With gliders this energy comes out of potential energy of their height as they trade the energy 'stored' by their height for lift and forward speed (aside from taking advantage of air currents). Supplying this force requires energy, which brings us to the benchmarks given to the various flying machines. Balloons and other lighter-than-air craft 'fly' by displacing more than their weight in air to rise, but a flying machine must supply an upward force some other way to remain aloft. Just as objects that displace less water than their weight will sink (see buoyancy), objects that displace less than their weight in air sink also. The source of trouble is the transition between what are considered gliders and what are powered aircraft. This is an especially important source of controversy for early flying machines. In the same way some records of flying machines can come down to the exact definition of what constitutes a fixed-wing aircraft. For example, debates over the tallest building tend to break into debates around what constitutes a building and what is the most important measure of such structures height. Is the 'oldest ancestor of modern aircraft' the earliest design, the earliest prototype, one that actually flew? The arbitrary nature of many titles will automatically create controversy if its not defined specifically. What constitutes the most import criteria for a given award is also a matter of debate in early aircraft. On the other hand very specific claims can begin to sound trivial, carry less weight, and in being so specific fall prey to debates over accuracy of the claim. More general titles can be favoured for their greater weight, such as a title like 'Father of flight', but could be greatly debated because of being open to interpretation. It can be especially rough for more general titles falling prey to technical definitions versus common usage, or differences between languages. A great deal of disinformation and revisions can take place as well with some claims, both from individuals and governments, to adjust the level of importance of some respective claims. Various governments and other organisations will often only give some claims a 'official' approval in attempt to elevate one attempt over another, usually in the interest of a national or cultural pride, or in order to set themselves up as technical and historical authority figures. The number and quality of witnesses is also often analyzed. Recreations or claims made long after events can add confusion to even the more straightforward cases. The various benchmarks awarded to flying machines are especially vulnerable to all these.Įarly flying machines, such those that predated the development of practical photography are often doubted for lack of proof, and ancient machines are almost entirely dismissed for a lack of credibility. Also, if something was invented independently by different people, conflict can arise as well. Who receives the award for a specific achievement can be difficult to decide with some developments due to the nature of what was developed, the definition of the award, and veracity of claims. Following this pivotal design, development continues but with the benefit of some new breakthrough or a slightly new direction. Ancient flying machines, gliders, or balloons if they existed are not generally known about or recorded at any level of accepted validity.Īlong with many inventions developed during the Industrial revolution, such as the steam engine, flying machines followed a slow process of study and analysis by various people but culminated in a pivotal design. The main focus is the attempts at gliders and powered aircraft in the decades before and soon after the Wright Flyer. In the same way some records of flying machines can come down to the exact definition of what, for example, constitutes a 'flying machine', or 'flight', or even 'first'.Įarly attempts at flight are the subject of much debate, both for the often sketchy details of machines and people that have vanished away in time and perhaps as a matter of pride for some given group, like a country.

The controversy of invention is not limited to flight e.g.:Debates over the tallest building tend to break into debates around what constitutes a building and what is the most important measure of such structures' height. There are conflicting views as to what was the first flying machine. The goal is to examine the properties of flying machines, and to list the claims to allow a proper analysis of all the early flying machines. This article is an overview of primarily pre-20th century flying machines and work, and an analysis of the debates over early flying machines. Picture - A 1786 depiction of the Montgolfier brothers' balloon.

First hang glider norwegian navrestad