El avión que fabricaron los hermanos Wright era un biplano al que denominaron Flyer
(Volador). El piloto permanecía echado sobre el ala inferior del avión, mientras que el
motor se situaba a la derecha de este, y hacía girar dos hélices localizadas entre las
alas.
From then on, the improvements were happening, and each time substantial
improvements were achieved that helped develop the aviation as we know it today.
Aircraft designers continue to strive to continuously improve the capabilities and
characteristics of these, such as their autonomy, speed, load capacity, ease of
maneuver or safety, among other details. Aircraft have come to be constructed of
increasingly less dense and more resistant materials. Previously they were made of
wood, nowadays the great majority of aircraft uses aluminum and composite materials
as the main raw materials in their production.Computers have recently contributed a lot
in the development of new aircraft.
It was probably the Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci who was the first
person to dedicate himself seriously to projecting a machine capable of flying.
Leonardo designed gliders and ornithopters, which used the same mechanisms used
by birds to fly, through a constant movement of the wings up and down. However, he
never built such machines, but his designs were preserved, and later, in the nineteenth
and twentieth century, one of the gliders designed by Leonardo da Vinci was
considered worthy of attention. In a recent study, a prototype was created based on the
design of that same glider, and in fact, the device was capable of flying. However,
when interpreting the design of the glider, some modern ideas related to aerodynamics
were applied. Even so, this design is considered as the first serious sketch of an
aircraft.
The plane that the Wright brothers made was a biplane they called Flyer. The pilot
remained lying on the lower wing of the aircraft, while the engine was located to the
right of it, and turned two propellers located between the wings.
There is great controversy regarding the realization of the first flight. Generally there
are two opinions, which consider as authors of this feat the Wright brothers (specifically
Orville Wright) and those who consider Alberto Santos Dumont. The latter carried out in
Paris the flight of the 14-bis, the first of an aircraft in the history of aviation that is
achieved without external artifices and which is registered and published.The
specialists allege the use of rails and catapults in the tests of Takeoff of the Wright
brothers, and flight testimony of the 14-bis in Paris by aviators and aviation authorities.