Glenna Thompson Wings Questions #1

Why did it take so long for man to realize the dream of flight? One of the main reasons that man took so long to realize the dream of flight is the lack of innovation and imagination. For a long time, taking the sky like birds seemed too far-fetched and even too arrogant of an idea. It seemed that man accepted that, since we were born without wings, our place was to stay firmly on the ground. The book uses the example of the Condor I experiment to show this. In the experiment, balloons were fashioned to a two-man gondola, which was successfully flown over a plain in Peru. The episode proved that South Americans actually had the means for flight, if they had fully imagined or desired to take to the sky. Another reason why the dream of flight took so long was the complicated nature of flying machines. The theories and even the building of such machines required such precision and attention to detail that it would have been possibly for one engineer or even one team of engineers to figure out everything on their own. Therefore, it is perfectly natural that the history of aviation shows multiple epiphanies and breakthroughs reached by many different scientists and inventors, each contributing something different that others can then build upon. When did the era of modern aviation begin and why? The modern era of aviation began with Sir George Cayley. He, like many others, was fascinated with the idea of flight. Specifically, he strove for efficient heavier-than-air flight. This required the testing of many theories and applications through construction. What set Cayley apart was that he was the first to try theories through the building and testing of actual flying machine models. His experimentation with models led to the trying out of many fixed-wing gliders. In fact, Cayley is credited as being the first aeronautical engineer. The reason that Cayley and his models are seen as such a big step is that his experimentations showed the movement of aviation theory from simply being in theory books to actually being tested and used in real life. This meant that people were actually starting to see flight as something that was actually possible, rather than just excellent fantasy. Cayley’s experiments also led many others to follow suit, including the Wright brothers. When and what was La Grande Semaine d’Aviation de Champagne and what significance does it have in aviation history? La Grande Demaine d’Aviation de Champagne was a large aviation event, which included several flying competitions in distance, height, passenger-carrying ability as well as many others. While the event was originally meant to be a way for aviation experts to be known to the public and show of their flying machines (as well as a way for local champagne companies to promote their product), it also contributed to the development of flight. The event gathered not only many spectators, but many aviation enthusiasts (both new and experienced). This led to the showing and testing of several different types of models, a clear representation of the benefits and fallbacks of different applications of engineering. Also, the competitive nature of the event caused many flyers to bring their “A-game”, which resulted in many new broken records. The mass success of the event led to other such air-events all over Europe.