Aviation History

Many cultures have built devices that travel through the air, from the earliest projectiles such as stones and spears.The Boomerang in Australia, the hot air Kongmin Lantern, and Kites (Hamara patang). There are early legends of human flight such as the story of  Icarus, and Jamshid in Persian myth, and later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance human flights appear, such as the flying automaton of Archytas of Tarentum (428–347 BC), the winged flights of Abbas Ibn Firnas (810–887), Eilmer Of Malmesbury (11th century), and the hot-air Passarola (1685–1724).
The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783, in a Hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfer Brothers. The practicality of balloons was limited because they could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or Dirigible, balloon was required. Jean Pierre flew the first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel in one in 1785.
In 1799 Sir George Cayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control. Early dirigible developments included machine-powered propulsion (1852), rigid frames (1896), and improved speed and maneuverability (1901)

Wright Flyer

 

Airship at Lakehurst Air Station

While there are many claims for the earliest powered, heavier-than-air flight, the most widely-accepted date is December 17, 1903 by the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers were the first to fly in a powered and controlled aircraft. Previous flights were gliders (control but no power) or free flight (power but no control), but the Wright brothers combined both, setting the new standard in aviation records. Following this, the widespread adoption of ailerons versus wing warping made aircraft much easier to control, and only a decade later, at the start of  WWI, heavier-than-air powered aircraft had become practical for reconnaissance, artillery spotting, and even attacks against ground positions. You could watch this series of video's on the history of flight.

Aircraft began to transport people and cargo as designs grew larger and more reliable. In contrast to small non-rigid blimps, giant rigid airships became the first aircraft to transport passengers and cargo over great distances. The best known aircraft of this type were manufactured by the German Zeppelin company.
The most successful Zeppelin was the Graf Zepellin. It flew over one million miles, including an around-the-world flight in August 1929. However, the dominance of the Zeppelins over the airplanes of that period, which had a range of only a few hundred miles, was diminishing as airplane design advanced. The "Golden Age" of the airships ended on May 6, 1937 when the Hindenburg caught fire, killing 36 people. Although there have been periodic initiatives to revive their use, airships have seen only niche application since that time.
Great progress was made in the field of aviation during the 1920s and 1930s, such as Charles Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight in 1927, and Charles Kingford Smith's transpacific flight the following year. One of the most successful designs of this period was the Douglas DC3 , which became the first Airliner that was profitable carrying passengers exclusively, starting the modern era of passenger airline service. By the beginning of WWII, many towns and cities had built airports, and there were numerous qualified pilots available. The war brought many innovations to aviation, including the first Jet aircraft and the first liquid-fueled Rockets.

  After WWII, especially in North America, there was a boom in General aviation , both private and commercial, as thousands of pilots were released from military service and many inexpensive war-surplus transport and training aircraft became available. Manufacturers such as Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft expanded production to provide light aircraft for the new middle-class market.
By the 1950s, the development of civil jets grew, beginning with the De Havilland Comet, though the first widely-used passenger jet was the boeing 707, because it was much more economical than other planes at the time. At the same time, Turboprop propulsion began to appear for smaller commuter planes, making it possible to serve small-volume routes in a much wider range of weather conditions.
Since the 1960s, composite airframes and quieter, more efficient engines have become available, and Concorde provided supersonic passenger service for more than two decades, but the most important lasting innovations have taken place in instrumentation and control. The arrival of solid-state electronics, the GPS, Satellite Communications, and increasingly small and powerful computers and LED displays, have dramatically changed the cockpits of Airliners and, increasingly, of smaller aircraft as well. Pilots can navigate much more accurately and view terrain, obstructions, and other nearby aircraft on a map or through Synthetic Vision, even at night or in low visibility.

On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded aircraft to make a Space Flight, opening the possibility of an aviation market capable of leaving the Earth's atmosphere. Meanwhile, flying prototypes of aircraft powered by alternative fuels, such as electricity, ethanol, and even Solar energy, are becoming more common and may soon enter the mainstream, at least for light aircraft.
n commercial aviation, the early 21st century saw the end of an era with the retirement of Concorde Supersonic flight was not commercially viable, as the planes were required to fly over the oceans if they wanted to break the sound barrier. Concorde also was fuel hungry and could carry a limited amount of passengers due to its highly streamlined design. Nevertheless, it seems to have made a significant operating profit for British Airways.
In the beginning of the 21st century, subsonic military aviation focused on eliminating the pilot in favor of remotely operated or completely autonomous vehicles. Several unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs have been developed. In April 2001 the unmanned aircraft Global Hawk flew from Edwards AFB in the US to Australia non-stop and unrefuelled. This is the longest point-to-point flight ever undertaken by an unmanned aircraft, and took 23 hours and 23 minutes. In October 2003 the first totally autonomous flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraft occurred.
The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission was established in 1999 to encourage the broadest national and international participation in the celebration of 100 years of powered flight. It publicized and encouraged a number of programs, projects and events intended to educate people about the history of aviation.
Major disruptions to air travel in the 21st century included the closing of the US airspace due to the September 11 attacks, and the closing of most of European airspace after the 2010 eruption of a volcano.