The History of Flight

There is something enchanting about the early history of aviation.

Maybe its the ultimate realization of one of man's long standing seemingly impossible dreams. Maybe it is the courage and genius of the men who did it anyway, even though "they said it couldn't be done."

From the story of a Flying Eleventh Century Monk forbidden to continue his experiemnts by his Abbot, to the photographs of Otto Lilienthal in flght, there is a magic to it that is hard to fully capture in words.

From the Wright Brothers to the Red Baron, Chuck Yeager, and John Glenn there is just something inspiring about the tale of mens conquest of the air.

Lilientahl and Pletcher both gave their lives for their dreams, but accomplished much before their deaths.

The Wrights simply applied intelligent techniques to find the errors in what was "known" and made their dream a reality. Commonplace as it is today to see or hear an airplane overhead there is still something fantastic about it if you really think about it. My Grandmother used to take me and my brother and sister to the airport to watch the planes take off and land when we were little. The stories of these men and their machines approach that childlike sense of wonder we felt back then.