How Did We Learn to Fly Like the Birds? 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. King Kaj Kaoos of Persia King Kaj Kaoos attached eagles to his throne and flew around his kingdom. Alexander the Great Alexander the Great harnessed four mythical wings animals, called Griffins, to a basket and flew around his realm. 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. 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. 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. Hero and the Aeolipile 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. 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.

1485 Leonardo da Vinci - The Ornithopter Leonardo da Vinci's Ornithopter Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. He had over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on flight. 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. 1783 - Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier- the First Hot Air Balloon One of The Montgolfier's Balloons 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, the passengers were Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent. 1799 - 1850's - George Cayley 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. 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 1891 Otto Lilienthal One of Lilienthal's Gliders 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 the basis for their designs. 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 Model of Langley Aerodrome 1894 Octave Chanute Octave Chanute published Progress in Flying Machines in 1894. It gathered and analyzed all the technical knowledge that he could find about aviation accomplishments. It included all of the world's aviation pioneers. The Wright Brothers used this book as a basis for much of their experiments. Chanute was also in contact with the Wright Brothers and often commented on their technical progress.

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. Picture of the actual 12 horsepower engine used in flight They designed and used a wind tunnel to test the shapes of the wings and the tails of the gliders. In 1902, with a perfected glider shape, they turned their attention to how to create a propulsion system that would create the thrust needed to fly. The early engine that they designed generated almost 12 horsepower. That's the same power as two hand-propelled lawn mower engines!

Actual Flight of The Flyer at Kitty Hawk The first heavier-than-air flight traveled one hundred twenty feet in twelve seconds. The two brothers took turns flying that day with the fourth and last flight covering 850 feet in 59 seconds. But the Flyer was unstable and very hard to control. The brothers returned to Dayton, Ohio, where they worked for two more years perfecting their design. Finally, on October 5, 1905, Wilbur piloted the Flyer III for 39 minutes and about 24 miles of circles around Huffman Prairie. He flew the first practical airplane until it ran out of gas. 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. Who Was the First Person to Fly? Who Was the First Person to Fly? By Robert Roy Britt | January 24, 2013 09:52am ET MORE On Dec.

17, 1903, the Wright brothers' Flyer took to the air at Kitty Hawk, N.C. Credit: NASA Orville and Wilbur might jump to mind. But the Wright Brothers were half a century late. Lots of pioneers risked their necks over many decades (and even centuries) to get humans off the ground by various means, from flapping their pseudo-wings to gliding off cliffs. Still, few are remembered so well or mentioned so often as the Wright Brothers, whose "Flying Machine" was the first powered airplane to execute controlled and sustained flight. They did it on Dec. 17, 1903. The pilot was Orville, since Wilbur had taken his turn in a failed previous attempt. The Wright Flyer was in the air for 12 seconds and went 120 feet. But this was not the first human flight. Modern flight began in 1783 when Joseph-Michael and Jacques-Ètienne Montgolfier engineered the first hot-air balloon flights . On Oct.

15, 1783, the Montgolfiers brothers launched a balloon on a tether with Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, a chemistry and physics teacher, as the passenger. In that era, nobody knew if a person could withstand the rigors of being up in the air, so a previous flight had included animals, to see if they survived. They did, as did de Rozier. Later that year, the first untethered flight was made. The Wright Brothers' achievement is sometimes erroneously called "the first powered flight." Even that's disputed. The first powered flight was Henri Giffard's steam-powered airship (image below) in 1852. On Sept. 24, 1852, Giffard traveled almost 17 miles (27 kilometers) from Paris to Trappes moving at about 6 miles per hour (10 kilometers/hour). His airship could be steered only in calm weather, though. In wind, it could fly only in slow circles.

Clément Ader went half the length of a football field in a bat-winged setup that many view as the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight in 1890. The Wright Brothers achievement is properly called "the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air and (to some degree) controlled" flight. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @ llmysteries . We're also on Facebook & Google+ . Editor's Recommendations The Wright Brothers - First Flight of an Airplane The Wright Brothers attempt to fly. Library of Congress Updated August 31, 2016. Part 2: 19th & 20th Century Flight Efforts Part 3: The Wright Brothers In 1899, after Wilbur Wright had written a letter of request to the Smithsonian Institution for information about flight experiments, the Wright Brothers designed their first aircraft: a small, biplane glider flown as a kite to test their solution for controlling the craft by wing warping. Wing warping is a method of arching the wingtips slightly to control the aircraft's rolling motion and balance. Wright Brothers - Birds of a Feather The Wright Brothers spent a great deal of time observing birds in flight .

They noticed that birds soared into the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver. They believed that they could use this technique to obtain roll control by warping, or changing the shape, of a portion of the wing. continue reading below our video Profile of the Wright Brothers Wright Brothers - Gliders Over the next three years, Wilbur and his brother Orville would design a series of gliders which would be flown in both unmanned (as kites) and piloted flights. They read about the works of Cayley , and Langley , and the hang-gliding flights of Otto Lilienthal . They corresponded with Octave Chanute concerning some of their ideas. They recognized that control of the flying aircraft would be the most crucial and hardest problem to solve. Following a successful glider test, the Wrights built and tested a full-size glider. They selected Kitty Hawk, North Carolina as their test site because of its wind, sand, hilly terrain and remote location.

In 1900, the Wrights successfully tested their new 50-pound biplane glider with its 17-foot wingspan and wing-warping mechanism at Kitty Hawk, in both unmanned and piloted flights. In fact, it was the first piloted glider. Based upon the results, the Wright Brothers planned to refine the controls and landing gear, and build a bigger glider. In 1901, at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, the Wright Brothers flew the largest glider ever flown, with a 22-foot wingspan, a weight of nearly 100 pounds and skids for landing. However, many problems occurred: the wings did not have enough lifting power; forward elevator was not effective in controlling the pitch; and the wing-warping mechanism occasionally caused the airplane to spin out of control. In their disappointment, they predicted that man will probably not fly in their lifetime. In spite of the problems with their last attempts at flight, the Wrights reviewed their test results and determined that the calculations they had used were not reliable. They decided to build a wind tunnel to test a variety of wing shapes and their effect on lift.

Based upon these tests, the inventors had a greater understanding of how an airfoil (wing) works and could calculate with greater accuracy how well a particular wing design would fly. They planned to design a new glider with a 32-foot wingspan and a tail to help stabilize it. Wright Brothers - Inventing the Flyer During 1902, the brothers flew numerous test glides using their new glider. Their studies showed that a movable tail would help balance the craft and the Wright Brothers connected a movable tail to the wing-warping wires to coordinate turns. With successful glides to verify their wind tunnel tests, the inventors planned to build a powered aircraft. After months of studying how propellers work the Wright Brothers designed a motor and a new aircraft sturdy enough to accommodate the motor's weight and vibrations. The craft weighed 700 pounds and came to be known as the Flyer. Wright Brothers - First Manned Flight The brothers built a movable track to help launch the Flyer. This downhill track would help the aircraft gain enough airspeed to fly.

After two attempts to fly this machine, one of which resulted in a minor crash, Orville Wright took the Flyer for a 12-second, sustained flight on December 17, 1903 . This was the first successful, powered, piloted flight in history. In 1904, the first flight lasting more than five minutes took place on November 9. The Flyer II was flown by Wilbur Wright. Prev The First Airplane: Wright Flyer | Most Amazing Flying Machines Ever The first flight by the Wright Brothers. Credit: NASA This is part of a SPACE.com series of articles on the Most Amazing Flying Machines Ever, the balloons, airplanes, rockets and more that got humans off the ground and in to space. Almost 58 years before the first human flew in space, the 1903 Wright Flyer became the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air and (to some degree) controlled flying machine. Wilbur and Orville Wright played with a toy rubber-powered helicopter and flew kites to find their inspiration for flight early in life.

Their eventual triumph at Kitty Hawk , North Carolina, relied upon innovations in flight control and self-propulsion — both necessary for an aircraft to stay aloft without crashing during its first successful flight tests on Dec. 17, 1903. Sponsor Message: The birth of the Wright brothers' serious interest in flight began with the death of glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal in 1896, according to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum . Like Lilienthal, the brothers decided to begin experimenting with kite and glider designs to build up to the first aircraft. Past glider pilots had steered their gliders by shifting around their body weight. But the Wright brothers came up with a more elegant solution — they twisted (warped) the aircraft's wing tips in opposite directions to affect the air flow over the wings. That created different amounts of lift on each wing so that the aircraft would tilt toward one side. The pilot controlled the warping of the Wright Flyer's wing tips by using wires connected to a hip cradle. That meant Wilbur or Orville Wright could steer by sliding his hips from side to side.

Wind tunnel tests in the fall of 1901 and hundreds of gliding tests in 1902 led to an aircraft design with better lift, a forward elevator to pitch its nose up or down, and a vertical tail rudder for more effective flight control. Such improvements set the stage for the flying machine that would achieve sustained flight in 1903. A diagram showing the evolution of the Wright Brothers' airplane design, culminating in the vehicle that achieved humanity's first powered flight in 1903. Credit: NASA Making a flying machine that could do more than glide required the Wright brothers to invent the first working aircraft propellers. They envisioned the propeller as an aircraft wing placed on its side and spun around to create the air flow for horizontal "lift" — the force needed to move an aircraft forward. [ 10 Traits of Successful Innovators ] The Wright brothers built a 12-horsepower engine to power two propellers mounted behind the wings of their 1903 Flyer. A chain-and-sprocket transmission system connected the engine to the propellers so that it could turn them.

Muslin cotton fabric covered the spruce and ash wood that formed the framework of the 1903 Wright Flyer. The aircraft had a wingspan of 40 feet 4 inches (12.3 meters), a length of 21 feet (6.4 m), a height of 9 feet 3 inches (2.8 m), and weighed 605 pounds (274 kilograms) without a pilot. The Wright Flyer made its historic 12-second flight on Dec. 17, before flying again three more times and covering a distance of 852 feet (255.6 m) in 59 seconds on the fourth and final flight. The age of powered flight had begun. — Jeremy Hsu, SPACE.COM Senior Writer Related: First airplane flies - Dec 17, 1903 - HISTORY.com First airplane flies Publisher A+E Networks Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

Orville and Wilbur Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation after learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal in the 1890s. Unlike their older brothers, Orville and Wilbur did not attend college, but they possessed extraordinary technical ability and a sophisticated approach to solving problems in mechanical design. They built printing presses and in 1892 opened a bicycle sales and repair shop. Soon, they were building their own bicycles, and this experience, combined with profits from their various businesses, allowed them to pursue actively their dream of building the world’s first airplane. After exhaustively researching other engineers’ efforts to build a heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the U.S. Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider tests. They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, which offered steady winds and sand dunes from which to glide and land softly. Their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901, was more successful.

Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs. The brothers’ systematic experimentations paid off–they flew hundreds of successful flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty Hawk. Their biplane glider featured a steering system, based on a movable rudder, that solved the problem of controlled flight. They were now ready for powered flight. In Dayton, they designed a 12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it. They transported their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of 1903, assembled it, made a few further tests, and on December 14 Orville made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged, and they spent three days repairing it. Then at 10:35 a.m. on December 17, in front of five witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the air, staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 120 feet. The modern aviation age was born.

Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and Orville alternately flying the airplane. Wilbur flew the last flight, covering 852 feet in 59 seconds. During the next few years, the Wright brothers further developed their airplanes but kept a low profile about their successes in order to secure patents and contracts for their flying machines. By 1905, their aircraft could perform complex maneuvers and remain aloft for up to 39 minutes at a time. In 1908, they traveled to France and made their first public flights, arousing widespread public excitement. In 1909, the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps purchased a specially constructed plane, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to build and market their aircraft. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville lived until 1948. The historic Wright brothers’ aircraft of 1903 is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Related Videos The Wright Brothers First Flight Wasn't the First Flight Connecticut flight by Gustave Whitehead was first by more than two years By Robert Goyer posted Mar 14th, 2013 at 2:30pm Gustave Whitehead ** Gustave Whitehead** In a startling announcement a few days ago, Jane's All the World's Aircraft has named an August 1901 flight by Connecticut aviation pioneer Gustave Whitehead as the first successful powered flight in history, beating the Wright brothers' first flight by more than two years. Jane's, which calls itself the world's foremost authority on aviation history, with great authority, has traditionally backed the Wright Brothers as first in flight. Now they say the evidence for Whitehead's flight is strong enough for the publication to reverse course and recognize it as the first successful powered flight. Jane's Editor Paul Jackson describes what happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on August 14, 1901. "It was in the summer of 1901 that Whitehead flew his airplane, which he called the Condor.

In the early hours of 14 August 1901, the Condor propelled itself along the darkened streets of Bridgeport, Connecticut, with Whitehead, his staff and an invited guest in attendance. In the still air of dawn, the Condor's wings were unfolded and it took off from open land at Fairfield, 15 miles from the city, and performed two demonstration sorties. The second was estimated as having covered 1½ miles at a height of 50 feet, during which slight turns in both directions were demonstrated." The length of flight and altitude reached make the Wright's first powered foray pale in comparison. Jackson credits the long work of aviation researcher John Brown for much of the recently uncovered evidence that Whitehead's flight was indeed number one. Brown's website, , is packed with evidence. The evidence that Jane's presents is compelling. There are multiple photographs, overwhelming evidence of Whitehead's preparation for the first flight — Condor was the 21st airplane he built — eyewitnesses, dozens of newspaper accounts of the story and ample evidence not only of an engine sufficient for the flight but one whose basic design was used on many subsequent successful airplanes by other designers, including Glenn Curtiss.

Moreover, Whitehead made another successful powered flight in an airplane with three-axis controls in 1902, more than a year before the Wright brothers' first flight. The decision by Jane's is sure to fuel the most controversial discussion in aviation, perhaps ever, as aviation enthusiasts take sides, either with the Wright Brothers, who made history on the North Carolina dunes in December 1903, or Whitehead, who, the evidence now seems to indicate, did the same two-and-a-half years earlier on the quiet streets of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Look for more on this story, unfolding 112 years after the fact, in the coming days and weeks in Flying and on flyingmag.com . Tags: FIRST POWERED FLIGHT, FIRST FLIGHT, FIRST POWDERED FLIGHT, PLANE TRUTH, FLYING INTO HISTORY First Powdered Flight - Plane Truth The letter below was announced as `Plane truth' in Nature 421 (February 2003, page iii) and published under the title `Flying into history' on page 689. Copyright notice: Nature 421, 689 (2003) � Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Sir - The caption of your Commentary picture (Nature 421, 15; 2003) suggests that Orville Wright made the first powered flight in 1903. This is not true, although Heilbron's and Bynum's text, on the previous page, was correct. The Wright brothers - influenced by the non-powered gliders of Otto Lilienthal, who flew more than 300 m in 1894 - were the first to achieve the important conjunction of four criteria with their 260-m flight: it was manned, powered, heavier-than-air and (to some degree) controlled. Earlier pioneers set records by meeting some of these criteria. In 1890 Cl�ment Ader made the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight, of 50 m, in his bat-winged monoplane. Henri Giffard's steam-powered airship covered 27 km on the first manned and powered flight, in 1852. Balloonists Jean-Fran�ois Pil�tre de Rozier and Fran�ois d'Arlandes were, in 1783, the first men to fly.

And if they were as fashionably bewigged as the occasion demanded, their 9-km ride must also have been the first manned, powdered flight. J�rgen Schmidhuber Dalle Molle Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Galleria 2, 6928 Manno (Lugano), Switzerland A related letter appeared in Newsweek (Nov 24, 2003, p 18; powered flights long before the Wright brothers): The first powered, controlled, sustained flight took place 50 years before the Wright brothers, in 1852 (Henri Giffard flew 15 miles with a steam engine mounted on a dirigible). He went nearly 100 times as far as the Wright brothers did. The Zeppelins were powered as well, of course, but the first powered heavier-than-air flight took place in 1890 (Clement Ader, steam engine on bat-winged monoplane, 60 yards). The Wrights' 1903 flight (300 yards) was the first photographed heavier-than-air flight.

[Correction: not quite true; there exist photos of Lilienthal's non-powered heavier-than-air flights in the 1890s; error inserted by Newsweek editors.] After the advent of relatively light combustion engines (such as Benz, Otto, Diesel), other pioneers pursued similar approaches, but no photographs were taken by Richard Pearse (New Zealand, March 1903) and Karl Jatho (August 1903). Finally, the Wrights needed headwinds or catapults to start their planes, so they were not fully self-powered. But Brazil's Santos-Dumont was (1906, first official airplane flight). History of the Airplane - Orville and Wilbur Wright History of the Airplane - Orville and Wilbur Wright The history of the airplane and flight Studio 504/ Stone/ Getty Images By Mary Bellis Updated October 24, 2016. "Flight is possible to man...[and] I feel that it will soon cost me an increased amount of money if not my life". - Wilbur Wright Co-Inventor of the first engined airplane . Orville and Wilbur Wright were the inventors of the first airplane.

On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers launched the era of human flight when they successfully tested a flying vehicle that took off by its own power, flew naturally at even speed and descended without damage. Before we get into the history of human flight, let's first understand what an airplane is. While we've seen airplanes in the sky and many of us have even experienced air travel by flying to places that would have taken much longer by any other means of transportation , airplanes can take many forms. By definition, an airplane is simply any aircraft with a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets. However, before that fateful takeoff, other inventors made numerous attempts to make like the birds and fly. continue reading below our video Profile of the Wright Brothers Among these earlier efforts were contraptions such as kites, hot air balloons, airships, gliders and other types of aircraft. And while some progress was made, everything changed when the Wright brothers decided to tackle the problem of manned flight.

Orville Wright (1871-1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) had requested a patent application for a " flying machine " nine months before their first successful flight. They were that confidant. As part of the Wright Brothers' systematic practice of photographing every prototype and test of their various flying machines, they had persuaded an attendant from a nearby lifesaving station to snap Orville Wright in full flight. The aircraft soared to an altitude of 10 feet, traveled 120 feet, and landed 12 seconds after takeoff. After making two longer flights that day, Orville and Wilbur Wright sent a telegram to their father, instructing him to inform the press that manned flight had taken place. This was birth of the first real airplane. After the Wright Brothers, inventors continued to improve airplanes. This led to the invention of jets, which are used by both the military and commercial airlines. A jet is an airplane propelled by jet engines .

Jets fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes, some as high as 10,000 to 15,000 meters (about 33,000 to 49,000 feet). Two engineers, Frank Whittle of the United Kingdom and Hans von Ohain of Germany, are credited with the development of the jet engine during the late 1930s. Since then, some firms have developed electric aircrafts that runs on electric motors rather than internal combustion engines. The electricity comes from alternative fuel sources such as fuel cells, solar cells, ultracapacitors, power beaming and batteries. While the technology is in its infancy, some production models are already on the market. Another area of exploration is with rocket-powered aircraft. These airplanes use engines that run on rocket propellant for propulsion, allowing them to soar at higher speeds and achieve faster acceleration. An early rocket-powered aircraft called the Me 163 Komet was deployed by the Germans during World War II. The Bell X-1 rocket plane was the first plane to break the sound barrier in 1947.

Currently, the the North American X-15 holds the world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned, powered aircraft. More adventurous firms have also begun experimenting with rocket-powered propulsion. Examples include SpaceShipOne, designed by American aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. Historian Propels Connecticut To Claim 'First In Flight' : NPR Historian Propels Connecticut To Claim 'First In Flight' Embed Embed Historian Propels Connecticut To Claim 'First In Flight' Historian Propels Connecticut To Claim 'First In Flight' Embed Embed Enlarge this image Gustave Whitehead and the No. 21. Connecticut claims that Whitehead's half-mile flight in 1901 was the first flight, not the well-known Wright brothers' flight that occurred two years later. Courtesy Deutsches Flugpioniermuseum Gustav Weisskopf Leutershausen/Historical Flight Research Committee Gustave Whitehead hide caption toggle caption Courtesy Deutsches Flugpioniermuseum Gustav Weisskopf Leutershausen/Historical Flight Research Committee Gustave Whitehead Gustave Whitehead and the No. 21.

Connecticut claims that Whitehead's half-mile flight in 1901 was the first flight, not the well-known Wright brothers' flight that occurred two years later. Courtesy Deutsches Flugpioniermuseum Gustav Weisskopf Leutershausen/Historical Flight Research Committee Gustave Whitehead The ongoing battle between historians over who was really first in flight was rekindled last week. New research advances the theory that a German immigrant in Connecticut is responsible for the first powered and controlled flight, rather than the Wright brothers in North Carolina. But historians at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum are saying not so fast. Finding The Evidence You can now order a "No. 21" breakfast at Chip's Family Restaurant in Connecticut. It's named after the airplane model that Gustave Whitehead allegedly flew for half a mile at an altitude of 50 feet on Aug. 14, 1901. That's more than two years before Orville and Wilbur Wright's famous run in Kitty Hawk. And the No. 21, an omelet with hamburger filling alongside German apple pancakes — in honor of Whitehead's heritage — is just the beginning.

"Our license plate should say 'firster in flight,' " says Bill Finch, the mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., where the flight supposedly happened. Historians have known for decades about an article in the Bridgeport Herald describing Whitehead's 1901 flight, but they haven't seen the original photo that should have accompanied it. Article continues after sponsorship John Brown works at an aircraft construction company in northern Germany. He's also a hobby historian. Our license plate should say 'firster in flight.' Bridgeport, Conn., Mayor Bill Finch While rummaging through a dusty museum attic in Bavaria, Brown came across a picture from a 1906 exhibition on flight innovation. On display in the background of that picture was a photo of what looked like Whitehead's No. 21 airplane in flight. He also found dozens more newspaper articles describing the 1901 flight. "I found out such stunning stuff about Mr. Whitehead. But really I'm not the highest authority in aviation. I sent all of the stuff that I found to the highest authority, which is Jane's All the World's Aircraft in England," he says.

And Paul Jackson, editor of that internationally renowned publication, has ruled that Whitehead deserves the honor of first in flight — not the Wright brothers. Jackson says it's not likely the Bridgeport Herald writer and dozens of others lied in 1901. And now there's the original photo to prove it. "The evidence cannot be shaken off anymore, thanks to John Brown's researching," Jackson says. Questions Arise But Peter Jakab, associate director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, finds it "a little puzzling." He says the photo is too blurry — after all, it was enlarged by 3,500 percent. "To my mind, it's really trying to see what you want to see in the image," Jakab says. "Again, it's a picture of a picture on the back wall of an exhibition. It's very, very indistinct." Jakab and his colleagues at the Smithsonian firmly believe that the Wright brothers were the first to fly. There are clear and crisp photos to prove it. And he discounts the numerous newspaper stories about the Whitehead flight. "An AP story is written, and it goes out, and it appears in many, many publications.

That doesn't mean that every one of those is a separate, eyewitness account," he says. But Whitehead supporters have a darker explanation for why the Wright brothers have dominated the story. The Smithsonian, they say, has built an empire around the Wright brothers. If you walk into the National Air and Space Museum, the first thing you see is the Wright airplane — which was sold to the Smithsonian for $1 in 1948. Jane's editor Paul Jackson says there were other conditions. "They had to agree with Orville Wright that they would never say that anybody else had flown a powered, manned aircraft before they had done," Jackson says. He thinks the Smithsonian is in a difficult position: Admit that Whitehead was first in flight, and lose one of its most valuable exhibits. But Jakab says he would never let a contract stand in the way of a historical fact. "If that's some sort of personal sanction to how I interpret the evidence, of course not," he says. If he decides Whitehead flew first and the Smithsonian loses the plane, then so be it, Jakab says. For now, he isn't budging.

But whoever is right, there are sure to be new monuments, museum exhibits and dishes like "Whitehead sausage" served in Bridgeport. And maybe even new license plates. Correction March 19, 2013 An earlier version of this online story contained a photo with an incorrect caption. The caption stated that the photo showed Orville Wright piloting the powered Wright Flyer, but the aircraft in the photo was a glider. The Wright Brothers | The First Successful Airplane View the 1903 Wright Flyer up close and in detail. Take a look at all the changes they made. > Buoyant over the success of their 1902 glider, the Wright brothers were no longer content to merely add to the growing body of aeronautical knowledge; they were going to invent the airplane. Still, they recognized that much hard work lay ahead, especially the creation of a propulsion system. During the spring and summer of 1903, they were consumed with leaping that final hurdle into history. On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane.

Question: Who manned the first plane flight?
Answer: The Wright Brothers