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Sir George Cayley was an English pioneer of aerial navigation and aeronautical engineering and designer of the first successful glider to carry a human being aloft. Fascinated by flight since childhood, Cayley conducted a variety of tests and experiments intended to explore aerodynamic principles.
Cayley is mainly remembered for his pioneering studies and experiments with flying machines, including the working, piloted glider that he designed and built. He wrote a landmark three-part treatise titled "On Aerial Navigation" (1809–1810), [18] which was published in Nicholson 's Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts .
- English
- British
- Sarah Benskin Charlotte Elizabeth Illingworth
Sep 8, 2010 · George Cayley knew how to make a plane a century before the Wright brothers took off. If only he’d got the internal combustion engine to work. DURING the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists...
Recent research, from 2007, suggests that sketches from his schoolboy days might indicate he was already aware of the principles of a lift-generating plane by 1792. His conclusions were based on observations and calculations of the forces required to keep those true flying machines, birds, aloft.
Experiments that he began to carry out in 1804 allowed him to learn more about aerodynamics and wing structures using a whirling arm device. He observed that birds soared long distances by simply twisting their arched wing surfaces and deduced that fixed-wing machines would fly if the wings were cambered.
Using scientific methods and keeping careful and detailed notes, Cayley became the first to identify the basic problems of heavier-than-air flight, the first to carry out basic aerodynamic research, and the first to discover that curved surfaces produce more lift than flat ones.
Apr 19, 2024 · Print. Sir George Cayley, the Father of Aviation. In 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright launched the world’s first piloted heavier-than-air flying machine, or so history would have us believe. But they were actually 50 years behind eccentric Englishman Sir George Cayley.
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