Man has long wanted to fly. He saw birds, envied them and tried to imitate them. Over the ages, countless attempts were made: men constructed wings, fastened them to their arms and legs and jumped off towers and hill tops. These 'bird-men' flapped their wings for a short space of time and then fell to the ground. What was not realized in those early years was that birds have muscles very much stronger, in proportion to their size, than men. Human limbs cannot provide sufficient strength to lift the body off the ground. The secret of flight did not lie in making wings, but in discovering the right kind of power, and how to use it.
In the 18th century, the invention of the hot-air balloon by the Montgolfier brothers of France was seen as a great step forward. In 1783, in the presence of the King and Queen, it took three passengers safely up into the air and down again: they were a sheep, a cock and a duck. Later, ballooning became a fashionable pastime rather than a means of transportation. The cigar-shaped airships which were invented slightly later did not solve the problem of flying because they had no means of power or control: their designers could not find an engine strong enough yet light enough to drive the aircraft. The airship went where the wand blew it, could lose height and-could easily catch fire, so as a means of passenger transport it turned out to be neither practical nor safe.
So the difficulty remained: a true flying machine which was heavier than air and capable of carrying people was still to be invented. Experiments were carried out in many countries, sometimes with models driven by steam engines, but these were too heavy to be used in an airplane with a pilot. The answer finally came at the beginning of the 20,h century with the invention of the internal combustion engine — the kind used in motor cars. Here at last was a powerful, yet comparatively light engine, driven by petrol and capable of being fitted into an airplane. In 1903, two Americans, the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, flew a powered airplane for the first time. Their success encouraged designers everywhere. Although there were now new, different problems, mainly to do with safety and the training of pilots, progress was rapid. These were exciting days and interest was intense. At Reims, in 1909, a crowd of a quarter of a million gathered at the first Air Display, and saw thirty-eight different aircraft take part. The age of the airplane had arrived.
78 Ballooning
The first means of air transportation was not the airplane. It was the balloon. People traveled by balloons 100 years before there were planes or jet aircraft. In those early days, ballooning was exciting, but it was also dangerous. Sometimes the balloons fell suddenly. Sometimes they burned, but these dangers did not stop the balloonists.
Flying a balloon is not like flying a plane. It is completely different because the balloon has no engine and therefore no power of its own. The wind directs the balloon. It goes where the wind blows. The pilot can control only the height of the balloon. He or she can raise and lower the balloon to find the right wind direction. This is how a good pilot controls where the balloon goes.
The first balloon flight took place in France in 1783. Two Frenchmen, the Montgolfier brothers, made a very large paper bag. It was a test balloon without passengers. It was filled with hot air. Hot air is lighter than cold air, so it pushed the balloon up. The Montgolfiers1 hot air balloon went up 1,000 feet in the sky.
Later that same year, two other Frenchmen went up in a basket attached under a balloon. They built a fire under the balloon to make the air hot, This made the balloon stay up in the air for a few hours. But their balloon was tied to the ground, so it could not go anywhere.
The first free balloon flight was in December, 1783. The balloon flew for 25 minutes over Paris. It traveled about 5 V2 miles. Ballooning continued to grow in popularity, and soon other balloonists tried longer flights. A major event in the history of ballooning was the first long flight over water. On January 7, 1785, Jean Pierre Francois Blanchard and John Jeffries made the first trip over the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon. After about an hour, their balloon unexpectedly lost gas and began to go down toward the water. They threw out some equipment and food to make the balloon lighter, but it still continued to fall, so they threw out almost everything in the basket-even some of their clothes. Finally, after about three hours, they landed in France, cold but safe.
During the nineteenth century, ballooning was popular until the invention of the airplane. There were balloon races all over Europe. Balloons were also used by armies in wars to transport equipment, and by scientists to study the meteorology. After the airplane was invented, people generally lost interest in balloons. Planes were much faster and easier to control. However, some people today still like to go up in balloons. High up in the balloon basket, they find peace and quiet. They also have a wonderful view of the world below.