History of the Glider

Adam Mohrmann Brian Ji Alex Ki

Around 400 BC, the Chinese discovery of the kite was the forerunner to balloons and gliders. Mainly used for religious ceremonies and to test weather conditions.

Sir Geroge Cayley (1773-1857)

Sir George Cayley is one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator.

1804 Cayleys Monoplane Glider

In 1804 George Cayley designed and built a model monoplane glider.

The model featured an adjustable cruciform tail, kite shaped wing and a moveable weight to alter the center of gravity

The following year Cayley discovered that dihedral improved lateral stability. After several more models, in 1849 Cayley built a large gliding machine. He tested his glider with a 10 year old boy aboard.

Soon after, in 1853, Cayley built an even larger gliding machine and had his coachman aboard. Although the name of the boy and coachmans names are are forgotten, Cayleys endeavors have hardly been forgotten.

Jean-Marie Le Bris (1818-1872)

In 1856, Jean-Marie Le Bris was the first to fly higher than his point of departure by having his glider pulled by a horse against the wind.

John Joseph Montgomery (18581911)

In 1883, John Joseph Montgomery took the first glider flight in the United States, taking off from a hillside near Otay, California.

Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896)

Otto Lilienthal was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful gliding flights.

He is often referred to as The Father of Flight, due to his contributions to the field of aviation at such a crucial time.

Lilienthals gliders were carefully designed to distribute weight as evenly as possible to ensure a stable flight.
He controlled them by changing the center of gravity. He made about 2,000 glides until his death on 10 August 1896 from injuries in a glider crash the day before.

Otto Lilienthals first glider in 1891

Otto Lilienthals glider in 1894.

Octave Chanute (1832-1910)

In 1896, Octave Chanute designed the first rectangular wing strut-braced biplane hang glider.

Flew distances exceeding 350 feet.

Percy Pilcher (1866-1899)

In 1895, Pilcher created 3 gliders: The Bat, The Beetle, and The Gull. His most famous glider is The Hawk. Died before being able to test his enginepowered triplane.

The use of gliders for sport rapidly evolved in the 1930s and now is its main application.

Types of Gliders
-Paragliders -Hang gliders -Military gliders -Research aircraft -Rocket gliders

Paragliders
A paraglider is a free-flying, foot-launched aircraft. Its wing structure is entirely flexible with shape maintained by the pressure of flowing air. They are typically slow; they range from 25 to 60 km/h for recreational gliders

Hang gliders
A hang glider is capable of being carried, foot launched, and landed solely by the pilots legs.

In a hang glider the shape of the wing is determined by a structure, and that distinguishes them from other types of foot launched aircraft.

Military gliders
They were used mainly during World War 2 for carrying troops and heavy equipment. The advantage over paratroopers were that heavy equipment could be landed and that troops were quickly assembled.

Research Aircraft
Even after the development of powered aircraft, gliders have been built for research.

Unpowered flying wings were built for aerodynamics research and lifting bodies were also developed using unpowered prototypes.

Rocket gliders
Rocket-powered aircraft consume fuel quickly so most must land unpowered. On April 12, 1981 the Space Shuttle orbiter first flew and landed entirely as a glider.

Works Cited
http://www.flyingmachines.org/cayl.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_early_flying_mac hines http://www.flyingmachines.org/lilthl.html http://www.flyingmachines.org/pilc.html