The ability to fly almost

to fly almost anywhere in the world has become something that we take for granted.

Journeys that would have once taken many weeks of sea travel are now accomplished overnight,

and exotic fresh fruits and vegetables from the far side of the globe arrive in our supermarkets daily.

The history of powered flight is intricately linked with the pioneering engineers, physicists,

and material scientists involved, and the technology for flight developed at a previously unthought of pace.

Hello, I'm Ben Valsler and in this special edition of the naked scientists will be taking you through the history of powered

flight from the engines that preceded the Wright brothers through to the latest in jet engine technology.

Flight had fascinated mankind for centuries.

In Greek mythology, Ickeros attempted to escape from the island of Crete

using a pair of wings manufactured from feathers and wax.

Gliding flights was achieved with mixed success as early as 10110 AD, and successful balloon

flights were recorded regularly in the 1780s.

In my search for the birth of modern powered flight I visited the Imperial War Museum at

Duxford to meet Peter Halford to find out where I should start.

Well, way back in about 1870, something like that, when steam engines were being experimented with for powering airplanes, particularly flapping

wing airplanes.

And we've got an example here at Duxford of an engine which was used to power an experimental flapping wing airplane.

A very small engine, an Arbecker engine, five horsepower.

The problem with this is of course that not only was it made of heavy materials like

cast iron etc you also had to carry water and fuel an external combustion engine, so not particularly successful for aviation.

So steam engines were not to be the source of power that took us off the ground. But fairly soon people were taking

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