First Flights with Neil Armstrong

Using Lilienthal's glider research, the Wright brothers achieved controlled flight. The French reacted with renewed effort and Bleriot crossed the English Channel. Each airplane had its own personality and a pilot flew by his wits, instinct and luck.

Aviators separated into two groups: the airplane designer/builders and those who tried to master the art of flying. While French pilot Pegoud thrilled crowds by performing aerial loops, new airplanes pushed the bounds of speed and distance.

WW1 gave the airplane a job, soon the battlefields were full of unarmed aircraft, peering down at the trenches, then carrying news of an impending attack. With a machine gun mounted on the cowling of a Morane-Saulnier Bullet, the fighter plane was born.

After the war, seasoned pilots who had once dueled with an enemy over the trenches, now performed aerobatics for spectators. Aviators as barnstormers quickly became an endearing folk hero; and also businessman carrying mail and passengers.

Airmail pioneers demonstrated that airplanes had a bright commercial future. The variety of aircraft was dazzling -- anything with wings was put to use. But conditions were harsh and pilots had to be hardy and brave to risk flying the mail.

In the 1920s when just about anyone could afford a car, interest grew in a safe, inexpensive airplane that anyone could fly. Convenience went a step further in roadable aircraft -- vehicles that could travel the highways, then convert to an airplane.

In the 1920's, early auto gyros made breakthroughs in rotating wing design, and by the 1930's military interest propelled helicopter development. Advances in controls, and the availability of lightweight turbine engines finally made a practical helicopter.

The World War II bombers were capable of delivering an arsenal of destruction. Aerial warfare became a team effort that relied on coordination, accuracy and determination with up to 10 men in an aircraft, and sometimes 1,000 airplanes in a formation.

When jet engines appeared, a whole new set of problems appeared with them. For pilots, the early jets were a nightmare. Trained to fly propeller aircraft, pilots found themselves in need of drastic changes in technique.

WW2 aviation advances such as hard runways, large long range aircraft and cabin pressurization set the stage for growing passenger transport after the war. Soon jets slashed travel times and brought unheard of growth in mass transportation.

Development of jet engines and the tensions of the Cold War pushed development of long-range bombers that could fly around the world. While designers grappled with structural challenges, pilots struggled with the complexity of flying gigantic machines.

The U.S. and Russia rivalry developed jet fighters with fantastic speeds and high tech weapons. Computers were unseen co-pilot and some fighters only fired guided missiles. Before long a new generation of highly maneuverable dog-fighting jets was needed.

From Cierva's breakthrough in autogyro design, to the state-of-the-art BK-117, the heart of the helicopter story has been the rotorhead. Early helicopters were complex, dangerous flying machines, prone to failure. For the men and women who took the controls, concentration and daring were essential.

By the 1930s, flying boats – massive, airborne ocean liners – opened up global routes for passenger service, while the floatplanes entering the Schneider Trophy races were the fastest, most innovative flying machines in existence.

Conventional airplanes need large runways for takeoff and landing, a limitation that concerned defense planners. As turbine engines became lighter, a new type of aircraft became possible — one that could take off and land vertically, yet fly with the speed of jets.

When the small tail surface wings which enable an airplane to go up or down are moved to the front, they are called canards. It is a technology as old as manned flight — the Wrights used canards on their early airplanes. Canards were rarely used after the first World War until computer technology provided the control needed to make the technology feasible.

Many times in aviation history the ultimate test of aircraft and pilot was to fly around the world. Competition and showmanship always played a part, but in the end it was the mental and physical endurance of the men and women who climbed into the cockpit that made success possible.

In the early days of flying, instrumentation was crude. A weighted silk stocking tied to a strut could help the pilot gauge his airspeed. Wartime challenged pilots to learn the techniques of blind flying. Today, pilots use orbiting satellites to pinpoint their position, and complex autopilots enable an aircraft to fly itself.