FRAMEWORK: Pre - Wright Brothers
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Leonardo da Vinci

People have dreamt of flying for centuries. From the Greek Mythological times to Leonardo da Vinci's sketches of a plausible helicopter, people have always attempted to fly.

Roger Bacon 

The first attempts of a heavier than air flight were based upon the structure and movements of a bird. Roger Bacon used this ideology in the eighteenth century when he proposed that men should use flapping wings in order to get airborne. Although Roger Bacon's idea failed, it did not discourage others from continuing to try.

Sir George Cayley

In the nineteenth century, Sir George Cayley, who was a scientist and an inventor, noticed that birds were able to glide through the sky for long periods of time without flapping their wings. He then continued on by building a pair of gliders, whose wings were shaped like those of birds. Men running against the wind launched the craft. The craft made a few short flights but could not carry anybody along.

Jean-Marie Le Bris and Otto Lilienthal

The first person to make a man-carrying glider was a Frenchman, Jean-Marie Le Bris. He succeeded on making the short flight in 1855. Following Jean-Marie's man accompanying flight, Otto Lilienthal, who was a German inventor and studied the gliding flight of birds, built a glider with curved wings, opposed to the traditional flat wings. He constructed a glider in 1891, which had bat shaped wings made of delicate wood spars and was covered with silk. The amazing thing was that he could control his flights shifting his weight to the desired side using his legs. After making around 2000 flights, he was killed in 1896.  

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