AeroplanesThe path to creating aeroplanes has been a much longer road than most people believe. Kites were flown in ancient china over 2800 years ago. Where the chinese people knew about lift or not is irrelevant. They learnt how to use wind to lift kites higher and higher in the air. Kites didn`t come over to europe until around the 16th century and were just regarded as some kind of toy. In the 18th and 19th centuries kites had start to be used in scientific experiments and eventually got larger and large. Gliders were the next stage in evolution. Vehicles large enough to take the weight of a person and be lifted off the floor by either being pushed off the side of a hill/mountain or by mechanical means with a tow cable attached to some kind of machine with winding ability. Many people tried to create self powered aeroplanes and in 1903 the Wright Brothers achieved that elusive flight. Aeroplanes have changed greatly since those days. Biplanes, triplanes, propeller powered and then to jet engines. The size has also rapidly increased with aeroplanes able to carry one then two passengers and then many more passengers over greater distances. The largest plane in the world can carry over 500 people on a single vessel over many thousands of miles. Aeroplanes are a major economic component. Business travels, holidays and even national flights from city to city have created a field of industry that is invaluable and hopefully here to stay, at least for my lifetime. I never would have married my wife without the ability of flight. She is from the other side of the world! |