Air travel. People first took to the air in
balloons and began powered flight in
airships, but the history of flying, both for
civilian and military use, is dominated by
the aeroplane. The first planes were designed
for gliding; the advent of the petrol engine
saw the first powered flight by the Wright
brothers 1903 in the USA. This inspired the
development of aircraft throughout Europe.
Biplanes were succeeded by monoplanes in the
1930s. The first jet plane (see jet
propulsion) was produced 1939, and after the
end of World War II jetliners brought about
continuous expansion in passenger air travel.
In 1969 came the supersonic aircraft
Concorde. history In Europe, at the beginning
of the 20th century, France led in aeroplane
design (Voisin brothers) and Louis Bleriot
brought aviation much publicity by crossing
the Channel 1909, as did the Reims air races
of that year. The first powered flight in the
UK was made by S F Cody 1908. In 1912 Sopwith
and Bristol both built small biplanes. The
first big twin-engined aeroplane was the
Handley Page bomber 1917. The stimulus of
World War I (1914-18) and rapid development
of the petrol engine led to increased power,
and speeds rose to 320 kph/200 mph.
Streamlining the body of planes became
imperative: the body, wings, and exposed
parts were reshaped to reduce drag.
Eventually the biplane was superseded by the
internally braced monoplane structure, for
example, the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine
Spitfire fighters and Avro Lancaster and
Boeing Flying Fortress bombers of World War
II (1939-45). jet aircraft The German Heinkel
178, built 1939, was the first jet plane,
driven, not as all planes before it by a
propeller, but by a jet of hot gases. The
first British jet aircraft, the Gloster
E.28/39, flew from Cranwell, Lincolnshire, on
15 May 1941, powered by a jet engine invented
by Frank Whittle. Twin-jet Meteor fighters
were in use by the end of the war. The rapid
development of the jet plane led to enormous
increases in power and speed until
air-compressibility effects were felt near
the speed of sound, which at first seemed to
be a flight speed limit (the sound barrier).
To attain supersonic speed, streaming the
aircraft body became insufficient: wings were
swept back, engines buried in wings and tail
units, and bodies were even eliminated in
all-wing delta designs. In the 1950s the
first jet airliners, such as the Comet, were
introduced into service. Today jet planes
dominate both military and civilian aviation,
although many light planes still use piston
engines and propellers. The late 1960s saw
the introduction of the jumbo jet, and in
1976 the Anglo-French Concorde, which makes a
transatlantic crossing in under three hours,
came into commercial service. other
developments During the 1950s and 1960s
research was done on V/STOL (vertical and/or
short take-off) aircraft. The British Harrier
jet fighter has been the only VTOL aircraft
to achieve commercial success, but STOL
technology has fed into subsequent
generations of aircraft. The 1960s and 1970s
also saw the development of variable geometry
(`swing-wing') aircraft, whose wings can be
swept back in flight to achieve higher
speeds. In the 1980s much progress has been
made in `fly-by-wire' aircraft with
computer-aided controls. International
partnerships have developed both civilian and
military aircraft. The Panavia Tornado is a
joint project of British, German, and Italian
aircraft companies. It is an advanced
swing-wing craft of multiple roles -
interception, strike, ground support, and
reconnaissance. The airbus is a wide-bodied
airliner built jointly by companies from
France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and
Spain.