The story of Man's conquest of the air began almost exactly two centuries ago, in 1783. In June of that year two French brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, launched a hot-air balloon. But such balloons are now used only for sport. Today the skies belong to the airplane, commonly just called plane.
The first plane flight took place on 17 December 1903, at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, in the United States. The plane was built by the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur. The first flight lasted for a mere 12 seconds, but it showed the way ahead. In 1909 Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel; ten years later John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Coming of the Airliner
During the 1920s and 1930s regular, or scheduled flights began, at first carrying airmail and later passengers. This was the era of the flying boat. By the end of the 1930s, as the world headed into World War II, a new type of plane was being developed: the jet. After the war the jet plane came into its own, first as a fighter, then as a commercial airliner.
In the 1960s jet planes became faster and bigger. In 1969 came the maiden flight of the supersonic airliner Concorde, developed jointly by Britain and France. It is still the fastest airliner in service, being capable of a speed of some 1,400 mph. This is twice the speed of sound, and is faster than a rifle bullet.
In the same year came the maiden flight of the Boeing 747, the first of the big passenger jets, known as jumbo jets. The Boeing 747 can carry 400 passengers or more, but can operate efficiently only when most seats are filled.
