The idea of flight has fascinated people for centuries, even to this day, which is why I decided to research on airplanes. When I researched the history on planes, I was surprised at the effort and the time people long ago spent trying to make a machine that flies. I also wondered, like many, how an airplane is able to fly and sustain in the air. Wanting to know the answers to these types of questions I had, gave me the determination to really researched this topic. History of Planes Early History The idea of flying existed from a long time ago. Ancient legends showed numerous references to the possibility of flight. Philosophers believed that it could be achieved by imitating the wing motions of birds. The artist Leonardo Da Vinci sketched ideas on how a man can fly. 19th Century The development of aviation took various paths during the 19th century. The father of aviation, Sir George Cayley was a British aeronautical engineer and inventor. He proved his ideas of flight with experiments involving kites and controlled human-carrying gliders. Charles Augustus Lindbergh was the first person to make a nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic. He made the flight to win the prize of $25,000 offered by Raymond B. Orteig of New York City for the first nonstop transatlantic solo flight between New York City and Paris. In his single-engine monoplane named the Spirit of St. Louis, he left Roosevelt Field at 7:52 AM on May 20, 1927. After a flight of 33 hours 32 minutes, he landed at Le Bourget Airport near Paris. The Wright Brothers On December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright made the world's first successful flights in a heavier-than-air aircraft. The brothers had designed, constructed, and flown the airplane. On that day, each brother made two flights. In 1904, the brothers continued the development of their airplanes design and also improved their skill as pilots. They made 105 flights, the ...