Flight has always been the dream par excellence in the history of humanity. Who was the first man to travel in the sky? Here are all the answers.
Although we are used to seeing them in the sky every day, planes are always a source of great amazement because we look at them from below. For this reason, one of the most frequently asked questions is who was the first man to fly and above all, who invented this fascinating means of transport?
Today, flying around is a convenience we are used to. Reaching destinations in just a few hours on the other side of the planet is something we can no longer give up. However, not everyone knows that in the past it was not so easy: without exploiting the air but moving only on land and sea, the journey days required hours. In fact, our ancestors were used to facing journeys that lasted for months, which is why the idea of using air as a means of transport has profoundly changed social dynamics, connecting the whole world by reducing distances globally.
Over time, however, man begins to look to the past , for this reason the questions lead us to clarify who was the first man on the plane in history , and even more interesting, which was the first plane in history.
The date
The first aircraft in history was born after years of research conducted by many scholars passionate about aeronautical engineering. Mark this important date: December 17, 1903 . This was the day when two brothers were able to fly for the first time in an aircraft of their own design. We are talking about the very famous Wright brothers , who managed to fly four times over a city in North Carolina, in the city of Kitty Hawk.
Thanks to their fascinating creation, the company was involved in an unprecedented achievement, which led the lucky brothers to obtain the patent for having built the first aircraft in the history of mankind.
The first plane
This aircraft took the name of Flyer , and as we can well imagine it was only the first of many copies of models which then underwent a profound evolution over time. One of the first challenges that the engineers found themselves facing was to create a vehicle that could withstand a long number of hours in flight .
Initially, in fact, the flights were very short and precarious and changes were constantly made to the vehicles, as well as frequent maintenance. A few years later, the profile of the plane was optimized to be able to stay in the air for longer up to the present day where you can fly around the globe without any kind of problem.
An ancient dream
The first flight made for just 12 seconds , on a plane that traveled 36 meters into a headwind. Although it was not an exceptional performance, it represented a huge turning point for the development of humanity. Needless to say, in fact, how much flying was the greatest dream in history .
Since the dawn of time, men who watched birds in the sky wished they could move quickly from one part of the earth’s axis to another. There are numerous references in mythology and religion that refer to human flight. There are many winged characters, the most famous being Icarus who unfortunately had the unfortunate idea of making beeswax wings.
Although the successful attempts were made in the early twentieth century, we also have ancient evidence dating back to 800 AD, when a Berber inventor tried to create a structure in wood, feathers and silk, thanks to which he was able to descend from a minaret. Subsequently, even a Benedictine monk managed to leap from the tower with wings built in a rudimentary way, but the ambitious project made him disabled for life.
We could not fail to mention the very famous Leonardo da Vinci , the inventor par excellence who in the 1400s imagined numerous types of flying vehicles by studying in depth the mechanics of bird wings .
The first men to fly, that’s who they are
Some of these men have tried to imitate the flight of birds, even if for millennia, the desire has turned into tragedy. The laws of physics , in fact, do not lie and very soon man realized that in addition to wings he also needed a tip and a tail, which would allow him to remain lifted in the air. From Daedalus and Icarus we pass to 1617, with Fausto Veranzio , an inventor and philosopher who came from Dalmatia. It was he who jumped with a parachute from the tower of Venice , and miraculously did not die.
The man also wrote a book in which he described 49 technological inventions , including the parachute. Other flight attempts also involve strange devices such as kites and precarious wings, even if on November 21, 1783, two Frenchmen flew over the Paris sky for a good 26 minutes on a hot air balloon .
This was undoubtedly a success that led the German Lilienthal to try to build a device similar to the hang glider, a means that we still see today flying over the skies of all of Italy and the world. The long attempts therefore led the American Wright brothers to obtain a great success that marked history forever
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