Although built by the French, the Nieuport 28C-1 was the first aircraft to see service with an American fighter squadron. Sometimes described as the most elegant airplane of World War I, the N28C-1 was the last in a series of lightweight fighters produced by Nieuport.
The Nieuport 11 was a French World War I single seat fighter aircraft, which became one of the most famous fighters of the war. It was originally designed for racing by Gustave Delage; but with the outbreak of the war, the British and French ordered the plane at once. The Nieuport 11 entered military service in the summer of 1915.
Brothers Joseph-Michel and JacquesÉtienne Montgolfier were born in France and were inventors of the hot air balloon. They used a fire to blow hot air into a silk bag which was attached to a basket. The hot air then rose and allowed the balloon to be lighter than air. The first demonstrated flight of this balloon took place on June 4, 1783 in the brothers' birthplace of Annonay, France.
Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480s. He had over 200 drawings and sketches that illustrated his theories on flight. His ornithopter flying machine was an aircraft that would fly by flapping its wings, a design he created to show how humans could fly.
Few people today know the name Sir George Cayley, but to many historians he is known as the Father of Aeronautics. Born in Scarborough, England in 1773, he is credited with the basic layout we see today – an airplane with a single wing and a tail with control surfaces. His 1852 glider was the first fixed-wing aircraft to carry a human in flight.
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