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Watch: How has flying changed?

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A drawing of the Montgolfier hot air balloon.
Image caption,
A drawing of the Montgolfier hot air balloon.

The Inventors

  • People have been trying different ways of flying for hundreds of years.
  • The first successful flight was by hot air balloon. In 1783 the Montgolfier brothers launched their balloon, flying five miles before landing safely.
  • In 1903 two brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, invented and flew the first motor-powered aeroplane. It was called the Wright Flyer.
  • The Wright Flyer's first flight was on 17th December 1903 at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, USA. It lasted just 12 seconds. The aeroplane reached nearly 7 miles per hour (mph). It only flew 120 feet (37 metres) in the air.
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Amelia Earhart holding the propellers of a plane.
Image caption,
Amelia Earhart.

The Aviators

  • A person who flies an aeroplane is called an aviator.
  • In 1927 Charles Lindbergh flew the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. His plane was called the Spirit of St. Louis. It took 33 hours to fly from New York City to Paris (3,600 miles).
  • In 1930 Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo (on her own) from England to Australia.
  • In 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Amelia Earhart holding the propellers of a plane.
Image caption,
Amelia Earhart.
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An airship in the sky over New York.
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An airship in the sky over New York.

Airships

  • The early aeroplanes could not carry passengers, but there was another invention which did. In 1900, a German inventor called Ferdinand von Zeppelin designed an airship.
  • Airships became more popular in the 1920s and 1930s. They could carry between 24 and 50 passengers. This meant that only rich people could afford to fly.
  • An airship stayed in the air by floating.
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Concorde plane.
Image caption,
In 1996, Concorde set a record for the time to fly between New York and London. It was just two hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds!

Passenger aeroplanes

  • Flying in an aeroplane became more common in the 1950s and 1960s as more people went on holiday abroad.
  • Early jet engines went over 300 mph and could carry up to 60 passengers. They soon became bigger and faster.
  • In 1969 Concorde took its first flight. It was a supersonic plane that could travel 1,354 mph. That's more than twice the speed of sound!
  • Larger aeroplanes were known as Jumbo Jets as they could carry more people.
  • Many people now can afford to fly. In 2019, over 300 million passengers flew from airports in Britain.
Concorde plane.
Image caption,
In 1996, Concorde set a record for the time to fly between New York and London. It was just two hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds!
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Activities

Activity 1: Put the aircraft in the order they were invented

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Activity 2: History of aircraft quiz

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