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Aeronautical and
Aerospace Engineering
Thomas W. Conkling
INTRODUCTION, HISTORY, AND SCOPE OF DISCIPLINE
The idea of ight has always intrigued mankind, but it was only a little over 100 years ago that pow-
ered manned ight was achieved. The rst successful demonstration of a ying machine is usually
credited to the Montgoler brothers’ hot air balloon that ew in June of 1783. Sir George Cayley
investigated the aerodynamics of xed wing ight in the early 1800s, and designed the rst man-
carrying glider. Otto Lilienthal’s pioneering work with manned glider ight between 1891 and 1896
advanced the eld, and Samuel Langley successfully tested ...