Man's longing for aviation has a long history, which was first embodied in myths and legends. Such touching stories as China's "the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon", "Seven Fairies Descending from Earth", "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", Arab "Persian flying carpet" and Greek "Cupid with wings and golden wings" are still widely circulated among the people.
The myths and legends of flying constantly inspire people to make bold flight attempts. According to historical records, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period more than 2,000 years ago, Lu Ban, a famous craftsman in Lu State, and Mozi, a scholar in Song State, used bamboo and other raw materials to develop flying wooden kites and magpies. Kites handed down before the Western Han Dynasty became the earliest primitive aircraft using aerodynamic force. During the period of Wang Mang in the Western Han Dynasty (AD 9-23), some people made wings from the feathers of big birds, tied them to themselves, and jumped from a height, imitating birds to fly hundreds of steps. This is a brave attempt of human flight. Later, people made a comprehensive study on the flight movements of birds and the muscle strength of human body, and came to the conclusion that it is impossible for human beings to fly effectively with their bodies for a long time like birds.
The failure of flapping-wing flight did not block the way for human beings to fly to the sky. After more than a thousand years of exploration, human beings first realized the ideal of taking off in the field of lighter-than-air aircraft. First, in 1783, the Montgomery brothers in France made a hot air balloon that could be launched, and the manned flight was successful; Later, in 1852, Gifard, a Frenchman, made a steerable airship with a power device.
While exploring aircraft lighter than air, human beings are also exploring aircraft with heavier power devices than air. As early as16th century, during the airship renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci of Italy made theoretical research on aircraft heavier than air and made a breakthrough, but his research results were not discovered until 1893, so his research results did not play their due role in the development of aviation. /kloc-at the beginning of the 9th century, George Kelly?? British scientists first put forward the design idea of fixed-wing aircraft, which made mankind take a key step towards the success of aircraft development. In the past, it was difficult for people to imitate birds and fly with flapping wings. Because the bird's wings are multifunctional, it can not only generate lift, but also generate thrust, and it can also complete the control function, which is extremely complicated. Fixed-wing flight is to separate these functions and realize them separately, which is equivalent to breaking a complex big problem into several simple small problems, and it is much easier to solve them. At present, almost all aircraft adopt this design idea: using wings to generate lift and using propellers or jet engines to generate propulsion. The concept of fixed wing can be said to be an important turning point in the history of aircraft development.
It has been a century since Kelly first put forward the idea of fixed wing design to the beginning of the 20th century. Many things happen. By February of 1903 and 17, the "Flyer" 1 designed and manufactured by the Wright brothers in the United States was finally successfully tested. This is the first successful power-driven, manned, sustained, stable and maneuverable aircraft flight heavier than air in human history. This successful flight turned a new page for mankind to conquer the sky, and also marked the arrival of the era of aviation aircraft.
From 1904 to 1905, the Wright brothers successively built "Voyager 2" and "Voyager 3", among which Voyager 3 can perform simple aerobatics in the air, with a battery life of 38 minutes and 08 seconds and a flying distance of over 39 kilometers. Voyager 3 is called the first practical plane in the world.
1906, Wright aircraft was patented for production. 1908, the Wright brothers signed a contract with the US Army to manufacture military aircraft. 1909 On July 30th, the Wright brothers delivered the first military plane to the army.
Influenced by the Wright brothers, many people began to devote themselves to aviation, which caused a worldwide aviation fever. 1906101October 23rd, the practical plane "Flyer 3" manufactured by Wright brothers 1905, and the Brazilian Santos Dumont of France successfully piloted the biplane "14 Bis" developed by him. This plane is recognized as the first successful plane in Europe. 19081June16th, the British Kady successfully tested the first British plane. 1909 On September 22nd, Feng Ru, an overseas Chinese living in the United States, successfully tested the first plane in China with the support and sponsorship of overseas Chinese. 1909, the world's first aircraft Expo was held in Reims, France, and the achievements of aviation development were reviewed. Since then, the position of aircraft has been firmly established, and the world aviation industry has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity.