An invention that changed the world | Sunday Observer

An invention that changed the world

24 September, 2017

Aircraft. It was an invention which changed the world - making it smaller. Strangely a century ago people considered a powered flight a myth.

The first set of experiments on flights were performed by somewhat foolhardy men who made wings similar to a bird’s and thought that these would help them to jump from high places. Eventually Otto Lilienthal, a German, perfected a glider which performed many flights. Unfortunately, with the crashing of a glider he died.

But his experiment influenced many and among them were Orville and Wilbur Wright, two American brothers. After many experiments they perfected a double winged (biplane) aircraft, the Flyer 1. At first, nobody took notice of its historic 1903 flight, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This was the result of the invention LZI Zeppelin, an airship (a huge cigar shaped balloon). But after Zeppelin Hindenburg exploded, interest in it waned.

With World War 1, aircrafts were improved. Scientists experimented with the use of steel and single winged ‘monoplanes’. With further improvements during World War II, jet power was introduced. Thus between 1903 and 1945 aircraft evolved very fast.

When we step into an Airbus A380 or a Boeing 747 it is hard to believe that its roots lie in a rickety canvas biplane called the Flyer 1.

 

Anuhas Vihanga Jayasekara,

Grade 4,

Lyceum International School, Wattala.

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