Many Cultures have built devices that travel through the air, from the earliest projectiles such as

stones and spears.,[1][2] the boomerang in Australia, the hot air Kongming lantern, and kites. There
are early legends of human flight such as the story of Icarus, and Jamshid in Persian myth, and
later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance human flights appear, such as the flying
automaton of Archytas of Tarentum (428–347 BC),[3] the winged flights of Abbas Ibn Firnas
(810–887), Eilmer of Malmesbury (11th century), and the hot-air Passarola of Bartolomeu
Lourenço de Gusmão (1685–1724).

The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on
November 21, 1783, in a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers. The practicality
of balloons was limited because they could only travel downwind. It was immediately
recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was required. Jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the
first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel in one in 1785.

In 1799 Sir George Cayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed-wing flying
machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control.[4][5] Early dirigible developments
included machine-powered propulsion (Henri Giffard, 1852), rigid frames (David Schwarz,
1896), and improved speed and maneuverability (Alberto Santos-Dumont, 1901)

First assisted take-off flight by the Wright Brothers, December 17, 1903

Hindenburg at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, 1936

While there are many competing claims for the earliest powered, heavier-than-air flight, the most
widely-accepted date is December 17, 1903 by the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers were
the first to fly in a powered and controlled aircraft. Previous flights were gliders (control but no
power) or free flight (power but no control), but the Wright brothers combined both, setting the
new standard in aviation records. Following this, the widespread adoption of ailerons versus
wing warping made aircraft much easier to control, and only a decade later, at the start of World
War I, heavier-than-air powered aircraft had become practical for reconnaissance, artillery
spotting, and even attacks against ground positions.

Aircraft began to transport people and cargo as designs grew larger and more reliable. In contrast
to small non-rigid blimps, giant rigid airships became the first aircraft to transport passengers
and cargo over great distances. The best known aircraft of this type were manufactured by the
German Zeppelin company.

The most successful Zeppelin was the Graf Zeppelin. It flew over one million miles, including an
around-the-world flight in August 1929. However, the dominance of the Zeppelins over the
airplanes of that period, which had a range of only a few hundred miles, was diminishing as
airplane design advanced. The "Golden Age" of the airships ended on May 6, 1937 when the
Hindenburg caught fire, killing 36 people. Although there have been periodic initiatives to revive
their use, airships have seen only niche application since that time.

Great progress was made in the field of aviation during the 1920s and 1930s, such as Charles
Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight in 1927, and Charles Kingsford Smith's transpacific flight
the following year. One of the most successful designs of this period was the Douglas DC-3,
which became the first airliner that was profitable carrying passengers exclusively, starting the
modern era of passenger airline service. By the beginning of World War II, many towns and
cities had built airports, and there were numerous qualified pilots available. The war brought
many innovations to aviation, including the first jet aircraft and the first liquid-fueled rockets.

NASA's Helios researches solar powered flight.

After World War II, especially in North America, there was a boom in general aviation, both
private and commercial, as thousands of pilots were released from military service and many
inexpensive war-surplus transport and training aircraft became available. Manufacturers such as
Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft expanded production to provide light aircraft for the new middle-
class market.

By the 1950s, the development of civil jets grew, beginning with the de Havilland Comet, though
the first widely-used passenger jet was the Boeing 707, because it was much more economical
than other planes at the time. At the same time, turboprop propulsion began to appear for smaller
commuter planes, making it possible to serve small-volume routes in a much wider range of
weather conditions.
Since the 1960s, composite airframes and quieter, more efficient engines have become available,
and Concorde provided supersonic passenger service for more than two decades, but the most
important lasting innovations have taken place in instrumentation and control. The arrival of
solid-state electronics, the Global Positioning System, satellite communications, and increasingly
small and powerful computers and LED displays, have dramatically changed the cockpits of
airliners and, increasingly, of smaller aircraft as well. Pilots can navigate much more accurately
and view terrain, obstructions, and other nearby aircraft on a map or through synthetic vision,
even at night or in low visibility.

On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded aircraft to make a
spaceflight, opening the possibility of an aviation market capable of leaving the Earth's
atmosphere. Meanwhile, flying prototypes of aircraft powered by alternative fuels, such as
ethanol, electricity, and even solar energy, are becoming more common and may soon enter the
mainstream, at least for light aircraft.