INTRODUCTION TO AVIATION Part 01

Aviation is an interest that man,As far as can be remembered,has had.Man could walk on the earth and swim in the water.But man could only see birds fly.Man too wanted to fly.But how??

There have been several attempts at getting off the ground.some of these attempts were hilarious,But other more serious.People have jumped of bridges with “wing” tied to their back and needless to say never attempts it again!!.However experiments that led to modern aviation can be trace to sir “Georg Cayley” of the UK who had understood the basic laws of the flight and had flown practical gliders.But it was the invention of the internal combustion engine,or the petrol(gasoline) engine.as we call it ,that gave the power to thrust in to the air a primitive flying machine made of wood,wire and canvas.

By the turn of twentieth century(20th) all materials enable man to fly like the bird was available.Two serious efforts at enabling a heavier than air machine fly were taking place.In the USA,Langly had mad a machine that was to be catapulted into the air. Unfortunately,as the machine was being catapulted,it direct hit a pillar and crash.he was ridiculed to such an extent,he gave up his experiment.
In 1903 two brothers,”Orville and Wilber” Wright had built a machine called it flyer.The machine got into the air flew for a couple of minutes.This was first powered flight by man,and was to be the catalyst for the most fantastic advance in technology the world has ever seen.

Though the wright brothers had now built a machine that could fly.They had to find a role for the machine for it to be made profitable. Building these machine merely for sport wasn’t enough.The wright brothers then decided to offer machine to the army.The army also did not want a machine that would only fly but stated that they would interested”in machine capable for horizontal flight and carry an operator” this probably the first flight military specification of an aircraft.

By 1908,the army gave the wright brothers a contract worth $ 25000 to be build an improved version with seat for two person.This aircraft was delivered to the army in 1909 and become the world’s first military aircraft.

Meanwhile Wilber had been demonstrating in France.In England,The short brothers set up the first assembly line to build aircraft and assembly 6 wright flyer for Aero club of united Kingdom.

Another milestone in Aviation came in 1909 when Bleriot flew across the English channel to England.He left calais and arrived at Dover after 36 minutes in the air. These advance created tremendous interest and the first international aviation meet was held at Rheims in France in August 1909.twenty three pilots from all over the world copeted for prize in speed,distance and duration.Record were broken each of the meet!!

However,Sport alone could not sustain aviation.It had to have,Either a commercial or military application.

In 9010.In America a wright airplane was used to fly 2 packages of silk from Dayton to Ohio.Air mail had it’s official beginners half way across the world in India.When 6500 letters were flown from Allahabad to Naini across the Jammu River.But it was 1914 when the first passenger schedule was launched between St.petersburg and Tampa,Florida.It carried only one passenger,and the first passenger paid $ 400 for the half hour flight.

In 1914 also saw the beginning of the first world war and the use of the aircraft for military purpose.The first attempts were primitive with reconnaissance being the primary role.But with the advent of an interrupter gear that timed bullets so that they could pass through the revolving blades of the propeller,the fighter aircraft was borne.During this period,though the aircraft only had a limited effect on the outcome of the war,The development of the Aeronautical engineering was pronounced.Engines become more reliable,and wood wire had given way to all metal cantilever monoplanes.