Manuel Martínez Lluís

Early aviation: Part 1

 Cayley’s craft, a glider built in 1804, was the predecessor of all fixed-wing
flying machines.
o Also called ‘flying parachute’.
o Design from kite (cometa), it was almost flat.
o Design of large kites.

 Another aerodynamic device that never left the

ground was the windmill (molino).
o This idea of windmill inspired the first
powered flying machine, a helicopter toy
first seen in a Flemish manuscript dating to
1325.
o Spindle with a vertical hole in which to place
a shaft topped with a horizontal pinwheel.

 Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) first person to honestly believe that mechanical

flight was possible.
o Drawings on ornithopter, a parachute, and a helicopter propelled by a
giant Archimedean screw.
o Leonardo is the Stan Lee of Marvel
o But all his ideas were kept in secret until the nineteenth century

 The ‘Eternals’ of aeronautics

o Several generations of brilliant thinkers laid the foundation for
aerodynamic theory.
o Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) & Isaac Newton (1642-1727): science of
mechanics, laws of motion and basic notions of fluid dynamics.
o Edme Mariotte (1620-1684) & Christian Huygens (1629-1695):
contributed to the discovery of the major principle of aerodynamics →
the velocity square law, which suggests that the force operating on a
surface varies as the square of the change in velocity.
o Daniel Bernouilli (1700-1782) discover that pressure decreases with an
increase in the velocity of fluid flow.
o Jean Le Rond d’Alembert (1717-1783), Leonhard Euler (1707-1783),
Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736-1813), and Pierre-Simon de Laplace
(1749-1827), established fundamental physical and mathematical
principles of fluid flow.
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 The ‘Fantastic four’ of aeronautics

o Henri Pitot (1695-1771): described the Pitot tube, an instrument
designed to measure fluid velocity at any given point in a flow.
o Benjamin Robbins (1707-1751): developed the whirling arm (measure
the forces acting on a solid body immersed in a fluid stream) like a wind
tunnel.
o John Smeaton (1724-1792): Eddystone lighthouse and similar large
scale construction projects. Discover some basic aerodynamic principles
from the windmill.
o Smeaton with Mr. Rouse publish a table of data in 1759 that showed the
forces operating on a flat plate tested in the whirling arm.

 George Cayley (1773-1857)

o One of the most remarkable figures in the history of aeronautics
o Nick Fury in Marvel
o 1799: conception of a flying machine as a fixed-wing craft with separate
systems for lift, propulsion, and control on one side of a small silver disk
and a remarkable diagram of the forces acting on a wing.
o 1804: he built the “flying parachute”, the world’s first successful model
glider and the ancestor of all modern fixed wing aircraft.
o 1809: larger version of the flying parachute (able to fly some yards)
o 1809-1813: “On Aerial Navigation” articles. Solid foundation for future
aeronautical research.
 Confirmed that a cambered wing produces greater lift than a flat
plate at low AoA.
 Identified an area of low pressure on the upper surface of a
cambered wing in flight and an area of high pressure on the
underside.
 Suggested creating a dihedral angle will produce a better lateral
stability.
 Explained how to calculate the performance of an aircraft.
o 1849 – onwards: two more flying models. Improve version of his 1809
monoplane glider and an aircraft with triplane wings of equal span and
chord set above a boat-like structure that housed the pilot, complete with
wheels, paddles for propulsion, and a combination rudder and elevator
for steering.

 The professionalization of a dream

o Airplane was the product of engineers, science had nothing to do.
o Nineteenth century there were some breakthroughs but there were not
tools to solve practical problems.
o Ludwing Prandt had a coherent theory of how air circulates around a
wing.
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o Engineers became a profession as medicine.

 The society to encourage aerial navigation by heavier than air means (1863)
o Organised by a French photographer and balloonist Felix Tournachon
(“Nadar”).
o Secretary: Jules Verne
o They dream of a heavier than air machine that would rise straight up into
the air.
o Vicomte de Ponton d’Amecourt build a small steam powered rotary
wing that did not fly. Then he builds a clockwork powered rotary craft
that did fly and referred as a helicopter (1863).
o L’Aeronaute, the world’s first journal devoted to flight technology was
founded by Gabrielle de la Landelle.

 The aeronautical society of Great Britain (1866)

o James Glaisher typified those solid, no non-sense professionals.
o Astronomer and meteorologist, fellow of the Royal society.
o His pursuit of knowledge had carried him to balloon flights 7 miles
above surface.
o Leaders of the Aeronautical society arranged lectures for young
engineers.
o They stablished the “Annual report of the Aeronautical Society” (1867):
journal by engineers seeking to extend professionals standards into the
new field.
o Francis Herbert Wenham contributed the most.
o Wenham designed the wind tunnel and John Browning constructed
it. First wind tunnel functional in Greenwich and London in 1870 –
1872.

 Flying machines
o Felix du Temple de la Croix (1823-1890) and his brother build and
maybe flew a model with a steam engine. In 1874 he launched his
machine down a ski jump represented the first powered take-off of a
heavier than air machine.
o In 1896 Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906) tasted his first real
success in the air.

 Flying machines: Langley

o Langley said in 1891 that mechanical flight is possible with the
engines we now possess.
o Discovered that high aspect ratio wings work better.
o His studies in aerodynamics make him start his model aircraft and in
1890 he flown for a significant distance a relatively large powered
aircraft.
 Manuel Martínez Lluís

 Flying machines: Lilienthal

o Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) established a small machine shop.
o In 1889 he reported his years of experimentation in a book but as it was
in German it didn’t sell well.
o By 1990 he had begun to put his principles into practice.
o “To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. To fly
is everything”.
o All machine were hung gliders made of cotton twill.
o He illustrated the world and he was called “the flying man”. He swept
down hillsides on artificial wings.
o By 1896, he became the most significant aeronautical figure since
Cayley.
o 9 august 1896 he jumped from a hill and his machine stalled and fell, he
died next day.

Early aviation: Part 2

 Taking to the air: Wright brothers
o In 1896, Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) was reading the tragedy of
Lilienthal’s to his brother Orville (1871-1948) in Ohio.
o Orville decided to establish a printer and Wilbur emerged from his
depression and worked with his brother.
o In 1892 they opened a bicycle shop bridging the gap between horse
and automobile.
o A successful airplane would require wings to lift into the air, an
engine powerful enough to propel the craft to flying speed and a
means of controlling the machine in the air.
o The problem was the control of the aircraft.
o Thanks to their knowledge of bicycles, they were able to control an
unstable vehicle.
o They set out to develop a means of controlling an airplane with the
precision and ease of a bicycle.
o Most difficult part was the roll axis, balancing the wing tips to
maintain level flight.
o The find the solution by twisting the wing and the pilot with some
control could balance the aircraft.
o They designed their first real aircraft, a biplane with five-foot
wingspan.
o Once it worked, they started building a bigger one capable of
carrying one person all with the calculations from Lilienthal’s book.
o In 1900 they tested their first full scale glider. The made several
attempts and build a wind tunnel for better analysis.
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o In 1902 their third attempt was a success that could be controlled by

the pilot.
o Then Charles Taylor built an engine that develop 12.5 horsepower.
o Engine was an integral part of the world’s first successful airplane.
o It was not very efficient, but they only wanted to fly.
o December 17 1903 Wright brothers did the first powered flight.
o It only stayed 2 minutes but they said that with a expert pilot it could
be 20 minutes.

 A bit from the past: Montgolfier

o Joseph Montgolfier (1740-1810) in 1783 build a 35-foot balloon that
could fly with hot air.

Dates tip:
Lilienthal’s dead 1896
Wright’s Brothers big success 1903

 Government interest
o 50k$ into the Langley project in 1898 – Aerdrome
o France is trying to develop a powered airship during the war (1870-
1871), France became the first nation to have a flying machine. First
dirigible “La France” 1884.
o Germany: Zeppelin (1838-1917) made the LZ3 and completed two
flights in 1906. They adopted Zeppelin and his airships as a suitable
icon for the power nation.
o England: in 1878 capt. James Lethbridge Brooke Templer established
a balloon school.

 Alberto Santos-Dumont
o In 1901, Alberto a Brazilian living in Paris piloted his one-man
airship No6.
o In 1905 he built an unsuccessful glider.
o In 1906 he built an airship named 14-bis and flew on it 222 meters in
38 seconds faster than the Wrights best flight.

 Alberto Santos-Dumont vs Wright brothers

o Wright brothers refuse to fly in public and neither show photos of
their aircraft flying.
o Alexander Graham Bell said that the Wright brothers deserved the
“the credit of solving the great problems of aeronautics” suggesting
that “Santos Dumont has borrowed their ideas”.
o Wright brothers went to Europe in 1908 and Wilbur made two laps
over the Le Mans track. His longest flight was more than two hours.
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o French aviators agreed that compared to Wright aircraft, their

machines seemed “rudimentary”.
o Much of their ideas also came from their sister Katherine. She helped
them to get the machine off the ground and into the market.

 Katherine Wright
o She was their executive secretary, and travelled with them as social
manager. Se played a critical role in engaging the crowd.
o In 1909 the World Magazine publicised “The American Gril Whom
All of Europe is Watching”.
o She helped her brothers to succeed.

 Louis Blériot
o Lord Northcliffe offered 500 pounds to “the first person who shall
succeed in flying across the Channel from a point on English soil to a
point on French soil, or vice versa.” No landings in the middle and
had to be a heavier than air machine.
o Wright brother refused because they had better things to do.
o In 1909 Hubert Latham tried but failed.
o One month later Loui Blériot he succeeded at a speed of 40 mph with
a 250 feet altitude. He covered the twenty-three miles separating
Calais from Dover in a little over thirty-six minutes