HISTORY OF AERONAUTICS

Abstract

Mankind always had the ambition to fly, which might be originated by scientific curiosity, imagination, inspiration through observing birds, desire to explore and conquer the skies or combination of all these. As could be expected, the first attempts of flight were based on mimicking birds. For instance, Leonardo da Vinci studied the anatomy and flight patterns of birds, and proposed several ideas to design a flying machine, all of which were based on flapping wings (Petrescu et al., 2017). Eventually, in 1799, Sir George Cayley proposed for the first time that an air vehicle should be composed of a fixed wing for generating lift, a separate propulsion system, and a horizontal and vertical tail for stability (Vos, Rizzi, Darracq, & Hirschel, 2002). However, there were no suitable propulsion systems at that time considering that steam engines were too heavy for flight purposes. Thus, the inventions of internal combustion engine in 1863, and the four stroke gasoline engine in 1885 could be considered to be the main developments that made flight a much achievable ambition. Apparently, once flying became a reality, the exploration of the skies reshaped the way we perceive the world, and forged a path toward unlimited innovation. In this chapter, we provided the brief history of aeronautics with a particular focus on developments in aeronautical materials. The major milestones in the aeronautical history were provided chronologically by highlighting the pioneers and visionaries whom compelled the boundaries to make countless possibilities a reality.