Who successfully built and flew the world’s first aeroplane?

Portrait of Gustave Whitehead (born Gustav Albin Weisskopf, in Germany, 1874) Learn more about Gustave Whitehead (German immigrant Gustav Weißkopf) , true inventor of the airplane, with full documentary evidence, including new discoveries, provided in the compelling new book, “Gustave Whitehead: First in Flight” In 1901, Gustave Whitehead invented, built, and flew the world’s first successful powered airplane. His pioneering first flights, which took place in Fairfield County, Connecticut, predated the Wrights by 28 months. The first flight, occurring on August 14, 1901, was witnessed and written up by a prominent newspaper reporter as an exclusive for the local paper, the Bridgeport Sunday Herald. A second set of flights occurred later in the morning, according to witnesses. The account was then carried in scores of newspapers internationally, with multiple local newspapers supporting his successful flights of the summer of 1901. Afterward, Whitehead continued to develop, test and fly early powered airplanes up through at least 1908. The majority of his successful flights occurred between 1901-1902, with more reported from 1903-1911. Whitehead conducted many of his test flights in close proximity to populated areas so there were many witnesses. Sometimes he flew over entire neighborhoods, and his planes attracted much attention in the region. Statements and affidavits from witnesses to the flights were gathered from 1901 up through the 1980′s. People who recall their olde...

The Century Before: 1799 to 1859 T he F irst A irplanes Home History Wing Adventure Wing Exhibits & Programs Company Store Information Desk NEXT Entrance History Wing A History of the Airplane The Century Before Up The First Airplanes (You are here.) Powering Up Airmen and Chauffeurs The Road to Kitty Hawk Need to find your bearings? Try these navigation aids: Site Map Museum Index Search the Museum If this is your first visit, please stop by: About the Museum Something to share? Please: Contact Us Available in Française, Español, Português, Deutsch, Россию, 中文, 日本, and others. ites and flying toys have been around for thousands of years. But the science that led to the invention of the airplane is fairly recent, dating to just 1799. There were two scientific investigations into fixed-wing aviation prior to that time, but they led nowhere. About 875 CE, scientist/inventor It wasn't until • The First Airplanes, 1799 to 1853 – Experiments prove the feasibility of a flying craft with fixed (instead of flapping or whirling) wings to generate lift. • • • T ime E vent 1799 Sir George Cayley, a baronet in Yorkshire, near Scarborough, England, conceives a craft with stationary wings to provide lift and "flappers" to provide thrust. It also has a movable tail to provide control. So convinced is he that this idea is an earth-shaker, he engraves a drawing of this craft on a silver disk. Cayley is the first to separate the different forces that keep an aircraft in the air, and his eng...

History credits Orville and Wilbur Wright for flying the world’s first aircraft, but it was Yorkshire Baronet Sir George Cayley who first proposed, propounded and published the principles of modern aerodynamics. It was George Cayley, who, more than a century before the Wright Brothers took flight, set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed-wing flying machine as opposed to the comical flapping winged machines that many of his predecessors had imagined. It was George Cayley who proposed separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control, and it was he who first identified the four-vector forces that influence an aircraft: thrust, lift, drag, and weight. He also discovered the importance of cambered wings, the characteristic curved shape that is fundamental to flight. George Cayley was the first true scientific aerial investigator and the ‘father of aviation’, yet many of us have never heard of him. A replica of George Cayley’s flying machine which he flew in 1853. This working model was built in 1973 and flown at the original site in Brompton Dale a for TV show. The glider is currently on display at the Yorkshire Air Museum. Photo: Yorkshire Air Museum Sir George Cayley’s fascination with flight started from early childhood. The balloon flights of the Montgolfier brothers in the 1780s captivated his fecund mind. But Cayley wasn’t interested in passive ascent. He wanted to build a real flying machine. His first device was a replica of a toy helicopter designed b...