Aerial Carriage Early fl ying machines had fl apping wings like birds The fi xed wing was developed by Englishman George Cayley His aerial carriage of 1843 had four disks that were designed to raise the machine vertically In 1853 he built a glider that could carry a person Introduction The fi rst airplane took fl ight about one hundred years ago It had taken many centuries for people to learn to fl y In the 1000s Eilmer an English monk jumped off an abbey in Wiltshire England equipped with a set of wood and cloth wings He glided a little way but then fell and broke both his legs Since then many more brave people have risked their lives to achieve the power of fl ight The First Aircraft A hot-air balloon was the fi rst fl ying machine After testing fabric and paper balloons with animal passengers the French Montgolfi er brothers built one big enough to lift a crew of two people It made its fi rst fl ight over Paris in 1783 4
Lower-pressure air Lift force Wing cross section Higher-pressure air As the angle of the wing increases the lift force also goes up This is because there is a greater difference between the air pressures above and below the wing INSIDE OUT CREATING LIFT An airplane rises into the air because its wings create a lift force This is because of the wing’s airfoil shape with a flat bottom but curved upper surface Air rushing over the top travels faster and farther than the air passing underneath This means that the air pressure above the wing is lower than below it The difference in pressure creates the upward lift force Lighter than Air Hydrogen gas is so light that it fl oats up through the air This hydrogen balloon was used for spying on the enemy in the American Civil War in the 1860s These balloons inspired the invention of the airship the fi rst long-distance passenger aircraft which also used hydrogen gas 5
