Early flying machines
So, a long, long time ago, people looked up at the birds and the clouds and thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could fly like that?" And they started to think about how they could make flying machines.
Some of the earliest flying machines were just gliders. People would jump off a high place, like a cliff or a tower, with a big piece of fabric stretched out between two sticks. The wind would lift them up and they could glide for a little while before they had to land.
Then, in the 1700s, some people started making hot air balloons. They would fill a big cloth balloon with hot air and it would lift them off the ground. But they couldn't really control where the balloon went, so it wasn't super useful for transportation.
In the early 1900s, two brothers named Orville and Wilbur Wright wanted to create a machine that could fly like a bird, but could also be controlled by a person. They studied the way birds flew and came up with a design for a machine they called a "flying machine" or an "aeroplane."
They made a big kite-like thing with wings that could be controlled by flaps and a tail that could be moved up and down. They also made a gasoline engine that could power the propellers to make the machine move forward.
On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers took their flying machine to a big sand dune in North Carolina and tried to fly it. It was a bumpy ride, but they managed to fly for 12 seconds! That might not sound like a lot, but it was a huge breakthrough in the history of flight. They kept testing and tinkering with their invention and eventually made longer and more controlled flights.
So, that's how people started making flying machines a long time ago. It took a lot of trial and error, but eventually, we figured out how to fly through the air like the birds!
Some of the earliest flying machines were just gliders. People would jump off a high place, like a cliff or a tower, with a big piece of fabric stretched out between two sticks. The wind would lift them up and they could glide for a little while before they had to land.
Then, in the 1700s, some people started making hot air balloons. They would fill a big cloth balloon with hot air and it would lift them off the ground. But they couldn't really control where the balloon went, so it wasn't super useful for transportation.
In the early 1900s, two brothers named Orville and Wilbur Wright wanted to create a machine that could fly like a bird, but could also be controlled by a person. They studied the way birds flew and came up with a design for a machine they called a "flying machine" or an "aeroplane."
They made a big kite-like thing with wings that could be controlled by flaps and a tail that could be moved up and down. They also made a gasoline engine that could power the propellers to make the machine move forward.
On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers took their flying machine to a big sand dune in North Carolina and tried to fly it. It was a bumpy ride, but they managed to fly for 12 seconds! That might not sound like a lot, but it was a huge breakthrough in the history of flight. They kept testing and tinkering with their invention and eventually made longer and more controlled flights.
So, that's how people started making flying machines a long time ago. It took a lot of trial and error, but eventually, we figured out how to fly through the air like the birds!
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