The Invention of the Airplane

The invention of the airplane is accredited to the Wright brothers and their group of assistants working out of a bicycle shop, when really the first airplane was invented over 50 years earlier by an English inventor, Sir George Cayley. Cayley was the first to design and build a fixed wing aircraft, which took flight in 1849. Cayley's success inspired the next in line, Felix duTemple invented the first powered aircraft in1874, which couldn't take off without a ramp. In 1894, two separate inventors applied the elements of an airplane, just without the other. Sir Hiram Maxim built and flew the first propelled airplane, but had no control over direction. Meanwhile, Otto Lilienthal made the first controlled flight on a glider using his body weight to steer. These two creations inspired the Wright Brothers to combine the two ideas into one powered, controlled aircraft. This airplane took flight in 1903. From that, the most public of the successful flying attempts, freight and commercial airlines along with military aircraft shaped the way aircraft were used to what it is today.


ADHD Version: A bunch of other people built airplanes before the Wright brothers.

Cayley's design for the first airplane