 The Greek god Hermes, similar to the Roman Mercury, was the god of invention and commerce. The attainment of flight by mankind has involved many inventions and has brought many advantages to commerce. Hermes was an imaginary deity, but he provides an appropriate symbol as we come to the imaginative faces of flight. He was also the god of eloquence, so I'll ask him for his help as I tell you this story. I am Paul Gerber, Ramsey Associate and Historian Emeritus of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. When we were together previously, we were speaking about flight in nature. We learned that there are many winged creatures. But now as we come to an early man, we must assume that he certainly wanted wings. There were no roads, even the paths were dense with undergrowth. There were no bridges. When he came to a stream, he had to swim across or look for a floating log or maybe for a tree that had fallen across the stream. There were no tunnels. He had to climb the high mountains. In the midst of his labors, how he must have wished for wings and envied the birds that could so easily just jump off a perch and fly in any direction. And as early man searched for food, how he must have wished for a higher vantage point from which he could sight the animals he was hunting. He must have thought, why is it that I, who in so many ways am superior to other creatures, was not born with wings? In addition to the birds and other flying creatures, which constantly excited man's thoughts about flight, there was another mystery that must have fascinated him. And that was smoke rising from a fire. I have said before that knowledge begins in wonder. So it is that from man's wondering about the birds, he eventually gained the knowledge for developing the airplane. And it was rising smoke that finally led to the invention of the balloon. Primitive man must have thought at times, how thrilling it would be if I could only have the power of flight, if I could just spread my wings and so off into the air. But although his body was earthbound, his mind could envision a being more perfect than himself who would have the power of flight. How good it is that mankind, unique among all creatures, not only has the wish to advance himself, the imagination to picture something better, but also the capability of attaining it. Man's thoughts of a superior being appear in practically every religion that I have studied. They take many forms in paintings and sculpture. The ancient Egyptian god, Kensu, one of the sun gods, was pictured with double wings. The goddess Isis was often attributed with the power of flight. The patriarch of the Assyrians, Asher, named in the 10th chapter of Genesis, was later deified as the highest god of that nation. He may have been associated with Anu, who was the heaven god of Babylonia. Here, Asher is shown with a bird's head as well as wings. As Assyria developed into a military power, Asher was identified as their god of war and represented as an archer, but retaining the wings which were attached to a wheel, thus combining two forms of transportation. Another figure that is identified with both Assyria and Babylonia is the human-headed winged bull, symbolic of the intelligence of man, the strength of a powerful beast, and the capability of flight. Excavations by archaeologists have revealed these figures as they would have appeared on the facades of ancient temples. Referring again to the Bible, the first of a number of references therein to man-flight is in the second book of Kings. Elijah and Elisha had been talking together about the continuation of the Lord's work. It reads, And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and part of them both asunder. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. The Hittites are also mentioned in the Bible. They were a people who invaded Asia Minor about 2,000 years before Christ. They associated wings and the power of flight with this deity. At the beginning of our program, I showed you a statuette sculpture of Hermes, messenger of the gods. We could even call him the original air mail pilot. He is always depicted with wings on his feet, his helmet, and on his heralds' staff. A full-sized copy of the sculpture by Gianni Bologna is in the rotunda of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which is associated with the Smithsonian Institution. In the Christian religion, the angels are pictured with wings to speed them on their errands of mercy. In ancient times, long before television or radio or motion pictures, when even books were scarce, entertainment, knowledge, and news was conveyed by minstrels or bards who travel from place to place. Entertaining their audiences with accounts of their travels and often pleasing them with imaginary stories. Such was the beginning of mythology, tales that were told by one person to another and gradually became absorbed into the culture of the people. Stories that were sure to arouse interest were accounts of supposed human flight. Such an early myth is the story of the Corinthian hero Balerophon, who did not have wings, but his adventures were made possible because he had tamed the winged horse Pegasus to carry him where heroic tasks were to be accomplished. One of the most famous adventures was the slang of the chimera, a hideous creature which had been causing much trouble. A favorite myth of human flight concerns Daedalus and Icarus, father and son, who had been imprisoned by the cruel king Minus of Crete. To escape from that island, the prisoners gathered feathers which had fallen from passing birds onto the battlements of the prison. Wax found in crevices of the stones was used as an adhesive. As he fitted the wings to the boy, Daedalus cautioned him to fly low and carefully. They hoped to make it to the mainland. But the boy was not content to do as his father had advised. Soaring high as related in this ancient myth, the heat of the heavenly sun melted the wax which held together the feathers in the boy's wings. The wings fell apart and the boy fell to his death. The moral of the story is, do as father says. But obviously those old storytellers didn't know much about the temperature at high altitudes. We know today that Icarus would have had to have deisers on his wings to keep them from accumulating ice and distorting the airfoil and losing lift. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining story and has been a favorite with artists for many years. Another favorite is the myth of the magic carpet. A wonderful rug on which a person could sit and just by wishing to be at some other place would be quickly carried there through the air. This myth is usually thought of as an oriental legend, but it is also associated with King Solomon, who is said to have had such a carpet. The Babylonian mythical person, Itana, was said to have ridden into the heavens on the back of a huge bird. Ancient Chinese legends include reports of vehicles that could carry men through the air. This concept shows the car of Prince Kai Kung Shai. It appears to have been equipped with an air propeller. Several ancient deities of the orient were thought to be able to fly. As we turn to the fantasy of flight, we can conjure up visions of fairy rings, demons on dragons, haunted castles, and little imps. In the last days of October, if you go out at night and look overhead by the light of a pale moon, you can see these apparitions flying across the sky. Or at least, so I've been told by persons who believe in Halloween witches, fiction of flight. Includes many interesting stories, all entertaining and some very cleverly written. We could call this the original man on the flying trapeze. In 1638, Francis Godwin wrote the story of Domingo Gonzales, who hoped to go to the moon. The Persian king, Caicos, was said to have had a throne carried by birds. Notice that the king put the birds next to me in front of them so that they would exert extra effort. Apparently, he hoped to get a few more miles per hour per bird power. Tales by Serenity Bergerac, a French author of the latter seventeenth century, relate how his hero wondered why the dew which lay on the grass in early morning was soon evaporated upward by the rising sun. So this fictional character fastened several bottles of dew to his belt in the hope that he also could take off into the sky. Bergerac also wrote of rocket propelled aircraft. This one is from the romantic vision of Retif de la Breton. The garment seems to combine the features of a modern aviator's pressure suit, beetle-like wings, and a parachute. Maybe the bucket of rocks is for ballast or perhaps for bombing his enemies. I've recently been reading The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins by Robert Paltock. First published in London, 1751. It's sort of a Robinson Crusoe-like story of a shipwrecked mariner who finally made his way ashore and found himself in a land where the people could fly. He taught them some of the so-called advantages of European civilization. He married one. They had several children, some of whom could fly and some could not. Following the death of his wife, he yearned to get back to England and finally escaped, seated in a chair carried by several of his flying friends. He dropped down in the sea and was rescued by a passing vessel. The master of aerospace fiction is Jules Verne. That French author died in 1905. Yet his visualizing of modern spaceflight would seem to bring him current with modern writers. The copies that I have of Verne's works were edited by Charles Horn, who in the foreword wrote, Verne was a supreme master of imagination and without imagination man is nothing. For all greatness is but a phase of imagination. It is the creative force of the world. In Verne's remarkable book From the Earth to the Moon, written in 1865, Verne foresaw the modern space travel feature of blast-off. But instead of a rocket-powered launcher, Verne dispatched his spacecraft from an enormous cannon buried deep in the earth. Prophetically, the departure took place from Florida, as with the moon-bound launchings of 1970. Verne also anticipated weightlessness as evidenced by his three fictional astronauts shown in this interior view of the spacecraft. They did not land on the moon, but made several lunar orbits. Also, they fired small rockets to correct their course after being deflected by a meteor. And finally, they splashed down in the ocean upon their return to earth and were taken on board an American warship. All is actually realized about a hundred years later. These fictional astronauts predicted that within a short time after their trip, trains of spacecraft would shuttle back and forth to the moon. In poetry, we find other predictions of modern flight. One of the most prophetic is in Tennyson's Locksley Hall, written in 1853. In this poem, we read, For I dipped into the future far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be, Saw the heavens filled with commerce, Arguesies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight dropping down with costly bales, Heard the heavens filled with shouting, And there rained a ghastly dew from the nation's airy navies grappling in the central blue. Far along the world wide whisper of the south wind rushing warm, With the standards of the peoples plunging through the thunderstorm, Till the war drum throbbed no longer, And the battle flags were furrowed in the parliament of man, The federation of the world. That poem is all the more remarkable when we realize that it was written more than a hundred years before those scenes became realities. In lighter vein is another poem that was written by an American, John T. Trowbridge, back in 1870. It's so typical of boys then and now. I'd like to read this to you or at least describe it to you. It is called Darius Green and his flying machine. It tells of a country led who would often run and jumped and failed his arms about, imagining himself to be a bird, and how he had decided to make for himself a glider that he could attach to his body. Then on the 4th of July he intended to astound the folks in his hometown by flying over their heads, thus planning a far greater sensation than any parade and fireworks could ever be. Ricking a springboard extending out of a barn loft window and attaching his arms and legs to his wings and tail surface, he jumped out. But with one vigorous flip-flap he flopped to the ground. There he sat, listening to the taunting remarks of his friends. The poem concludes, Slowly, ruefully where he lay, Darius just turned and looked that way, Darius staunched his solemning nose with his cuff. Well, I like flying well enough, he said, but there ain't such a thunder in sight of fun in it when you come to a light. It is sometimes difficult in these stories of imaginative flight to be able to separate mythology from folklore and fact from fiction. I often think that some of these so-called myths may have had their origin in an actual attempt by a person to fly, but through telling of the story again and again from one person to another, the original details became so distorted that the original facts would seem to be almost impossible. They were lost in the retelling. There are many more of these stories than we can take time for in this series, but I have chosen those that convey the six phases of imaginative flight, religion, mythology, fantasy, fiction, art, and poetry. These illustrate that man was thinking of aeronautics long before actual human flight was possible. Wings are also representative of symbolism. They are indicative of attainment that is far above earthly things. Wings that are most highly treasured are those that represent long periods of diligent study and practice and finally superb skill. These are the wings of those who fly. And among the most worthy is my good friend, the late Admiral DeWitt Clinton Ramsey, whose helpful interest in the National Air and Space Museum, together with a friendship and generosity of his lovely wife, established the Ramsey Fund, which makes this series of talks possible. Now we come to the actual beginning of man-made aircraft. The first device that came into being through the wondering, the imagination, and the skill of mankind, and was launched into the air was the kite. The invention of the kite is attributed to China and dated at least 500 years before Christ. There are a number of legends about the use of kites in that country and in the Orient for signaling, for frightening enemies, even for raising men into the air. Chinese kites are made in the forms of animals, persons, flowers, other natural things, and also in geometrical and arabesque designs. Their surface is painted to enhance the appearance. There are special holidays in Oriental Nations when kites are flown by young and old. Persons compete with each other in the making and flying of their kites, some of which may have required most of the previous year to construct. Fish and birds and bats are favorite subjects for Chinese kites. The kite makers try to shape and paint them for a more natural appearance and manipulate them in flight so that they will be even more realistic. The construction of Chinese and Oriental kites is very interesting. The principal members of this one are made of sticks. One could use bamboo chutes about the size of a lead pencil for those principal parts. Then the outlines are formed of split bamboo. That is bamboo about, yay big around, is split, and then from half you can split down pieces about an eighth of an inch square and use those to form the outlines of the wings and the ribs here. Then to shape the head and the ears. Smaller pieces of bamboo can be held above a candle flame, a candle flame here, and then as you pass it back and forth and feel the fibers begin to loosen, you can then bend it into shapes and incorporate it in the design. Kites embody quite a lot of interesting air dynamics. For example, kites often have this dihedral angle which gives automatic balance, the same as in the wings of an airplane. And then the weight balance is also important. The kite should be about the same weight, both sides of center, and also be symmetrical in shape. The bridle is a very important feature, and this should be at such an angle and such a point of strong attachment that it holds the kite at a lifting angle. The bridling also determines the center of pressure. The center of gravity should be lower than the center of pressure, obviously. In some kites it's necessary to add a tail to bring that center of gravity down. But the tail is not always necessary for a well-designed kite. Kites are a lot of fun. It's even more fun when you make your own. I made this one, copying it from an old picture that you saw. I'm sure you can make one also. Another primitive aircraft is the boomerang. Originated in Australia thousands of years ago. Now, an ordinary bent stick, such as this one here, just as it fell from a tree in my yard, when it's thrown it soon comes back to earth because the force of gravity pulls it down. But with a boomerang, part of the boomerang's weight is lifted by the shape of the blade. This blade has an airfoil, and thus as the boomerangs through the air, the rotating blades are lifted and thus a boomerang will go much farther than an ordinary thrown stick, and some can be made to return to you by little shaping here of the blade and the under surface and the tips here. It's quite a paradox, that is something different from the usual, that the Australian aborigines in the boomerang have a much more highly developed form of airfoil than the contemporary Chinese. Much more cultured, and yet the Chinese in their flat kite did not have as efficient an aircraft as this. Now, boomerangs are made in various shapes. Not all of them are intended to return to the thrower. Some continue in a straight line and are used by the natives of Australia for hitting birds and animals at a distance. Natives of other countries, including the American Indians, used throwing sticks for killing fowl and small animals. But the Australian boomerang is the most highly developed native form. Now as our story enters the Christian era, we find accounts of brave persons who thought they could fly as a bird and who contrived equipment with which they would actually try. I call these persons tower jumpers. Urged on by crowds anxious to see if man could really soar into the sky, these reckless experimenters jumped off only to fall often fatally, demonstrating that man had neither the strength nor knowledge at that time to achieve his eternal hope to fly. Roger Bacon, an English friar who lived in the 13th century and wrote at length, organizing the knowledge of his time, predicted the eventual development of a number of now modern inventions. He visualized imaginary aircraft, somewhat like those later sketched by Leonardo da Vinci. Bacon's words were instruments to fly with all so that one sitting in the middle of the instrument and turning about an engine by which the wings being artificially composed may beat the air after the manner of a flying bird. The most famous person associated with mechanical flight during the period of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in fact one of the greatest minds of all time is the Italian Leonardo da Vinci who lived 1452 to 1519. His beautiful paintings reflect his artistic genius and great understanding of human character. He was constantly experimenting in some of his paintings he tried to develop improved ingredients of color. His wide range of interests was almost infinite including architecture, military machines, hydraulics, transportation on land and water, and many other subjects in which his ideas were often ahead of any existing developments. Fortunately for history, his notebooks were preserved. They include sketches of proposed aircraft. Here's a helicopter. He intended for it to be powered by human operators. We've already learned that muscles are very heavy engines. As he thought of horizontal instead of vertical flight, he proposed that the operator would lie down on a center beam or framework wearing a safety belt as you see and with this head extending forward under that rounded arch at the front. His feet were to be placed in stirrups at the rear ends of lines which at the front end were attached to the spars of wings shaped like those of bats or birds. He also had ideas for making the wings flexible and you can see how he planned to ride and operate this craft. I've always been fascinated by the great mind of this man. The first scale model that I made for the museum about 50 years ago was this one based on the drawings that I've shown you. Later I made another model with a figure of Da Vinci in it which shows more clearly how he intended to fly. His aircraft could not have been successful because human power is too heavy for such an apparatus and he made no provision for takeoff or landing or balance or steering. He probably thought to have some control by manipulation of the wings. This idea and the several other aeronautical craft that he visualized including the parachute are far more sensible than the numerous impossible devices by other inventors that we've seen as developed in previous years of our story. So with Leonardo da Vinci's ideas conceived just about the time that America was discovered we can date the beginning of the first scientific studies of the problem of man flight. Every time that I think of Leonardo da Vinci I think of how far he extended his great mind and I resolve to try to use my own mind more intelligently. Few persons realize the great capacity of the human brain to learn facts and store knowledge. Think of all that da Vinci did in his lifetime so much more than very many of us do. With Bénier of France in 1678 we come to this means of flight. It's not completely foolish because those flaps would have opened on the downstroke to give a lifting push and would have had less air resistance on the upstroke as they folded. But here again human muscles are too weak and heavy for such a contrivance. Another Frenchman, de Bocaville had a somewhat similar idea. He decided to try it over a river but he fell after making a few flaps. The manuscripts of Emmanuel Swedenborg of Sweden contain a number of advanced ideas. This page shows the aircraft which Swedenborg proposed. It has some advancements over the other ideas that I've shown to you. The wing of this aircraft has an airfoil being curved from front to rear and also from side to side. Also it has a cockpit here in which the pilot sat and propelled the aircraft by vigorous motions of these oars or paddles which were to be moved both downward and backward. Notice also that these paddles have louvers in them which would close on the downstroke to give more push and then open on the upstroke to have more resistance or less resistance. The action upward was aided by a spring. The aircraft also has a four-wheel landing gear which is an innovation and the use of the pendulum there was intended to improve the stability. Thus as we come to the 18th century we learn that man is getting closer to solving these problems of flight. About 70 years after this Rosenberg idea we have that wonderful occasion when mankind first rose in free ascent into the air. That was accomplished by the brothers Jacques and Stephen Montgouffier of France, 1783. With their story we'll have part three as the next one of this series.