forward flight. They are
nowadays classified as powered lift types and not as rotorcraft. Tiltrotoraircraft (such as the V-22
Osprey), tiltwing, tailsitter, and coleopter aircraft have their rotors/propellers horizontal for
vertical flight and vertical for forward flight.
Propulsion
Unpowered aircraft
Gliders are heavier-than-air aircraft that do not employ propulsion once airborne. Take-off may
be by launching forward and downward from a high location, or by pulling into the air on a towline, either by a ground-based winch or vehicle, or by a powered "tug" aircraft. Many gliders can

'soar' gain height from updrafts such as thermal currents. Common examples of gliders
are sailplanes, hang gliders and paragliders.
Balloons drift with the wind, though normally the pilot can control the altitude, either by heating
the air or by releasing ballast, giving some directional control (since the wind direction changes
with altitude).
Kites are aircraft that are tethered to the ground or other object (fixed or mobile) that maintains
tension in the tether or kite line; they rely on virtual or real wind blowing over and under them to
generate lift and drag.
Powered aircraft
Powered aircraft have one or more onboard sources of mechanical power, typically aircraft
engines although rubber and manpower have also been used. Most aircraft engines are either
light weight piston engines or gas turbines. Engine fuel is stored in tanks, usually in the wings
but larger aircraft also have additional fuel tanks in the fuselage.
Propeller aircraft

A turboprop-engined DeHavilland Twin Otter adapted as a floatplane

Propeller aircraft use one or more propellers (airscrews) to create thrust in a forward direction.
The propeller is usually mounted in front of the power source in tractor configuration but can be
mounted behind in pusher configuration. Variations of propeller layout include contra-rotating
propellers and ducted fans.
Many kinds of power plant have been used to drive propellers. Early airships used man power
or steam engines. The more practicalinternal combustion piston engine was used for virtually all
fixed-wing aircraft until World War II and is still used in many smaller aircraft. Some types use
turbine engines to drive a propeller in the form of a turboprop or propfan. Human-powered
flight has been achieved, but has not become a practical means of transport. Unmanned aircraft
and models have also used power sources such as electric motors and rubber bands.
Jet aircraft

Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor

Jet aircraft use airbreathing jet engines, which take in air, burn fuel with it in a combustion
chamber, and accelerate the exhaust rearwards to provide thrust.
Turbojet and turbofan engines use a spinning turbine to drive one or more fans, which provide
additional thrust. An afterburner may be used to inject extra fuel into the hot exhaust, especially
on military "fast jets". Use of a turbine is not absolutely necessary: other designs include
the pulse jet and ramjet. These mechanically simple designs cannot work when stationary, so the
aircraft must be launched to flying speed by some other method.
Rotorcraft
Some rotorcraft, such as helicopters, have a powered rotary wing or rotor, where the rotor disc
can be angled slightly forward so that a proportion of its lift is directed forwards. The rotor may,
like a propeller, be powered by a variety of methods such as a piston engine or turbine.
Experiments have also used jet nozzles at the rotor blade tips.
Other types of powered aircraft

Rocket-powered aircraft have occasionally been experimented with, and

the Messerschmitt Komet fighter even saw action in the Second World War. Since then, they
have been restricted to research aircraft, such as the North American X-15, which traveled up
into space where air-breathing engines cannot work (rockets carry their own oxidant).
Rockets have more often been used as a supplement to the main power plant, typically for
the rocket-assisted take off of heavily loaded aircraft, but also to provide high-speed dash
capability in some hybrid designs such as the Saunders-Roe SR.53.
The ornithopter obtains thrust by flapping its wings. It has found practical use in a model
hawk used to freeze prey animals into stillness so that they can be captured, and in toy birds.

Aerostats
Lighter-than-air types are characterised by one or more gasbags, typically with a supporting
structure of flexible cables or a rigid framework called its hull. Other elements such as engines or
a gondola may also be attached to the supporting structure.
Aerodynes
Airframe diagram for anAgustaWestland AW101 helicopter

Heavier-than-air types are characterised by one or more wings and a central fuselage. The
fuselage typically also carries a tail orempennage for stability and control, and an undercarriage
for takeoff and landing. Engines may be located on the fuselage or wings. On a fixed-wing
aircraft the wings are rigidly attached to the fuselage, while on a rotorcraft the wings are attached
to a rotating vertical shaft. Smaller designs sometimes use flexible materials for part or all of the
structure, held in place either by a rigid frame or by air pressure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_aviation
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/historyofflight.html
http://www.wrightbrothers.org/History_Wing/History_of_the_Airplane/History_of_the_Airplane_Intro/History_of
_the_Airplane_Intro.htm#top