The History of Airplanes
Man's desire to rule the skies has been the driving force behind one of his greatest adventures. In prehistoric times birds and dragonlike flying reptiles sailed through the air. When man appeared on Earth, he watched and envied the birds flying in the sky.Early man also wondered about the smoke climbing from his campfires and about the "falling stars" streaking through the sky. These mysteries of nature--the bird, the smoke, and the meteor--symbolize the three principal types of vehicles that today fly in the aerospace within and above the Earth's atmosphere . Heavier-than-air craft and lighter-than-air craft fly in the atmosphere, while spacecraft hurtle through space. (hurley pg.23-24) Not satisfied with the limitations of the balloon in controlling flight direction, Sir George Cayley of England turned to the study of heavier-than-air craft. He advanced the basic principle of the airplane and is called the "father of British aeronautics." Beginning in 1810 he built model gliders. In 1843 he proposed the "aerial carriage," which combined the principle of the airplane and the helicopter; but he lacked the technical skill to build such a machine.
In the 1970s both the Soviet Union and the United States developed high-performance, complex airplanes for manned flight. The Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat attack and fighter plane could fly up to Mach 3 in short bursts and was capable of firing the air-to-air Acrid missile. The United States developed the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, an effective long-range flier that carried Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles. Among other specialized manned planes designed in the postwar era have been the short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) and vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) crafts. The Korean and Vietnam wars proved the need for planes able to take off and land in remote jungles, forested areas, and on ships. The STOL and VTOL craft provided some independence from long permanent runways. Typical of these craft is the Swedish Saab SF-37 Viggen and the British Hawker-Siddeley Sea Harrier. (johnson pg.99-102) Among the American fighters were the North American P-51 Mustang, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Grumman F6F Hellcat, and Chance-Vought F4U Corsair. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator were used in mass bombings in Europe. The North American B-25 Mitchell a
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Approximate Word count = 798
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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