Editing History of aviation (section)

===17th and 18th centuries===
Traveller [[Evliya Çelebi]] reported that in 1633, [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] scientist and engineer [[Lagari Hasan Çelebi]] blasted off from [[Sarayburnu]] in a 7-winged rocket propelled by 50 [[Oka (mass)|okka]] (140&nbsp;lbs) of [[gunpowder]]. The flight was said to have been undertaken at the time of the birth of [[Sultan of the Ottoman Empire|Sultan]] [[Murad IV]]'s daughter. As Evliya Celebi wrote, Lagari proclaimed before launching his craft "O my sultan! Be blessed, I am going to talk to Jesus!"; after ascending in the rocket, he landed in the sea, swimming ashore and joking "O my sultan! Jesus sends his regards to you!"; he was rewarded by the Sultan with silver and the rank of [[sipahi]] in the [[Ottoman army]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Winter |first=Frank H. |date=July 1992 |title=Who First Flew in a Rocket? |journal=Journal of the British Interplanetary Society |volume=45 |pages=275-280}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Harding |first=John |title=Flying's strangest moments: extraordinary but true stories from over one thousand years of aviation history |page=5 |year=2006 |publisher=[[Anova Books|Robson Publishing]] |isbn=1-86105-934-5}}</ref> Evliya Çelebi also wrote of Lagari's brother, [[Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi]], making a flight by [[glider (aircraft)|glider]] a year earlier.

Italian inventor [[Tito Livio Burattini]], invited by the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish]] King [[Władysław IV Vasa|Władysław IV]] to his court in [[Warsaw]], built a model aircraft with four fixed [[Glider aircraft|glider]] wings in 1647.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Needham |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Needham |title=[[Science and Civilisation in China]] |year=1965 |isbn=978-0-521-05803-2 |volume=IV (part 2) |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SeGyrCfYs2AC&pg=PA591 591]}}</ref>  Described as "four pairs of wings attached to an elaborate 'dragon{{' "}}, it was said to have successfully lifted a cat in 1648 but not Burattini himself.<ref name="harrison27">{{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=James Pinckney |title=Mastering the Sky |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-885119-68-1 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JwJsr5QjkRMC&pg=PA27 27]}}</ref> He promised that "only the most minor injuries" would result from landing the craft.<ref name="oconner-1985">Quoted in {{Cite news |last=O'Conner |first=Patricia T. |date=17 November 1985 |title=In Short: Nonfiction; Man Was Meant to Fly, But Not at First |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/17/books/in-short-nonfiction-man-was-meant-to-fly-but-not-at-first.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615181139/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/17/books/in-short-nonfiction-man-was-meant-to-fly-but-not-at-first.html |archive-date=15 June 2013 |access-date=24 May 2009 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> His "Dragon Volant" is considered "the most elaborate and sophisticated aeroplane to be built before the 19th Century".<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 May 1963 |title=Burattini's Flying Dragon |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1963/1963%20-%200722.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819221108/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1963/1963%20-%200722.html |archive-date=19 August 2016 |magazine=[[Flight International]]}}</ref>

The first published paper on aviation was [[Flying Machine (Swedenborg)|"Sketch of a Machine for Flying in the Air"]] by [[Emanuel Swedenborg]] published in 1716.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hart |first=Clive |date=4 July 2016 |title=Swedenborg's flying saucer |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/aeronautical-journal/article/abs/swedenborgs-flying-saucer/7DEBFB59401AF7B7F3DB098315DE346B |journal=The Aeronautical Journal |language=en |volume=84 |issue=836 |pages=282–284 |doi=10.1017/S0001924000031328}}</ref> This flying machine consisted of a light frame covered with strong canvas and provided with two large oars or wings moving on a horizontal axis, arranged so that the upstroke met with no resistance while the downstroke provided lifting power. Swedenborg knew that the machine would not fly, but suggested it as a start and was confident that the problem would be solved. Swedenborg proved prescient in his observation that a method of powering of an aircraft was one of the critical problems to be overcome.

{{Blockquote|text="It seems easier to talk of such a machine than to put it into actuality, for it requires greater force and less weight than exists in a human body. The science of mechanics might perhaps suggest a means, namely, a strong spiral spring. If these advantages and requisites are observed, perhaps in time to come someone might know how better to utilise our sketch and cause some addition to be made so as to accomplish that which we can only suggest. Yet there are sufficient proofs and examples from nature that such flights can take place without danger, although when the first trials are made you may have to pay for the experience, and not mind an arm or leg."|author=Emanuel Swedenborg{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}}}

On 16 May 1793, Spanish inventor [[Diego Marín Aguilera]] crossed the river [[Arandilla (river)|Arandilla]] in [[Coruña del Conde]], [[Castile and León|Castile]], flying {{convert|300|to|400|m|ft}} with a flying machine.<ref name="aiaa">{{Cite web |date=22 April 2019 |title=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics – History – Spain |url=https://www.aiaa.org/Secondary.aspx?id=370 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110054948/https://www.aiaa.org/Secondary.aspx?id=370 |archive-date=10 November 2016 |access-date=22 April 2019 |publisher=Aiaa.org}}</ref>