Introduction

to Aircraft
Engineering
Unit 1
History and Aircraft Configurations
• A short history: The history of aeronautics has
extended over more than two thousand years.
• The earliest attempts begin with the kites and gliders,
Early air vehicles
and continued with powered heavier than
air, supersonic and hypersonic flight.
• The first form of man-made flying objects was kites.
• The earliest known record of kite flying is from around
200 BC in China.

• Then it was the time of balloons, ancient European

kingdoms support for the design of new concepts of
balloons.

• In December 1903 that laws of flight were finally given

by human beings to a degree sufficient to allow a heavier
than air, powered, human carrying machine to execute a
successful sustained flight through the air. December 17,
1903 at 10.35 is ORVILLE and WILLOUR WRIGHT flied the
first successful flying machine at KILL DEVIL HILLS, North
Carolina.
• Before the Wright brothers first flight,
there were no successful airplane designs,
hence no successful demonstration of
airplane performance, however there were
plenty of attempts.

• All early thinking of human flight

centered on the imitation of birds. Various
unsung ancient people fashioned wings and
always unsuccessful consequence in leaping
from towers or flapping vigorously.

• It was replaced by the concept of wings

flapped up and down by various mechanical
mechanisms powered by same type of
human arm, leg or body movement. These
machines are called “ORNITHOPTERS”.
The Dawn of Flight-

• KITE
1. A journey into the skies began in the
5th century with the invention of kites in
ancient China.

2. Kites served as both art and science,

capturing the imagination of
civilizations.

3. They were essential for understanding

aerodynamics and controlled flight.

4. This marked the starting point of

humanity's fascination with flight.
Leonarda da vinci: Designed Nemours such ornithopters in the period from 1486-1490.

Leonarda da vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480’s. He had over 100
drawings that illustrated theories on flight. The ornithopters flying machine was never
actually created it was a design that Leonarda da vinci created to show how man could fly.
The modern day helicopter is based on this concept.
 Sir George cayley (1773-1857) - The true
inventor of the airplane.
• George cayley worked to discover a way that man
could fly.
• He designed many different versions of gliders that
used the movements of the body to control.
• He changed the shape of the wings so that the air
would flow over the wings correctly.
• He designed a tail for the gliders to help with the
stability.
• He tried a biplane design to add strength to the glider.
• He also recognized that there would be a need for
power if the flight was to be in the air for a long time.
William Samuel Henson
William Samuel Henson (3 May 1812 – 22
March 1888) was a British-born pre-Wright
brothers aviation pioneer, engineer and inventor.
He is best known for his work on the aerial
steam carriage alongside John Stringfellow.

Starting c. 1838, Henson became interested in

aviation.
In April 1841 he patented an improved
lightweight steam engine, and with fellow
lacemaking-engineer John Stringfellow in c.
1842 he designed a large passenger-carrying steam-
powered monoplane, with a wing span of 150 feet,
which he named the "Henson Aerial Steam
Carriage". He received a patent on it in 1843 along
with Stringfellow.
• Henson, Stringfellow, Frederick
Marriott, and D.E. Colombine,
incorporated as the Aerial Transit
Company in 1843 in England, with
the intention of raising money to
construct the flying machine.

• Henson built a scale model of his

design, which made one tentative
steam-powered "hop" as it lifted, or
bounced, off its guide wire.

• Attempts were made to fly the

small model, and a larger model with
a 20-foot wing span, between 1844
and 1847, without success.
 Felix du temple
• Félix du Temple de la Croix (18 July
1823 – 3 November 1890) was
a French naval officer and an inventor, born
into an ancient Norman family.

• He is widely credited with achieving the

first successful powered flight of a
heavier-than-air machine in 1874.

• He designed and built a monoplane that

was powered by a steam engine.

• Although the flight only involved a brief

glide after taking off from an inclined
ramp, this marked a significant step toward
powered flight.
• His aircraft was made of lightweight
materials, including aluminum, which
was an advanced choice for the time.

• Temple filed a patent in 1857 for an

aircraft design that combined the
elements of powered flight and gliders.

• His aircraft featured retractable landing

gear, a feature still common in modern
aircraft, showing his forward-thinking
approach to aviation design.

• His early attempt at powered flight was

a precursor to later breakthroughs by
pioneers such as the Wright brothers.
 Alexander Mozhauski
• Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaysky was an
admiral in the Imperial Russian
Navy, aviation pioneer, researcher and
designer of heavier-than-aircraft.

• In 1909 a Russian newspaper claimed

Mozhaysky's hop was the first powered
flight. This claim was later repeated in
many Soviet publications.

• In 1971-1981 Central Aerohydrodynamic

Institute researched the topic and disproved
the claim.
• His original aircraft was found incapable of
generating lift because of low engine
capacity.
• It was understood that with a more powerful
engine, which Mozhaysky had planned
shortly before his death, the aircraft might
have been able to fly.
• Nevertheless, Mozhaysky's aviation
achievements, particularly with
regard to flight
controls and propulsion, were
considerable given the limits of the
technology available to him.

• He was honored in Russia as a key

figure in the history of aviation.

• While his aircraft did not fly, his

innovative work represented an early
attempt at achieving controlled
powered flight and is seen as a
precursor to later advancements in the
field.
 Otto lilenthal (1848 – 1896 )-
the glider man
• Otto Lilienthal was born on May 23 1848 at
Germany, a germen mechanical engineer, also
called as glider man.

• He studied aerodynamics and worked to design a

glider that would fly.

• He was the first person to design a glider that

could fly a person and able to fly long distances.

• He was fascinated by the idea of flight. Based on

his studies of birds and how they fly, he wrote a
book on aerodynamics that was published in 1889
and this text was used by the wright brothers as
the basis for their designs.

• After more than 2500 flights, he was killed when

he lost control because of a sudden strong wind
and crashed into the ground.
Wright Brothers

Orville and Wilbur Wright were very

deliberate in their quest for flight. First,
they read about all the early developments
of flight.
They decided to make "a small
contribution" to the study of flight control
by twisting their wings in flight.

Then they began to test their ideas with a

kite. They learned about how the wind
would help with the flight and how it could
affect the surfaces once up in the air.
The next step was to test the shapes of
gliders much like George Cayley did
when he was testing the many different
shapes that would fly. They spent three
years testing and learning about how
gliders could be controlled at Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina.
They designed and used a wind tunnel to
test the shapes of the wings and the tails
of the gliders. In 1902, with a perfected
glider shape, they turned their attention to
how to create a propulsion system that
would create the thrust needed to fly.

The early engine that they designed

generated almost 12 horsepower. That's
the same power as two hand-propelled
lawn mower engines!
• The "Flyer" lifted from level ground to the north
of Big Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina, at 10:35
a.m., on December 17, 1903. Orville piloted the
plane which weighed about six hundred pounds.
 • The first heavier-than-air flight travelled
one hundred twenty feet in twelve seconds.
The two brothers took turns flying that day
with the fourth and last flight covering 850
feet in 59 seconds. But the Flyer was
unstable and very hard to control.

• The brothers returned to Dayton, Ohio,

where they worked for two more years
perfecting their design. Finally, on October
5, 1905, Wilbur piloted the Flyer III for 39
minutes and about 24 miles of circles around
Huffman Prairie. He flew the first practical
airplane until it ran out of gas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtZ8MxuePno
1783 - Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier- the First Hot Air Balloon

• The brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques

Etienne Montgolfier, were inventors of the
first hot air balloon.

• They used the smoke from a fire to blow hot

air into a silk bag. The silk bag was attached to
a basket. The hot air then rose and allowed the
balloon to be lighter-than-air.

• In 1783, the first passengers in the colorful

balloon were a sheep, rooster and duck. It
climbed to a height of about 6,000 feet and
traveled more than 1 mile.
• After this first success, the brothers
began to send men up in balloons.
The first manned flight was on
November 21, 1783, the passengers
were Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier
and Francois Laurent.