Hi. Our names are Michael and Mario, and we are studying about early planes and gliders.  We chose to study this topic because we have always wanted to know how the first planes flew.  Did you know that the Wright Flyer (the Wright brothers’ plane) was not the first powered aircraft to leave the ground? Read our article to find out more.

Facts

Most early planes needed more than just 2 wings and were made of everyday things.  Some planes looked really weird, and some planes looked normal.  Some planes had extremely large wingspans, others had smaller wingspans.  Very few planes were built in the U.S.A.  Many planes had totally different engines. Some planes flew faster than others, from about 30 m.p.h. to about 78 m.p.h.  Many early planes only succeeded in making “hop” flights.

Certain Planes
The plane to make the first powered flight ever was the “Du Temple”, built in 1874.  The first successful monoplane to fly was the “Santos-Dumont Demoiselle”, built in 1907.  The first seaplane to fly was the “Fabre Seaplane Hydravion”, built in 1910.  The “Bleriot XI” made the first flight across the English Channel on July 25, 1909.  The “Sikorsky ‘Le Grand’” was the first plane to carry a passenger, built in 1913.  The “Santos-Dumont 14BIS” made the first true flight in Europe in 1906. The “Taube” was a prototype design for World War 1 fighters.  Many early planes did not look like today’s planes.

Times

Many “first flight” planes were built between 1900 and 1915.  2 of the very  first planes were built in the late 1800s.  The first ornithopter(a type of glider) to ever fly was built in 1870.  Gliders were being
flown in the late 1700s.

Gliders

A glider is a heavier-than-air aircraft with no engine.  The person to build the VERY first glider was George Caley.  Caley built his first glider in 1799 and flew it in 1804.  Another man, Otto Lilienthal, had a fatal accident with a glider while trying to fly it.  The glider that Caley built looked like a hover car with propellers, while Lilienthal’s glider looked just like a hang glider.

The Wright Brothers

The Wright brothers’ first plane flew on December 17, 1903.  Their most advanced glider had only 12 horsepower.  The first true flight lasted only 12 seconds and was only 120 feet.  The longest flight lasted 59 seconds and was 852 feet.  Their success with true flight led to other powered machines being flown.
 

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