Show Machine Flying Idea Older Than Balloon Contrary to popular 1 belief th the grin prin I I of the Hying g machine was Introduced Intro intro- Introduced long Ions 1 before the balloon came into notice But nut the than lighter carriers were for a long p period llod considered consIe- consIe ered the only possible method of air nil travel tra and ond for that reason have become become be he- come corne the symbol of pioneer i lies its Without even e considering Ovid's mythological tale of the mechanical n flying Hying ing bird d Aulus In his hisA A Attic UIe Nights writes of a 1 wooden dove Invented by the Greek Arch of In the year B B. B C C. The Thc same Is said also to have Invented In a na ga navigable lc kite There is then a long gap In aero acro aeronautics until the Fifteenth century when Leonardo D Da Vinci famous as the thc painter of Mona Iona Lisa is reputed to have e in about the year ear 1480 1450 outlined outlined out out- lined the thc plan of a n flying g machine Nothing has a er e been found of the thed d draft rn ft Two hundred years year later one presented a n pair of mechanical wings to a n wondering public while In the tile same period Besnier a French locksmith locksmith locksmith lock lock- smith built a n pair pall of oscillating with which he hc Is reputed to have ha traveled traveled trav trav- cled short distances Perhaps the most definite and practical plan for fur an nn airplane left to pos pos- prior to the thc modern conceptions of Maxim Langley Langle the Wrights and others is that conceived b by Sweden Sweden- borg the extraordinary universal genius of If f the thc Eighteenth century Ills worked out draft carefully out was planned about li 17 1720 O 0 and Is now In th the I archives of the government of or Swe Swe- don den also left plans or working drafts of a n submarine air air- gun universal ersal musical Instrument a mechanical carriage etc |