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1485 Leonardo da Vinci - The Ornithopter

Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. He had over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on flight.

Leonardo da Vinci's Ornithopter
The Ornithopter flying machine was never actually created. It was a design that Leonardo da Vinci created to show how man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this concept.

Early Efforts of Flight

Around 400 BC – China
The discovery of the kite that could fly in the air by the Chinese started humans thinking about flying. Kites were used by the Chinese in religious ceremonies. They built many colorful kites for fun, also. More sophisticated kites were used to test weather conditions. Kites have been important to the invention of flight as they were the forerunner to balloons and gliders.

Humans try to fly like birds
For many centuries, humans have tried to fly just like the birds. Wings made of feathers or light weight wood have been attached to arms to test their ability to fly. The results were often disastrous as the muscles of the human arms are not like a birds and can not move with the strength of a bird.

Hero and the Aeolipile
Aeolipile The ancient Greek engineer, Hero of Alexandria, worked with air pressure and steam to create sources of power. One experiment that he developed was the aeolipile which used jets of steam to create rotary motion.
Hero mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, which gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate.

Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier- the First Hot Air Balloon -1783
The brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, were inventors of the first hot air balloon. They used the smoke from a fire to blow hot air into a silk bag. The silk bag was attached to a basket. The hot air then rose and allowed the balloon to be lighter-than-air.

In 1783, the first passengers in the colorful balloon were a sheep, rooster and duck. It climbed to a height of about 6,000 feet and traveled more than 1 mile. After this first success, the brothers began to send men up in balloons. The first manned flight was on November 21, 1783, the passengers were Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent.

George Cayley - 1799 - 1850's
Over 50 years he made improvements to the gliders. He changed the shape of the wings so that the air would flow over the wings correctly. He designed a tail for the gliders to help with the stability. He tried a biplane design to add strength to the glider. He also recognized that there would be a need for power if the flight was to be in the air for a long time.
George Cayley worked to discover a way that man could fly. He designed many different versions of gliders that used the movements of the body to control. A young boy, whose name is not known, was the first to fly one of his gliders.

19th And 20th Century Efforts
Otto Lilienthal 1891
German engineer, Otto Lilienthal, studied aerodynamics and worked to design a glider that would fly. He was the first person to design a glider that could fly a person and was able to fly long distances.

He was fascinated by the idea of flight. Based on his studies of birds and how they fly, he wrote a book on aerodynamics that was published in 1889 and this text was used by the Wright Brothers as the basis for their designs.After more than 2500 flights, he was killed when he lost control because of a sudden strong wind and crashed into the ground.

Samuel P. Langley 1891
Samuel Langley was an astronomer, who realized that power was needed to help man fly. He built a model of a plane, which he called an aerodrome, that included a steam-powered engine. In 1891, his model flew for 3/4s of a mile before running out of fuel.

Langley received a $50,000 grant to build a full sized aerodrome. It was too heavy to fly and it crashed. He was very disappointed. He gave up trying to fly. His major contributions to flight involved attempts at adding a power plant to a glider. He was also well known as the director of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC

Orville and Wilbur Wright and the First Flight 1903
Orville and Wilbur Wright were very deliberate in their quest for flight. First, they spent many years learning about all the early developments of flight. They completed detailed research of what other early inventors had done. They read all the literature that was published up to that time. Then, they began to test the early theories with balloons and kites. They learned about how the wind would help with the flight and how it could affect the surfaces once up in the air.
The next step was to test the shapes of gliders much like George Cayley did when he was testing the many different shapes that would fly. They spent much time testing and learning about how gliders could be controlled.

They designed and used a wind tunnel to test the shapes of the wings and the tails of the gliders. After they found a glider shape that consistently would fly in the tests in the North Carolina Outer Banks dunes, then they turned their attention to how to create a propulsion system that would create the lift needed to fly.
The early engine that they used generated almost 12 horsepower.

The Wright Brother's Flyer

The "Flyer" lifted from level ground to the north of Big Kill Devil Hill, at 10:35 a.m., on December 17, 1903. Orville piloted the plane which weighed six hundred and five pounds..

Actual Flight of The Flyer at Kitty Hawk
The first heavier-than-air flight traveled one hundred twenty feet in twelve seconds. The two brothers took turns during the test flights. It was Orville's turn to test the plane, so he is the brother that is credited with the first flight.

Humankind was now able to fly! During the next century, many new airplanes and engines were developed to help transport people, luggage, cargo, military personnel and weapons. The 20th century's advances were all based on this first flight at Kitty Hawk by the American Brothers from Ohio.

Men and Flying Machines-Tom Cruise

 Recently i watched the movie Top Gun starring Global Hero Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis. The film delivered excellent sound track- "Take My Breath Away" in the opening is superb. Definitely a film best seen on big screen with 70mm and DTS sound. After watching movie i felt Top Gun is the best aviation movie ever made in terms of the actual flying sequences(aerial photography and real dog fighting scenes)

Further, an interest occupied in me to collect great aviation movies made on Men and Flying Machines. And guys, here is the list of movies on aviation worth to spend time and as being in aviation industry i feel that one should watch these best aviation movies ever made.

Watching is Believing it!

Coincidence: the airplane and the motion picture came into their own existence at nearly the same period of time. The Wright Flyer December 7,1903, Kitty Hawk,NC

"Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965): The movie nicely convey just how magnificent flying truly was in the first decade of flight. beautiful scenery. early flying machines.

"Wings" (1927): Wings was awarded the first-ever Best Motion Picture Oscar in 1929. In the movie we can see a few World War I aircraft, including a Spad VII, a Fokker D.VII and an S.E.5a, also make appearances. Terrific flight sequences.

"Only Angels Have Wings" (1930): Daredevil spirit of the South American mail pilots of the 1930s.

"Spirit of St Louis" : Watch "The poetry & romance of aviation."

"Twelve O'clock High" (1949): Twelve O'clock High is of course about leadership and command more than it is about airplanes.

"Strategic Air Command" (1955): The aerial shots of the Convair B-36 and Boeing B-47 in Strategic Air Command are perhaps the most beautiful ever filmed.

"The Edge": Shots gorgeous flying in snowy peaks,music lilting score. Eye catching Stunning crash sequence."

"The Blue Max" (1966): The title of this film comes from the British nickname for the German medal awarded to First World War aces who scored a minimum of 20 ‘kills’.The Blue Max, the first (to my knowledge) WWI aviation film made in color.

"Battle of Britain" (1969): This film has collected together the greatest collection of Second World War aircraft ever marshalled for a movie.Great efforts were made to ensure that the film was authentic and real.

"No Highway In The Sky": Intellectual plotted suspense story on metal fatigue. Stewart and Deitrich keep it pleasurable to watch."

"The Bridges at Toko-Ri" (1954): A few films were made on the Korean war one to list is "Toko-Ri", was the first movie about the air war, followed four years later by "The Hunters".

“The Great Waldo Pepper” (1975): Great movie with great title even greater flying stunts. A tale of an American First World War pilot. Very watchable fun and excitement.

Below are my personal favorite Aviation Movies:

"October Sky": "A truly amazing movie". Lacking of inspiration? down and beaten hard? Then this is the movie you should and must watch for. Full of spirit, uplifting your emotions, very motivating and make feel to purse your dreams come true. Four high school students who taught themselves to build and fly real rockets.

"Top Gun": This movie is visual treat to watch.

"The Aviator": Leonard DiCaprio who here has the most challenging role of his career.This movie conveys the adrenalin excitement and social transformation of modern aviation.

"Pearl Harbor": "Pearl Harbor" cost $135M - and special effects have become breathtaking - Industrial Light & Magic once again produce visual miracles.

"Behind Enemy Lines": There are terrifically atmospheric shots of the aircraft carrier that is the crew’s base and some really exciting film of the F-18 Hornet that is their ‘mount’.

“Black Hawk Down” (2001): The film is a celebration of comradeship and heroism. Never have I seen a film which demonstrates so effectively the way combat troops and helicopters can be integrated as a fighting force.

“Flyboys”: Worthy and entertaining film. World War One before the USA eventually entered the war.

"Flight of the Phoenix": After a plane crash in the Mongolian desert, survivors work together to build a new plane.

Hope, the collection of movies were encouraging and are pleasurable to watch.
If any, Please suggest your favorite aviation movies.

Are you a student of aerospace engineering or aircraft maintenance engineering, then take Aeromodeling as a hobby and model aviation as a extra curriculum subject.


Aeromodeling introduces flying theory in a wide spectrum-

• Better understanding of theory regarding the flight characteristics

• Knowledge of the terms lift, drag, angle of attack, stall

• Practical hands on experience, how a modern aircraft fly?

• Above all you will get recognize the sophisticated technology regarding today's aviation.

Go with model aeroplanes. Take aeromodeling as a hobby and i assure the above, model aviation will provide immense skills and sufficient knowledge on all technical aspects of aircraft and aircraft basic assemble and construction.

Why Aeromodeling?

• Aerodeling takes you more closer to aviation.

• Assembling,construction and flying model aeroplanes is very educational experience.

• Flying models construction techniques are replica and borrowed from vintage full-sized aircraft(although models rarely use metal structures)

These construction consists:

• Forming and framing of the model planes using thin strips of light wood such as balsa.

• Covering model plane with fabric and subsequently doping the fabric to form a light and sturdy frame airtight.

• Model with high scale construction techniques consists of using formers and longerons, for the fuselage and spars and ribs for the wings and tail surfaces.

The aeromodeling involves design,building and flying of model airplanes or helicopters. It also gives a primary introduction to the world of aerodynamics, designing,electronics engined technology includes both piston and jet engines,wood crafting and the technology of new materials.

Most importantly you will brush up and get revision of paper-2 and paper-3 of aircraft maintenance engineering licensed examinations and lots of semester portion will be covered for aerospace engineering.

You will come to know:

• Basics of assembling,construction and flying which covers syllabus for Paper-II(Aircraft General Engineering And Maintenance Practices) and Paper-III Category A(Light and Heavy Aircraft)

• Calculation of C.G position

Now,i hope they are good reasons for you to take aeromodling as a hobby.As you progress in aeromodeling and before you undergo on-job training or apprenticeship in last semester, you will have real technical data and real feel of aircraft.

Aircraft Maintenance Engineering is not a glamor profession and with passion if you have chosen this as a career then you need to make ways to come closer to it.Aeromodeling is one of the best way to do that..

Believe you will start loving your profession either as a student of aerospace engineering or aircraft maintenance engineering or as an on-job training.

Be a AeroModeller! Loads of creativity is involved in it. You'll say "I'm loving it".

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, in coming series of aeromodeling i will try to put more insights on history of aeromodeling.

Happy AME!