Editing History of aviation (section)

====Age of steam====
{{see also|Steam aircraft}}
Drawing directly from Cayley's work, Henson's 1842 design for an [[aerial steam carriage]] broke new ground. Although only a design, it was the first in history for a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft.

[[File:Print (BM 1871,0812.5370).jpg|thumb|1843 artist's impression of [[John Stringfellow]]'s plane ''[[Aerial steam carriage|Ariel]]'' flying over the Nile]]

1866 saw the founding of the [[Aeronautical Society of Great Britain]] and two years later the world's first aeronautical exhibition was held at the [[The Crystal Palace|Crystal Palace]], London,<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Flight and Flying |volume=10 |pages=502–519 |first=James Bell |last=Pettigrew}}</ref> where [[John Stringfellow]] was awarded a £100 prize for the steam engine with the best [[power-to-weight ratio]].<ref name="Jarret3 p53">Jarrett 2002, p. 53.</ref><ref name="stokes9 p163-6,7-8">Stokes 2002, pp. 163–166, 167–168.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RmM9AQAAIAAJ&q=carbonic+oxide |title=Scientific American |date=13 March 1869 |publisher=Munn & Company |pages=169 |language=en |access-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307231121/https://books.google.com/books?id=RmM9AQAAIAAJ&q=carbonic+oxide#v=snippet&q=carbonic%20oxide&f=false |archive-date=7 March 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1848, Stringfellow achieved the first powered flight using an unmanned {{convert|10|ft|m}} wingspan steam-powered monoplane built in a disused lace factory in [[Chard, Somerset]]. Employing two [[contra-rotating propellers]] on the first attempt, made indoors, the machine flew ten feet before becoming destabilised, damaging the craft. The second attempt was more successful, the machine leaving a guidewire to fly freely, achieving thirty yards of straight and level powered flight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Stringfellow |url=http://www.flyingmachines.org/strng.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228122732/http://www.flyingmachines.org/strng.html |archive-date=28 February 2018 |access-date=4 March 2018 |website=Flying Machines}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parramore |first=Thomas C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zrpb67qFXUIC&dq=1857+Temple+flight&pg=PT63 |title=First to Fly: North Carolina and the Beginnings of Aviation |date=1 March 2003 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=978-0-8078-5470-9 |page=46 |language=en |access-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517060335/https://books.google.com/books?id=zrpb67qFXUIC&pg=PT63&dq=1857+Temple+flight |archive-date=17 May 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=10 October 2001 |title=High hopes for replica plane |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1591057.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315043205/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1591057.stm |archive-date=15 March 2007 |access-date=4 March 2018 |work=BBC News}}</ref> [[Francis Herbert Wenham]] presented the first paper to the newly formed Aeronautical Society (later the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]]), ''On Aerial Locomotion''. He advanced Cayley's work on cambered wings, making important findings. To test his ideas, from 1858 he had constructed several gliders, both manned and unmanned, and with up to five stacked wings. He realised that long, thin wings are better than bat-like ones because they have more leading edge for their area. Today this relationship is known as the [[Aspect ratio (wing)|aspect ratio]] of a wing.

The latter part of the 19th century became a period of intense study, characterized by the "[[gentleman scientist]]s" who represented most research efforts until the 20th century. Among them was the British scientist-philosopher and inventor [[Matthew Piers Watt Boulton]], who studied lateral flight control and was the first to patent an [[Aileron|aileron control system]] in 1868.<ref name="Magoun">{{Cite book |last=Magoun |first=F. Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnLVAAAAMAAJ |title=A History of Aircraft |last2=Hodgins |first2=Eric |author-link2=Eric Hodgins |publisher=Whittlesey House |year=1931 |page=308}}</ref><ref name="NASA History">{{Cite web |title=The Cross-licensing Agreement |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4103/ch2.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041113150229/https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4103/ch2.htm |archive-date=13 November 2004 |access-date=7 March 2009 |website=[[NASA]]}}</ref><ref name="Aerospaceweb-Yoon.1">{{Cite web |last=Yoon |first=Joe |date=17 November 2002 |title=Origins of Control Surfaces |url=http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0103.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921150602/http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0103.shtml |archive-date=21 September 2015 |access-date=28 July 2013 |website=AerospaceWeb}}</ref><ref name="Gibbs-Smith 1960">{{Cite book |last=Gibbs-Smith |first=C.H. |author-link=Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4dTAAAAMAAJ |title=Aviation: An Historical Survey From Its Origins To The End Of The Second World War |publisher=[[Science Museum, London|Science Museum]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-900747-52-3 |page=54 |orig-year=1960}}</ref>

In 1871, Wenham made the first [[wind tunnel]] using a fan, driven by a steam engine, to propel air down a {{convert|12|ft|m|abbr=on}} tube to the model.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wind Tunnels |url=http://media.nasaexplores.com/lessons/01-007/9-12_2.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080309163035/http://media.nasaexplores.com/lessons/01-007/9-12_2.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2008 |website=[[NASA]]}}</ref>

[[File:1874DuTemple.jpg|thumb|[[Félix du Temple]]'s 1874 ''[[Monoplane (1874)|Monoplane]]'']]
Meanwhile, the British advances had galvanised French researchers. In 1857, [[Félix du Temple]] proposed a monoplane with a tailplane and retractable undercarriage. Developing his ideas with a model powered first by clockwork and later by steam, he eventually achieved a short hop with a full-size manned craft in 1874. It achieved lift-off under its own power after launching from a ramp, glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground, making it the first successful powered glide in history.

In 1865, [[Louis Pierre Mouillard]] published an influential book ''The Empire Of The Air'' (''l'Empire de l'Air'').

[[File:LeBris1868.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jean-Marie Le Bris]] and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868]]
In 1856, Frenchman [[Jean-Marie Le Bris]] made the first flight higher than his point of departure, by having his glider "''L'Albatros artificiel''{{-"}} pulled by a horse on a beach. He reportedly achieved a height of 100 metres, over a distance of 200 metres.

[[File:AlphonsePenaudPlanaphore.png|thumb|right|''Planophore'' model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871]]
[[Alphonse Pénaud]], a Frenchman, advanced the theory of wing contours and aerodynamics. He also constructed successful models of aeroplanes, helicopters and ornithopters. In 1871 he flew the first aerodynamically stable fixed-wing aeroplane, a model monoplane he called the "Planophore", a distance of {{convert|40|m|ft|abbr=on}}. Pénaud's model incorporated several of Cayley's discoveries, including the use of a tail, wing dihedral for inherent stability, and rubber power. The planophore also had longitudinal stability, being trimmed such that the tailplane was set at a smaller [[angle of incidence (aerodynamics)|angle of incidence]] than the wings, an original and important contribution to the theory of aeronautics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbs-Smith |first=C.H. |author-link=Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith |title=Aviation |publisher=NMSI |year=2000 |isbn=1-900747-52-9 |location=London |page=56}}</ref> Pénaud's later project for an amphibian aeroplane, although never built, incorporated other modern features. A [[tailless aircraft|tailless]] monoplane with a single vertical fin and twin tractor propellers, it also featured hinged rear elevator and rudder surfaces, retractable undercarriage and a fully enclosed, instrumented cockpit.

[[File:Victor Tatin aeroplane 1879.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Aeroplane'' of [[Victor Tatin]], 1879.]]
Another theorist was Frenchman [[Victor Tatin]]. In 1879, he flew a model which, like Pénaud's project, was a monoplane with twin tractor propellers but also had a separate horizontal tail. It was powered by compressed air. Flown tethered to a pole, this was the first model to take off under its own power.

In 1884, Alexandre Goupil published his work ''La Locomotion Aérienne'' (''Aerial Locomotion''), although the flying machine he later constructed failed to fly.

[[File:AderAvion3(1897).jpg|thumb|Clément Ader ''Avion III'' (1897 photograph)]]
In 1890, the French engineer [[Clément Ader]] completed the first of three steam-driven flying machines, the ''Éole''. On 9 October 1890, Ader made an uncontrolled hop of around {{convert|50|m|ft}}; this was the first manned aeroplane to take off under its own power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbs-Smith |first=C.H. |author-link=Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith |title=Aviation |publisher=NMSI |year=2000 |isbn=1-900747-52-9 |location=London |page=74}}</ref> His ''[[Ader Avion III|Avion III]]'' of 1897, notable only for having twin steam engines, failed to fly:<ref name="Jarrett5 p87">Jarrett 2002, p. 87.</ref> Ader later claimed success and was not debunked until 1910 when the French Army published its report on his attempt.
[[File:maxim.gif|thumb|right|Maxim's flying machine]]
[[Hiram Maxim]] was an American engineer who had moved to England. He built his own whirling arm rig and wind tunnel and constructed a large machine with a wingspan of {{Convert|105|ft|m}}, a length of {{convert|145|ft|m}}, fore and aft horizontal surfaces and a crew of three. Twin propellers were powered by two lightweight compound [[steam engine]]s each delivering {{convert|180|hp|kW|abbr=on}}. The overall weight was {{Convert|8000|lb|kg}}. It was intended as a test rig to investigate aerodynamic lift; because it lacked flight controls it ran on rails, with a second set of rails above the wheels to restrain it. Completed in 1894, on its third run it broke from the rail, became airborne for about 200 yards at two to three feet of altitude<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Carroll |title=Hiram Stevens Maxim 1840-1916 |url=http://www.flyingmachines.org/maxim.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040816100229/http://www.flyingmachines.org/maxim.html |archive-date=16 August 2004 |access-date=14 February 2023 |website=flyingmachines.org}}</ref> and was badly damaged upon falling back to the ground. It was subsequently repaired, but Maxim abandoned his experiments shortly afterwards.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbs-Smith |first=C.H. |author-link=Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith |title=Aviation |publisher=NMSI |year=2000 |isbn=1-900747-52-9 |location=London |pages=76–8}}</ref>