First, the men who started it all:



THE ORIGINAL WRIGHT BROTHERS AEROPLANE THE WORLD'S FIRST POWER-DRIVEN, HEAVIER-THAN-AIR MACHINE IN WHICH MAN MADE FREE, CONTROLLED, AND SUSTAINED FLIGHT INVENTED AND BUILT BY WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT FLOWN BY THEM AT KITTY HAWK, NORTH CAROLINA DECEMBER 17, 1903 BY ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH THE WRIGHT BROTHERS DISCOVERED THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN FLIGHT AS INVENTORS, BUILDERS, AND FLYERS THEY FURTHER DEVELOPED THE AEROPLANE, TAUGHT MAN TO FLY, AND OPENED THE ERA OF AVIATION

- Inscription on the 1903 flyer at the Smithsonian Institution



Picture of the Wright brothers first plane below.

The Wright brothers did not start of by developing the airplane. The brothers started with a glider. They went through many designs and tests. It took the brothers a few years to perfect a wing design worthy of having an engine on it. The Wright brothers took a light four-cylinder engine and two propellers that took months of development and flew their plane. Although the flight lasted only a few seconds, it was the start of aviation.

The SR-71 Blackbird, one of the fastest planes ever made.

What follows is the basic principles used to make aircraft fly in the air.

A. Air approaching the top surface of the wing is compressed into the air above it as it moves upward. Then, as the top surface curves downward and away from the air stream, a low-pressure area is developed and the air above is pulled downward toward the back of the wing.

B. Air approaching the bottom surface of the wing is slowed, compressed and redirected in a downward path. As the air nears the rear of the wing, its speed and pressure gradually match that of the air coming over the top. The overall pressure effects encountered on the bottom of the wing are generally less pronounced than those on the top of the wing.

C. Lift component

D. Net force

E. Drag component


-How Stuff Works