2007-02-08 13:36:16 · 5 answers · asked by britney p 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Insects, recorded in fossil records, first flew about 300 million years ago.
Quoted from the first link:
"Then suddenly, around 300 million years ago, winged insects appear in the fossil record."
Also see links two and three for more information.
Or were you asking about manned flight?
(4) The first manned flights were using kites.
The Chinese were the first to have manned kites, back in the reign of the 6th-century Emperor, Kao Yang.
Or were you asking about the manned, powered, heavier-than-air, controlled, sustained flight?
This is from an earlier answer of mine, links 5-8:
There were quite a few people who "flew" before the Wright brothers. Most of these were balloons, dirigibles, and gliders. Some were even kites.
There is one instance that I can find of a manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight before the Wrights' flights. In 1874 --29 years before Wright flew in 1902-- Félix du Temple de la Croix is generally recognized as having designed and built a fixed-wing, manned flying machine. The name pf his pilot, a French sailor, is unknown. The below quote is from Wikipedia, with the site listed (7) in sources below.
" . . that it achieved lift off under its own power after a ski-jump run, glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground, possibly making it the first successful powered flight in history, depending on the definition."
Félix du Temple de la Croix's accomplishment is sometimes ignored for two reasons, the take-off was not achieved on it's own, but was rather was launched down a hill like a ski jump, and on account of its brevity (it was described as a "hop").
Orville Wright is credited with the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air, controlled, sustained flight on December 17, 1903. Both Orville and Wilbur flew twice that day. They took turns, and in each succeeding flight they bettered both the time in the air and the distance flown. The last flight of the day was 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds.
2007-02-08 14:01:41 · answer #1 · answered by Peaches 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Wright brothers got the credit for that one in Kitty Hawk , N.C..
2007-02-08 22:01:11 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There was film shot when the Wright brothers were trying their flying machine.
2007-02-08 22:44:02 · answer #3 · answered by aqx99 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Montgolfier brothers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgolfier_brothers
2007-02-09 07:55:33 · answer #4 · answered by john b 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
the wright brothers Wilbur and Orvil (I think I spelled that wrong)
2007-02-08 21:45:55 · answer #5 · answered by slinda 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋