Patterns of flight testing during the invention of the airplane

摘要

It took approximately 110 years to invent the airplane: In 1899,Sir George Cayley first described the concept of a fixed-wing craft with a separate propulsion system.By 1909 several practical airplanes were demonstrated at the Great rheims Air Show.During this period,dozens of hopeful inventors created hundreds of craft.yet progress was for the most part minimal and halting: Before 1909,only a handful of craft had flown the length of a football field.