It starts with Leonardo da Vinci’s famous sketches of flying machines, then moves to the first hot air balloon launched by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783, the gliders created by Sir George Cayley (1804), and the Wright brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903. These great moments and others all get covered in this Animated History of Aviation, an elegant little film produced by Utah Valley University, a college with a large aviation program of its own. We’ll add it to our collection of Great Science Videos.
If you would like to sign up for Open Culture’s free email newsletter, please find it here.
If you would like to support the mission of Open Culture, consider making a donation to our site. It’s hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. You can contribute through PayPal, Patreon, and Venmo (@openculture). Thanks!
Where is Santos Dummont and the 14 Bis Plane?
I love the animation but I can’t help wondering why Traian Vuia’s first documented take-off is not mentioned (1906),nor the many contributions of the Romanian inventors to the aviation industry.
Loved this video! And you guys are the best! Thanks a helluva lot! :)
I like the animation. What a great one! But they didn’t mention tha brazilian Santos Dummont…
Nor Count von Zeppelin’s LZ1, which predated the Wright Brothers.
What to include, what to leave out … always a tough one when condensing so much into so little. My irk is when something is included, like Whittle’s jet engine, ignoring the fact that Hans von Ohain invented a superior jet engine years before?
July 25, 1909 Louis Blériot ??