History of Air Flight and
Lighter than Air Crafts (LTA)
Aerospace Class
Mrs. Gallenberger
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
Since the dawn of civilization, man
has expressed his desire to fly.
We looked up into the sky and saw
the birds, clouds, stars, moon, sun
and the planets – and wondered
what it would be like to go there.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• One of the most important inventions that
led to flight was the printing press…weird!
• The printing press brought the price of
books down and made the wide
distribution of books possible.
• People were able to SHARE information
and knowledge with others – scientific
knowledge began to accumulate…
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• For example: the man credited with
inventing the hot air balloon, Father
Laurenco de Gusmao, made some small
models and demonstrated on of them for
the king of Portugal in 1709.
• The main contribution that he made to
flight was that records of this
demonstration were recorded and widely
read throughout Europe.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• One of the first people to make
“significant drawings of aircraft” was the
great artist and painter Leonardo da Vinci
• Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452
in Anchiano, near Vinci, Italy, and died
May 2, 1519 in Cloux, France.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• There appears to be no field of knowledge
where Leonardo da Vinci has not made a
contribution to the world:
– anatomy, physiology, mechanics, hydraulics,
physics, mathematics, writing, engineering,
philosophy, orbital mechanics, botany, optics
were all studied and revealed by his genius.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• Leonardo da Vinci invented many things,
including:
– The first parachute
– An 8 barrelled machine gun
– A giant crossbow
– An armoured car
– Boats
– Several flying machines including an Ornithopter
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
The first
“airships” that
were invented
were balloons.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
Two brothers, Joseph and Etienne
Montgolfier, made manned, lighterthan-air flight possible.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
The
Montgolfier
brothers are
generally given
credit for the
invention of
the hot air
balloon.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• The two brothers were
• They studied the
• They were highly
• Priestly had discovered
not scientists…they were
paper-makers who lived
in France.
educated, and interested
in science and flight.
research of an English
scientist named Joseph
Priestly.
OXYGEN (the element)
in 1774, and had
written papers on the
properties of air.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• One evening, while watching the fire in his
fireplace, Joseph became interested in the
“force” that caused the sparks and smoke to
rise.
• He made a small bag out of silk and lit a fire
underneath the opening at the bottom
causing it to rise.
• The brothers thought that the ‘burning’
created a new gas, which they named
“Montgofier Gas”, causing the bag to rise.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• In June 1783, the brothers put on their 1st
demonstration using a paper-lined linen
bag that was 38-feet in diameter.
• The balloon rose to an altitude of 6,000’
and traveled over a mile before landing.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• In a demonstration at the Academy of
Science in Paris, the Montgolfier brothers
sent up 3 animals:
– a sheep,
– a rooster
– and a duck
• After this demonstration, it was time to
send up a human.
NOTES – Lighter than Air Flight
• In Paris, on November 21, 1783, two men flew
for the first time in a lighter than air craft.
– Pilatre de Rozier
• Later became the first man killed in an aircraft accident…
– Marquis d’Arlandes
• An infantry officer
• The flight lasted 25 minutes and covered a little
more than five miles.
AEROSPACE VOCABULARY
• Aeronaut – the pilot of a balloon or
other lighter-than-air aircraft; a
traveler in an airship.
• Atmosphere – the ‘ocean’ of air that
surrounds the earth.
• Ambient temperature – the
temperature of the surrounding
environment.
AEROSPACE VOCABULARY
• Archimedes’ Principle – the law that a body
•
immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force
(buoyant force) equal to the weight of the
fluid displaced by the body.
Ballast – something heavy, as bags of
sand, placed in the car of a balloon for
control of altitude; object(s) placed in an
aircraft to control the position of the center
of gravity.
AEROSPACE VOCABULARY
• Buoyancy – the upward force exerted by
•
•
•
liquids or gasses.
Density – the relationship of mass per unit
of volume (density = mass / volume)
Displacement – to push out of the way;
distance which something has moved from
its’ original position.
Expand – to stretch or spread; to make
larger in size.
AEROSPACE VOCABULARY
• Fluid – a substance, as a liquid or
gas, that is capable of flowing.
• Force – power of energy; strength to
move something.
• Gores – triangular piece of fabric or
material used to construct a hot air
balloon.
AEROSPACE VOCABULARY
• Helium – extremely light gaseous
element with no color; the second
lightest element on the periodic
table.
• Hydrogen – nonmetallic element
which is a highly flammable gas; the
LIGHTEST element on the periodic
table.
AEROSPACE VOCABULARY
• Inert – without power to move or
act; having little or no ability to
react.
• Meteorology – the science dealing
with the atmosphere and its
phenomena, including weather and
climate; the study of the atmosphere.
• Oxygen – breathable air in Earths’
atmosphere.
AEROSPACE VOCABULARY
• Pressure – a force exerted by one body
•
•
upon another; the exertion of force upon a
surface by an object, fluid, etc., in contact
with it.
Specific Gravity – the ratio of the density
of any substance to the density of some
other substance taken as standard.
Volatile – tending to change readily into a
vapor, especially at ordinary temperatures.