| The development of pratical aviation began in the 1800's. The British inventor, Sir George Cayley began experimenting with kites and human-carrying gliders. He was responsible for creating the concept of the modern airplane. Cayley abandoned the concept of the earlier models where both lift and thrust were provided by wings, and created aircrafts with rigid wings that provided lift, and propelling devices to provide thrust. With these models, he laid down the foundations for modern aerodynamics. He desinged an aircraft that was part helicopter and part horizontally propelled. In 1853 his aircraft flew the first gliding flight in history. Because of this invention, he is often referred to as the father of aviation.
The British scientist Francis Herbert Wenham used a wind tunnel in his experiments, and came up with the idea to use multiple wings placed one above the other. British inventors John Stringfellow and William Samuel Henson, collaborated to create the first model of an airliner in the 1840's. They called this model the Aerial Steam Carriage. This model was powered from a steam engine and launched from a wire. This model had propellers, fuselage, wheeled landing gear, and flight control by means of a rear elevator and rudder. The model was unsuccessful because it failed to climb. However, this model was the first to closely resemble modern day aircraft.
The Australian inventor Lawrence Hengrave produced a model that was propelled by flapping blades that were operated by a compressed-air motor. This model was an unmanned aircraft and flew 95m in 1891.
The American astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley first began experimenting with aircraft that were gliders. He began experimenting with powered aircraft between 1890 and 1900. He produced a steam powered flyer in 1896 that flew 3000 to 4000 ft. for about 1.5 minutes. Langley built and flew the first gasoline-engine-powered heavier-than-air craft in 1896. He called this aircraft the Aerodrome. The aerodrome never carried a person so Langley could not be credited with the first powered aircraft to carry a human.
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