Sir George Cayley

Born in 1773 in Scarborough, England, Sir George Cayley is often known as the inventor of the science of flight. His works in aeronautics pioneered the field, and his work allowed the first person to fly. One hundred years before Wilbur and Orville Wright had developed the principles behind flight, he did so first.

Early Work

Without realizing it, Cayley retraced much of the path da Vinci took in his studies. Da Vinci's works were not published until the late 19th century, so Cayley started his work on his own. Where Cayley deviated, however, was in his theory of aircraft design. Cayley believed that it would be possible to make a plane fly through the air if three conditions were met:

1. The plane were light enough
2. The air could be forced against the wings, by moving the plane through the air
3. Stability could be achieved by the use of crossed horizontal and vertical tail wings.

Cayley's Gliders

Cayley used diagonal spars to reinforce the wings and body of aircraft he design, which allowed greatly reduced weight. He designed a lightweight engine, which was never created, but served the foundation for his propulsion. Although he never built a powered plane, he successfully constructed gliders. In fact, in 1849, a small boy whose name was not recorded flew in a glider which Cayley designed - the first person in all of history to fly. Later, in 1953, Cayley's coachman rode in a glider, as the first full grown man to.

Contributions

Very fittingly, Sir George Cayley is called the "inventor of the science of flight." Some fundamental concepts he realized were the necessity for a tail assembly for stability and control, a wheeled undercarriage, for landings, the importance of streamlined shapes, and, most importantly, the need for a lightweight power source, to turn a glider into a fully powered plane.