Category Book of Flight

ETURNING to Earth, the shuttle orbiter is trans­formed from a spacecraft into a giant glider.

First, its maneuvering engine rockets fire a last time to slow it down to drop from orbit.

Reentering Earth’s atmosphere, it passes through scorch mg heat and tremendous friction. The thermal heat shield does its job well and protects the ship during the fiery journey. Next, computers guide the orbiter through a series of S turns to slow it down more. I he orbiter’s speed drops f rom over 17,000 miles an hour to about 350 miles an hour.

The craft glides in silently. At about 20 miles from the runway, the mission commander takes control and brings it in lor a landing. The shuttle can also land automatically, if necessary. As the wheels touch down, the craft lands at between 200 and 226 miles an hour and slows to a stop. Then the astronauts exit the orbiter on ordinaiy

I Coming in to Land

Like a giant bird, the shuttle Columbia ghees unpowered to land at Kennedy Space Center. The commander aims carefully landing the craft. If it misses the runway, he cannot turn around to core Pack and try again.

і What a Drag

Once the shuttle’s wheels hit the runway, a parachute opens to slow the orbiter.

As the craft lands at over 200 miles an hour, the drag chute helps it gradually b^ake to a stop.

► Getting д Lift

The shuttle Atlantis is lifted in a machine to mount it on the back of з Boeing 747. With no power to fly through the atmosphere after it lands, the shuttle orbiter must be ferried by a 7<r back to its launch site.

► Piggyback Ride

Aboard a 747 ferry, the shuttle Atlantis returns to Florida after being repaired in California. Shuttles are used over and over, always launching from Kennedy Space Center n Florida.

today’s four space shuttles have all flown many times. Since the first mission in 1981, there have been over 100 shuttle flights.

HE largest object ever built in space, the Intern­ational Space Station (ISS) Floats in Earth orbit in an artist’s concept. Begun in 1998, it will sprawl twice the size ol a football held when complete. The ISS is being built jointly bv 16 nations, including the United States, Russia, Canada, countries of the European Space Agency, and Japan. It will cost about $60 billion.

Already’ home to an American-Russian crew, the station has a roomy kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping and exercise areas. Omni solar panels convert energy From the Sun lor electric power. The station will provide an international center For many kinds ol scientific research. In its laboratories, scientists will study lile in space and test new medicines and materials lor use on Earth. One day, the ISS may also be the departure terminal For missions to other planets.

^ Outpost in Space

leveling 770 miles high over Fdrth, the International Space Station is shown as it will look when complete, around 2006.

A crew of 7 will live m a space as big as two 747 jet cabins. The size of two football fields, the station will weigh a million pounds.

Fun Fact: Big Job

More than 40 trips by space shuttle and other craft will be required to deliver the parts, supplies, and equipment needed to build the ISS.

SOME 220 miles over Earth, the world’s highest

construction site bustles with activity and work is in lull swing. Workers move cranes hoisting huge building blocks. The giant structure going up is the International Space Station. The workers building it are astronauts.

The construction work will continue lor five years. The astronauts will spend many hours of spacewalks assembling the station. They will get help from a large robotic arm made in Camida and possibly a flying robotic “eye” that can circle around to inspect the huge station.

In the finished station, scientists believe the absence of gravity will allow them to do experiments not possible on Earth. They hope to develop new drugs, new ways to treat and prevent diseases, more powerful computer chips, stronger metals, and better weather forecasting systems. Life on the ISS will also provide knowledge for future space travel beyond Earth’s orbit.

Early Space Station

In May 2000, the first parts of the new ISS orbit Earth. The station at this stage has two sections, or modules. The first U. S. module, Unity (top), is joined to the Russian power and propulsion module, Zarya ("Sunrise").

* All Systems Go

In this artist’s concept, a space shuttle has docked at the finished ISS. When complete, the station will be a busy center of scientific research, new discoveries, and exciting plans for future missions to explore space.

HE Korean War, from 1950 to 1953, was the first con­flict where jet fighters battled. The United States fought Communist forces in Korea. In the short time since World War II, jets had made propeller lighters obsolete. Faster speeds required pilots to react more quickly. The opposing planes could now close in over 10 miles in 30 seconds. The U. S. F-86 Sabre Jet and the Russian-built MiG-15 were the primary adversaries in Korea. Reaching speeds of nearly 670 miles an hour, the jets clashed in a famous zone known as "MiG Alley.”

From 1961 to 1973, the United States again fought Communist forces, this time in the Vietnam War. U. S. bombers dropped more tons of bombs in ill is war than both sides dropped in World. War II. I lehcopters played a critical role in Vietnam. Powerful helicopter gunships attacked the enemy and transported troops and supplies to the steamy jungle battle grounds. Helicopters also zoomed in to rescue wounded soldiers and downed pilots from behind enemy lines.

Checking It Out

Mechanics in Okinawa check a captured MiG-15 repainted with U. S. Air Force markings in 1953.Test pilots who flew this MiG said that overall, the F-86 was a better plane.

►Eject!

With jets’faster speed, pilots no longer bailed out. This Navy pilot springs from his plane in an ejection seat.

A parachute will open to land him safely on the ground.

► ► То the Rescue

The interior of the Sikorsky HH-3E helicopter (right) was a welcome sight to many U. S. fighter pilots in Vietnam.

Armed with heavy guns, the chopper flew in to rescue pilots downed in battle. It flew wounded men to base hospitals.

* Green Giant

Painted in olive green camouflage, the Sikorsky НИ ЗЕ was a large, powerful helicopter affectionately called the "Jolly Green Giant." A beacon of hope for stranded soldiers as well as pilots, it saved many lives in the war.

McDonnell F-t, Phantom II

Flying night reconnaissance, an F-4 Phantom II fighter crosses Vietnam in this painting. Able to race twice the speed of sound, the F-4 was a versatile plane. The first jet to find and destroy targets by radar without ground support, it excelled in dogfights with MiG-21 jets and also served as a bomber.

► Republic F-105D Thunderchief

Laden with bombs, two F-105D Thunderchief fighter-bombers head toward targets. The F-105D could carry over 12,000 pounds ofbombs. lt flew a large number of air strikes in Vietnam. As a fighter, it could deliver an amazing six thousand rounds of cannon fire per minute.

WARS over the last decades have greatly changed

and advanced military aircraft. The development of more sophisticated technology in radar, navigation, and weapons systems has produced faster, stronger, and more complex jet fighters and bombers.

Aircraft carriers have also changed. Jets are heavier than propeller aircraft. They require the boost of a catapult, like a giant slingshot, to launch them from the carrier deck. Carriers now have a catapult officer in charge of launching, called a “shooter.”

In a launch, a catapult hurls the plane from a standstill to a speed of 200 miles an hour in the air. Strong arresting cables on deck help the jets land safely. The jets have a tailhook to snag the cables as they kind.

Modern carriers, up to 1,100 leet long, are like floating air bases. They may carry’ nearly’ 100 planes. These carrier-based aircraft have been active in conflicts and peacekeeping from Vietnam to the present.

* Aik BASt AT StA

Jet fighters fly m formation over the carrier USS John C. Stenrm, The big ship bristles with aircraft, including F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet fighters,

S 3B Vikings, EA-6B Prowlers, and E -2C Hawkeye AWACS surveillance planes.

▼ Military Jets

An AV-88 Harrier"jump jet" (top) lifts straight up iri a vertical takeoff. Its jet nozzles can be directed to take of*, nover, or land like a helicopter or fly straight ahead. F-18 Hornet fighters (center) line an aircraft carrier deck. Bottom, a Hornet launches from the deck.

tomorrow’s space explorers travel? Scientists are working to design new vehicles to make space travel easier and cheaper.

TODAYS jet Fighters are among the fastest planes ever built. The F-16 Fighting Falcon, for example, can fly at more than twice the speed of sound. Alodern fighters use “fly by wire” flight. This means physical cables no longer pull on control surfaces su ch as the rudder. Instead, computers send signals along electric wires to motors that move control surfaces.

To increase speed, supersonic fighters today have streamlined bodies with pointed noses and swept-back or arrow-shaped wings. Some have ultra-thin wing edges to reduce drag and cut through air easily at high speeds. To withstand the scorching heat of supersonic speeds, the planes have "skins” of heat-resistant metals such as titanium.

Most fighters intercept and attack other aircraft. They may also attack ground targets. Pilots today locate targets electronically and fire deadly radar-guided or heat-seeking missiles. Modern fighters can cost up to $50 million each! MucJj of the cost is for electronic radar, flight, and navigation systems.

► F-18 Hornet Research Fighter

This F-18 has been modified to test a new feature. Strakes, hinged structures on its nose, open to stabilize the jet as it dives at a steep angle of attack. They give the pilot better handling in an otherwise dangerous maneuver.

A Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk

The first "stealth" plane in combat, the F-117A (above and left) flew in the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Its shape and special paint scatter radar beams to help it fly undetected. Hunting at night, the Nighthawk fires laser-guided missiles.

►Thunderbirds on Display

F-16 Thunderb! rds, the U. S.Air Force demonstration team, roar into a Diamond formation. A pilot’s view (below) shows how close the jets fly. Such maneuvers showcase both the pilots’precision and skill and the capabilities of the F-16.

4 A-10 Thunderbolt II

Sweeping down from the sky, an A-10 Thunderbolt II dives to attack. Designed to support ground troops, it can fly low and slow to destroy targets such as tanks with guns and missiles. The A-10 served in rescue missions during the GulfWar.

Based on the "lifting body," it would lift off in an upright position, orbit, then return to Earth and land belly-down on a runway.

Another design was the X-37. It would be launched into orbit from the space shuttle. It would work in orbit, then return to Earth by its own power.

The X–43 was a plane designed to launch spacecraft into orbit. Known as the “Hyper X, th is plane would fly at "hypersonic" speeds, many times the speed of sound. A “scram-jet engine would allow it to use oxygen from the air to burn fuel, instead of using costly rocket fuel. The Hyper-X could launch craft into space at a tenth the cost of the rocket-propelled space shuttle. In coming years, scientists will continue research to develop new experimental concepts.

4 Hyper-X

In this artist’s concept, the X-*3,or Hyper-X research plane, roars up towa’d the fringes of space. Such planes, resigned to fly many times tne speed of sound, may one day oe usee to launch vehicles into space orbit.

►x-33

The X-33, or VentureStar, flies in Earth orbit in this artist’s concept. It is one of many ideas for reusable vehicles to lower the cost of space travel. It would take off like a rocket, orbit, and land horizontally, like an arpiare.

Fun Fact: Split-Second Timing

The fastest "air-breathing," wingec aircra’t today, the SR-71 Blackbird, travels in soeeds measured in tens of miles-per-minute. Hypersonic p’a^es like the Hyper-X may travel in speeds of miles-per-second!

► Mother Ship

This art shows how the Hyper-X would be launched, riding on a rocket uncer the wing of a B-52. Dropped at 43,000 feet, the rocket would boost the Hyper-X to

100,0 feet, then fall off. The plane would fly on by its own power.

Testing, Testing

Scientist Vince Rausch holds a model Hyper-X mounted on a rocket in a wind tunnel. Wind-tunnel tests show such a plane could fly to Mach 10 to reach space. In an artist’s concept (right), a Pegasus rocket lifts a Hyper-X on its nose.

* X-37

In this imaginary scene, the X-37 is ready for launch from the payload bay of a space shuttle, Aoout half the length of the shuttle, this craft would orbit up to 21 days, performing experiments. lt would then return to Earth on its own.

FOR years a top secret, the existence of military spy planes made world headlines in 1960 when one was captured. Francis Gary Powers, American pilot of a U-2 reconnaissance jet, was caught spying1 over the Soviet Union and shot down.

The U-2 was designed in the 1950s, during the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union. It was a long-winged, glider-like plane with a panoramic camera. Flying at high altitudes, it took photographs to search for Soviet ballistic missiles.

In the 1960s, another spy plane, the Lockheed SR-~1 Blackbird, was introduced. It could fly even higher and laster than the U-2 and photograph 100,000 square miles. The first stealth plane, it had a flattened shape and dark coating that helped it elude radar.

Today, both planes still fly missions to monitor world hot spots. By giving warning of dangerous conflicts, they help world leaders plan strategies.

Plying High

The Lotkheed U-2 is a hfgh – a titude reconnaissance jet. Its 80-foot wingspan^ives it lift to fly o. e’ 73,00C”eet.’t first flew over the Soviet _"’or n :re 19501s to pHotograph missi e activity.

U-2 Camera

7vs U-2 Нусог В came’ayow г the Museum, took retailed ground pictures of Cuba, ike the one at top center in the ‘960s/ney revealed Soviet missiles, which iec to the Cuban Missile Cr sis.

Lockheed SR-71

This high-altitude spy plane flies faster than any other aircraft. It set a speed record of 2,193 miles an hour. Like the U-2, it takes reconnaissance photographs. The plane’s shape and dark color earned it the name "Blackbird."

B-2 Stealth Bomber

One of the most technically advanced of all aircraft, the B-2 Stealth Bomber has a flying wing design and sophisticated computer technology. Its shape and dark coating help it penetrate enemy defenses without detection. First test flown in 1989, it served in the conflict in the Balkans.

Global Hawk

This experimental unmanned aircraft was developed by the Air Force. Its mission is to give military commanders a high-altitude, long-endurance system to photograph large geographic areas.

Fun Fact: Speedy Spy Plane

The SR-71 can fly at altitudes of 90,000 feet and as fast as Mach 3.3. It has set several speed records, including a flight between Los Angeles, California and Washington, D. C. in just 64 minutes!

JET power, first used in World War II, transformed the world of flight. With superior thrust, jet engines allowed planes to fly longer distances at higher speeds. In 1952, the First commercial jetliner, the British De I lavilland Comet, began service.

The Comet Hew 490 miles an hour, faster than any other passenger plane. Its 44 passen­gers traveled eight miles up in a comfortable pressurized cabin. Quiet jet engines made the ride smooth and relaxing. Yet in 1954, two Comets exploded in midair. The cause w as high-altitude stress on the plane’s metal body.

The next jet airliners were built with strong, pressure-resistant fuselages. I he American Boeing 707, introduced in 1957, was sale, fast, and comlortcible, with 145 seats. In 1969, Boeing built the lirst jumbo jet—the 747. I Ins became the world’s most successful jetliner. With a wide – body f uselage that can seat over 400, it lowered the cost of tur travel. Today, millions of people around the world have flown in the 747.

< Boeing 707

Sleek and streamlined, the Boeing /07 was the first II. S.jet transport airliner. It measured 144 feet long, with a wingspan of 130 feet. Flying nearly 600 miles an hour, it cut previous travel time nearly in half.

▼ The President’s Plane

Air force One, a Boeing 747, soars majestically ovei Mount Rushrnore, South Dakota. This plane carries the President of the United States on business around the world. It has a special interior for the President.

Concorde

The Concorde, developed by the British and French, is the world’s only supersonic jetliner. It first flew in 1969. Able to fly over twice the speed of sound, it could whisk passengers across the Atlantic in three and a half hours. The crash of an Air France Concorde in 2000 resulted in the grounding of all Concordes for safety testing

NLIKE fixed-wing airplanes, helicopters have

whirling rotary wings, called rotors. Helicopters can fly forwards, backwards, sideways, straight up or down, and hover in one spot. The idea of the helicopter is very old. The ancient Chinese had a toy helicopter, called a “flying top.” Early designers, including Sir George Cayley, inventor of the glider, envisioned helicopters. Yet it was not until much later that real helicopters appeared. In 1907, Frenchman Paul Cornu built anti flew a helicopter m the lirst free flight. The double-rotor craft rose five feet olf the ground for 20 seconds.

The f li st practical single-rotor helicopters were invented by Igor Sikorsky in the 1950s. Since then, helicopters have performed many tasks other planes cannot. Because they can take off and land in small spaces and hover, helicopters serve as rescue craft, flying ambulances, lifting vehicles, and traffic observers. Modern helicopters range from small, light craft to heavy military gunships and transports.

Autogiro

Invented in 1925, the autogiro (top) was a combination of an airplane and a helicopter. It used a propeller to move forward, but a wind-blown rotor for lift. The craft could not hover, but could use its rotor to fly very slowly.

Helicopter Commuter

New York Airways, the "first Helicopter Airline," offered early commuter service in this 15-passenger Vertol 44B helicopter. lt flew day and night between Manhattan La Guardia and Newark Airports. It carried passengers, freight, and mail. The helicopter also flew sightseeing flights.

► Firefighter

A large helicopter calleo an aircrane loads

2,0 gallons of water by a hose from a lake. It will fly to a raging forest fire in California. Crew aboard will use the water to help battle the fire.

Helicopter Rescue Team

A U. S. Coast Guard helicopter hoists rescue swimmer Jason Shepard back aboard after a day of training. Helicopters with trained crew fly in to save people trapped on sinking ships or stranded at sea.

MARS, the red planet, has tascinated people lor centuries.

Since the 1960s, many have dreamed of exploring: and perhaps colonizing Mars. Earth’s neighbor in the solar system, Mars lies about 40 million miles away. About hall the size of Earth, it has many features similar to Earth’s. These include mountains, canyons, and polar ice caps. Yet Mars’ air is 100 times thinner than Earth’s and the planet is a freezing desert.

In 1976, two ’iking landers touched down on Mars and in 1997, Pathfinder landed. I hese craft sent back images that showed Mars to be rocky and arid. Yet scientists believe. Mars once had water that may have held microscopic life. In 2001, .Mars Odyssey was launched to orbit Mars. It v ill analyze. Mars’ surface and look for water underground. Such probes may pave the way for human explorers. A human mission to Mars would take about two years. The travelers would explore Mars for months, extracting Oxygen from Mars’ carbon dioxide atmosphere. They might find fossils, actual proof of other life in the universe.

No one knows what lies in the future. Yet, as the story of flight has shown, tomorrow will be exciting as dreams become reality.

Parachute Landing

In this artist’s concept, a Mars landing module glides down from a spacecraft by parachute. After land ng, the astronauts would explore the planet by a rover vehicle and study its potential for supporting human life.

< Tales Told by Rocks

A mission specialist in geology examines a rock she has picked up on Mars. Scientists exploring the planet will look for clues to possible early life in rocks. If any life forms have existed, the best evidence would be found in fossils.

▼ Taking a Look

Iwo explorers stop their vehicle to get out and look at robot lander craft sent to Mars years before. No plans now exist for a human mission to Mars. Yet experts hope such a mission will take place perhaps in the next 20 years.

Fun Fact: Pure Fiction

In 1898, British author H. G Wells wrote the Worofthe Worlds, з novel about creatures from Mars invading Earth. ln 1938,the story was broadcast on radio. lt was so convincing, many believed the invasion was real1

Fun Fact: Sightseeing on Mars

Visitors to Mars will see remarkable things. Mars has a volcano three times taller than Mount Everest and a huge canyon. It is four times deeper and ten times longer than the Grand Canyon.

RULE

[1] Bendix Trophy

One of the top racing prizes, the Bendix Trophy was first awarded in 1931.lt was given to the winner of the Bendix Transcontinental Race between Los Angeles and Cleveland.

[2] It’s a Car, It’s a Plane

Called the "Flying Car," a 1947 Convair Model 118 ConAirCar consisted of a two – seater car and an aircraft frame with a 180 horsepower engine. Designed for convenient personal use, it was meant to fly and drive. Unfortunately, it ran out of gas in flight and crashed.

[3] R-7 Rocket

The 100-foot-high Soviet R-7 rocket which launched Sputnik was the biggest rocket in existence at the time. At liftoff, its five powerful rocket engines generated about 900,000 pounds of thrust, 16 times as much as the V-2.

[4] Apollo 11 Launch

Seconds after ignition, Apollo 11 rises as a tower of flames pours from Saturn V’s engines. In 27. minutes, the first stage boosted the craft 35 miles above Earth, traveling 6,000 miles an hour. Then the second stage fired.

MAGINE a time when people only dreamed ot flying, when the sight of a jet streaking across the sky would have been astounding, and the idea ol launching a rocket into space too fantastic to comprehend. You may be surprised to learn that time was not very long ago. It is possible that someone you know was born before airliners and jets even existed.

The stories you are about to read — and the amazing pictures you will see — capture the wonder and excitement of a history that is still unfolding. At the dawn of the 20th century, the first powered aircraft took to the skies. By the century’s end, the International Space Station was on its way to becoming a reality. In the first years of the new millennium, engineers are developing reusable space vehicles, designing airplanes that wi 11 fly at fi ve times the speed ol sound and exploring a human mission to Maes.

The pioneers of flight paved the way for a future idled with adventure and achievement, a fact demonstrated every day at the Smithsonian s National Air and Space Museum, hilled with history-making aircraft anti spacecraft, the Museum brings to life the work ol the inventors and scientists who created them, portrays the courageous av iators and astronauts who flew them and explains how our world is changing because of the progress in aviation and space exploration. The Smithsonian National Ліг anh Space Museum Book of Flight celebrates the Museum’s famous collection and reveals highlights ot its many exhibitions.

In the following pages, for example, you will be introduced to two brothers — \ ilbur and Orville Wright. As children they made and flew kites. \ hen they got older they designed and built bicycles. Soon they were able to put their mechaniCctl skills to use in achieving their dream: On December 17, 1905, on a windswept beach near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they flew the

first powered airplane into the history books.

Mill ions of people come to see the original Wright Flyer at the National Air and Space Museum every year.

People also come to the Museum to see other early airplanes like the Spirit of St. Louis. In it, a 25-year-old airmail pilot named Charles Lindbergh flew nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927, a 33’L hour flight that six other pilots died trying to achieve. Five years later, Amelia Farhart became the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic. Her bright red Lockheed Vega sits in the Museum’s Pioneers of Flight gallery.

Aviation’s powerful influence on world history is shown in exhibits that describe military activities over the decades. In the Book ot Flight, you’ll learn all about famous battles and discover how the first bombers and fighter planes worked. You will meet heroes like America’s World War 1 flying ace, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, as well as other military legends such as Baron Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the "Red Baron.” (Do you know what lamous cartoon character is still waging war on the Red Baron? Look for the answer in one of the book s many Fun Facts.)

The courage of V odd V аг II fliers is shown in the inspiring story of the luskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilots. This skilled and daring group fought against great odds to defend our country’ on two fronts — against the enemy in Europe and against racial prejudice in this country.

By the middle ot the 20th century, aircraft designers were focusing on speed. Suspended

* Touch the Moon

A young visitor at the National Air and Space Museum delights in touching the Moonrock, collected by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972.The Museum is one of only two places on Earth where visitors can touch lunar rock. The other is Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

▼ Hands-on Learning

In the Hail of Air Transportation, interpreter Katherine Tuow helps young visitors compare early passenger aviation with modern travel. She shows them a model DC-3 airliner and lets them try on early and recent pilot uniforms from a "Discovery Cart."

from the Museum’s ceiling is the Bell X-l, a bright orange, bullet-shaped plane equipped with a rocket engine. In 1947 an American test pilot named Chuck Yeager accelerated it to 700 miles per hour to break the sound barrier for the first time.

It was not long after this milestone that the race to conquer space was on. In 1962 America’s effort to orbit the earth was successful. Astronaut John Glenn ’s Mercury Friaubbip 7 capsule is now on display in the Milestones of Flight gallery. Other Museum exhibits trace the expansion and progress of space exploration, as well as the science and technology behind the breakthroughs. H undreds of displays and artifacts — rockets, capsules, tools, vehicles, equipment, space suits, even space food — tell this continuing story.

One of the National Air and Space. Museum’s most popular displays features a rock from the Moon. This four-billion-year-old sample was taken from the lunar surface in 1972 by astronauts participating in the Apollo 1/ mission.

Since it opened on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. in 1976, the Air and Space Museum has welcomed more than 212 million people. The world’s most visited museum.

it is the length of three city blocks and has exhibitions on two floors. Amazingly, however, there is room tor only 10 percent of the national collection of aviation and space artifacts.

For this reason, the museum is constructing a new building that will be large enough to display an additional 80 percent of the collection.

Jn December 2003, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s historic flight will be celebrated by opening the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport. This amazing facility will be ten stories high and three football fields long. It is named for the man who provided a major contribution to help construct it.

lsitors to the Udvar-Hazy Center will be able to walk among artifacts on the floor and also along elevated “skyways” to view hanging aircraft. Many engines, rockets, satellites, helicopters, airliners and experimental flying machines will be displayed for the first time in a museum setting. Over 200 aircraft and 135 spacecraft will be on view, including the prototype space shuttle Enterprise and the SR-71 Blackbird, the world’s fastest airplane.

There will be an observation tower overlooking Dulles air traffic, plus restaurants

and shops. Visitors will also be able to enjoy exciting movies in a large-screen theater, and ride thrilling simulators.

As the Director of the National Air and Space Museum, I feel I am one of the luckiest men on the planet. I not only have the chance to be in the world’s most fascinating museum every day, I also know what it is like to be in the cockpit, having served for many years as a Marine Corps pilot. In addition, I was privileged to continue my flying and play a role in the space program by working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Although my career has included many roles, the one I care most about is being a father and grandfather. It is for this reason that I want to preserve and share the magnificent history and technology of aviation and space explorat ion with you and others.

Over the past century, we have come a long way. But lor future generations, the best is yet to come.

General John R. “Jack ” Dailey, USAIC (Ret)

Director

R ational Air ojw Space Museшп

!NCE ancient times, people have dreamed of living: like birds. In Greek myths, heroes made wings to fly. In Persian legends, people zoomed through the sky on magic carpets. Г he ancient Chinese invented kites, and some reportedly carried humans aloft. During the Middle Ages, many people tried to fly. Some strapped on wings of cloth or feathers and jumped off towers or cliffs. Yet nothing worked, and many died.

Then in 1783, two French brothers,

Joseph and Etienne. Montgolfier, invented the hot-air balloon. \ orking in their family’s paper factory’, they noticed that paper put on a fire was lifted up the chimney. 1 hey filled a large cloth-and-paper bag with hot air from a fire. I’he hot air made the balloon lighter than air, and it rose over Pans, carrying two noblemen. This was the first recorded human flight.

In 1804, Englishman George Cayley invented the first heavier-than-air craft, a model glider. Later piloted by German Otto I. ilienthal, gliders we re the ancestors of the modern airplane.

4 Sir George Cayley (1773-1857)

Often caked the "Father of Aeronautics," Sir George Cayley first establ shed the scientific principles of heavier-than-a’r fl:ght. Studying b rds, he understood that wings create a force called’lift." He also understood propulsion and control in fi ght and he predicted powered aircraft in the future. He first built a five-toot – long model glider based on a kite. Later, in 1853, he built a large glider that carr e: his unw lling coachman a short way. Afterward, tne frightened coachman resigned, saying "I was hired to drive, not fly!"

Flight Control

Lilienthal steers his glider by swinging his legs and shifting his weight. This method of control was limited and dangerous.

Gliding Pioneer

Jumping into the wind, Otto Lilienthal sails through the air in a hang glider as spectators watch. Lilienthal tested many of his glider designs by leaping off a custom-made, cone-shaped hill near Berlin. He flew over 2,500 flights, up to 64 feet high and nearly a quarter mile long.

Otto Lilienthal (18^9-1896)

Otto Lilienthal was a German engineer who studied bird flight and was the first person to actively pilot, or control, a glider. Between 1891 and 1896, he built and flew 18 glider designs of lightweight cotton, willow, and bamboo. Unpowered, they glided on winds and updrafts, the same way birds soar. Lilienthal scientifically recorded his research, which greatly helped later inventors. A fearless flier, he finally crashed when he lost control in a gust of wind. He died the next day. His last words were:"Sacrifices must be made."

High-Flying Act

Ballooning and gliding became exciting spectator sports in the 1800s. This 19th-century German poster ^

features a young woman л

balloonist and aerial acrobat НІ

named K. Paulus. Шш

◄ Go Fly a Kite

Some 19th-century thinkers returned to the idea of kites as ways to carry people aloft. Here, Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, explains his idea fora large kite made up of many triangular surfaces.

BALLOONING was popular in the 1800s. And with gliders, people could actually soar on wings like birds. Yet balloons and gliders were hard to con­trol. They drifted with the wind. Inventors now began trying to achieve powered, controlled flight.

In 1852, Frenchman Henri Giffard attached a steam engine to a cigar-shaped, hydrogen-filled bal­loon. He called it a “dirigible," meaning steerable. Yet the airship’s steam engine was heavy and the craft proved slovr and still hard to maneuver. Others tried adding power to heavier-than-air flying machines. Many were bizarre contraptions. A few hovered or hopped briefly off the ground, but never flew.

In 1896, an American scientist, Dr. Samuel Langley, launched an unpiloted steam-powered model aircraft. It flew nearly a mile. Yet when Langley tried launching a large piloted version, it crashed on takeoff — twice. This seemed to prove what most people believed: flowered, pilot-con­trolled flight was simply impossible.

► Samuel PierpontLangley (1831,-1906)

Professor Samuel P. Langley, the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C., was a respected astronomer. The public was stunned when his unmanned steam-powered model Aerodrome No. 5 flew over the Potomac River in 1896.

In 1903, Langley attempted to launch a full-size "Great Aerodrome" with a pilot aboard. The craft was equipped with a large new gasoline engine, but no real means of control. On two attempts at takeoff, the big Aerodrome s flimsy wings collapsed. The craft sank in the water "like a handful of mortar," a newspaper reported, dumping the unlucky pilot in the river.

Fun Fact: Leviathan

It

Wings on Wheels

Inspired by the Ferris Wheel, this early French flying machine was designed by the Marquis d’Equevihey. Its multiple wings were intended to increase lift. Instead, the machine proved too heavy to lift off

A, Early Triplane

A different attempt at multiple-wing design was this early French triplane. Although it looked more like an airplane, the craft could not fly either.

◄ Givaudan No. i

A third French invention, the aeroplane Givaudan No. 1 was a fanciful flying machine. Equipped with odd front and rear cyclinder wing sections, it never got off the ground.

< Aerodrome No. 5

This model of Langley’s Aerodrome No. 5 shows the machine’s tandem cloth wings, twin pusher propellers, and steam engine, in center. The No. 5 had a wingspan of about 13 feet, a fourth as big as the full – size Great Aerodrome.

The first powered flying machines used steam engines. Yet these were much too heavy and too weak to be practical for flying large aircraft. In the late 1800s, Otto Daimler invented the first gasoline engine. Eventually, lighter-weight and more efficient gas engines helped make manned powered flight possible.

Birdwatching Observing buzzards gave Wilbur his wing-warping idea."My observations of…buzzards,"he wrote,"leads me to believe that they regain their lateral bal­ance, when partly overturned by a gust of wind, by a torsion of the tips of the wings."

The First Flight On December 17,1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville takes off in the Flyer, as Wilbur watches. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. A beach lifeguard took this famous photograph.

► Pilot Control A model shows how Orville controlled the Flyer, today in the National Air and Space Museum. He moved his hips to control wing-warping cables and moved a lever with his hand to make the Flyer’s nose go up or down.

Fun Fact; Coin Toss

The brothers flipped a coin to see who would test-pilot the Flyer first. Wilbur won, but the Flyer stalled. Orville tried next, and the rest is history.

“Js/i І it astonishing that all these secrets hare been preserved for so many years just so we could discover them!!”

—Orville Wright, 1903

A How Wings Lift

An airplane’s wing produces lift by its curved shape, called an "airfoil "Air passing over the rounded upper surface rushes faster than air moving over the flat bottom surface. Ihis creates a low pressure area over the wing. The high pressure area under the wing pushes the wing upward.

Pedal Power

The Wrights attached model wings to a bicycle wheel, and turned it by pedaling to test the wings’ lift. The bicycle men believed a pilot could learn to control an aircraft much as a cyclist learns to balance and control a bike.

The key methods the Wrights used to achieve powered flight were: 1) wings to lift the plane; 2) an engine to propel the plane forward; and 3) movable surfaces, such as wing edges, for control. These are the same principles used to fly a Boeing 747 today.

M Time It!

Wilbur and Orville used this stop watch to time their historic flights at Kitty Hawk. On December 17,1903, the Flyer made four flights, the longest 852 feet in 59 seconds.

The Wrights were the first to realize an airplane propeller is really a small, twisted wing that rotates. They designed propellers of carved wood.

FOR years after their first flight, the \ right brothers received almost no credit or recognition for their accomplishment. Alany at home and abroad scoffed and refused to believe they had even actually flown. Then in 1908. Wilbur went to France and demonstrated an improved Flyer, the Type A. Before a large, skeptical crowd, Wilbur took off. Soaring triumphantly into the sky, he circled the air field, making tight, steeply banked turns and perfect figure eights. The crowd went wild. Before this, they had only seen flying machines that could barely lurch off the ground anti fly with little control. Wilbur was a hero. He flew over 100 demonstrations, lasting up to two hours, and took many passengers up for rides.

After these European demonstrations, the W rights were widely accepted as masters of flight- The next year, W right planes led the wtiv at the world’s first air meet, the 1909 Grande Semaine d’Aviation in Reims, France.

f French Souvenir

Back in America in 1910, Wilbur adjusts a toy kite at Bayside, New Jersey.

He brought the toy from Paris for the son of friend Frank Coffyn.

Seeing is Believing

During a 1908 demonstration in France, Wilbur Wright flies a passenger over a country field. Two farmers watch in awe.

< Off to the Races

Wright planes were showcased at the world’s first air meet in Reims, France, in 1909. Flying a Wright Type A, Eugene Lefebvre rounds a pylon in a race.

After achieving powered flight, the Wright brothers remained fascinated by kites and gliders. They glided for pleasure until Wilbur’s death in 1912. He died of typhoid at age 45. Orville lived to see amazing advances in aviation. He died in 1948 at age 77.

The Wright brothers sued inventors who copied their idea of wing-warping with ailerons. These moveable devices on wings are still used today. They allow the pilot to bank the plane, lifting one wing while lowering the other, on turns. The courts ruled that ailerons are based on the Wrights’idea.