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Early Gliders in Aviation

Before the Wright Brothers, there were a bunch of other guys who helped pave the way for their success:

Let's take a look at some notable gliders and how their designs have progressed over time.

Sir George Cayley: 1799
The British engineer is known as the "father of aerodynamics". He was the first to really study the physics of flight. In 1799, he created a plan for a glider.

Jann Wnęk : 1866
Jann was a Polish peasant and carpenter. He built and flew a controllable glider. The coolest thing about him was that he was actually illiterate - he learned about flying based on what he observed in birds and in his carpentry skills.

Above is a model of Jann's glider.

Jean-Marie Le Bris: 1856
Bris was a French aviator who observed the Albatross bird and created a glider based on it. He analyzed the interaction between their wings with the air.

The above photo shows Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, in 1868.

Félix du Temple: 1874
Du Temple built the Monoplane - it was fairly large and made of aluminum. It weighed only 80 kilograms. The Monoplane achieved lift off under its own power after a ski-jump run, and glided for a short time. It is the first successful powered flight in history - even if it was only for a short while!

A drawing of the Monoplane.

John J. Montgomery: 1883
One of the first truly modern gliders was probably built by this guy. He was able to fly the glider in a controlled manner in 1883, in California.

A drawing of the Monoplane.

Otto Lilienthal: 1883
Known as the German "Glider King", Otto was the first person to make repeated gliding flights successfully. He made over 2000 flights in total!

1894: Otto before take-off, and then pushing off with his wing-flapping glider
"To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything."

Octave Chanute
Octave Chanute was a French-born, American railroad engineer. He was considered brilliant and innovative when it came to railroads. He was too old to try and fly himself, but he provided the Wright brothers with help and advice, and also helped publicize their flying experiments.

1896: Octave's biplane hang glider, a trailblazing design which was adapted by the Wright brothers.

Different countries, books and sources will claim different machines to be the first "airplane" or "flying machine". They usually consider different criteria, validity and their definition of what a flying machine is. The above are examples of early flying gliders, but as you'll see, the Wright brothers were certainly helped by those who came before them!