Taking Flight People have always dreamed of flying But they didn’t always have airplanes They tried different ways to get into the air The ideas didn’t all work Hot-Air Balloon The first flying machine was a hot-air balloon It was made by two brothers It had a basket for two people It flew for the first time in 1783 4
Gliding High People made gliders with flapping wings They thought they would fly like birds It didn’t work Finally George Cayley invented a glider with a fixed wing It flew in 1853 Hydrogen Balloon Hydrogen gas is lighter than air Balloons filled with hydrogen flew in the 1860s Soldiers used them as spy planes in the Civil War Read on and find out how people made aircraft fly higher and faster 5
