Since ancient times, man has wanted to fly into the sky and soar there like a bird. The myths about how a person flies like a bird can be found in the legends of all peoples, the most famous of which is the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. How many brave inventors who tried to make themselves wings like birds have crashed. Will a man still ever soar like a bird?
The most reliable information about the origin of gliding flight is known in the history of China, where as early as the IV-III century BC they began to make kites from bamboo covered with fabric. But it was impossible to lift a man into the air. Although according to legends, the rulers of ancient China carried out such "experiments" for a long time and persistently. Thousands of prisoners were smashed before the man could ascend into the sky.
Later in the diaries of Marco Polo, they found records that he saw people ascending into the sky on a huge kite. In Europe, the first kites appeared in the fifteenth century, but they did not generate much enthusiasm, since there was no practical benefit from them. The snakes could not lift any significant weight, let alone a man.
But the idea is worthwhile, but to build a glider, you need to at least understand why it flies. With flapping wings, everything seemed much easier - it flies, as it flaps its wings, and at the same time soars. That is, if you took off, flapping your wings, you will soar. Seriously approached the study of the principles of aerodynamics by Leonardo da Vinci. It was he who drew the first drawing of the glider. This aircraft, which could be controlled by bending the arms, became the prototype of the modern parachute.
Otto Lilienthal's first glider.
The first truly glider capable of lifting a person into the air was created by the Englishman George Cayley in 1853. By the end of the nineteenth century, the German inventor Otto Lilienthal made several thousand successful flights on the balance gliders he created. Otto Lilienthal's glider was controlled by transferring the weight of the pilot's gravity. It was his ideas that the Wright brothers used to create their first airplane.
Throughout the twentieth century, gliders continued to improve, changing their appearance. Progress in the design of gliders was largely associated not so much with the emergence of new materials as with the growth of knowledge in the field of flight aerodynamics: knowledge of why the glider flies, how knowledge of aerodynamics helps designers improve the airframe.
Promotional video:
Since 1980, all aircraft releases have been fitted with wingtips. Today, winglets are a must for all aircraft. Winglets save fuel and increase flight safety. The idea itself was spied in the wild by birds of prey, which, when gliding, lift up the feathers at the tips of their wings. Only after understanding what it is for the birds, and understanding how to use it correctly, the engineers put it into practice. So man learned to soar like a bird only by studying the laws of aerodynamics. Next in line are other "inventions" of Mother Nature.