The short industrial age of Kites

     By the late nineteenth century kites were being seen as serious scientific instruments. Kites were seen as a good starting point in the development of powered, heavier-than-air flying machines. Potential aeroplane builders were tackling the problems of powered flight in a more disciplined manner, making small steps forward, and discovering their new craft as they went along. Rather than trying to create a flying machine in one step, the more careful experimenters worked on one problem at a time, solving each small part of the puzzle and then, and only then, bringing all the parts together in an attempt to build a working aircraft.

    There were still many people who did not believe that it was possible for a heavier-than-air machine to fly, amongst them being Professor Simon Newcomb (a well-respected astronomer and, in 1903, the only American since Benjamin Franklin to be made an Associate of the Institute of France) and Rear Admiral George Melville, chief engineer for the United States Navy. Even after the Wright brothers had flown, there were many people saying that powered flight was impossible. In hindsight, it seems strange that such a world changing event was virtually ignored until several years after the fact.

     Throughout Europe and America, experiments were being undertaken to determine the best sort of design for powered aircraft. Kites were suddenly on the drawing board of all the great minds of the cutting edge of science. Unfortunately, they would soon be back down to obscurity again once Airplanes took shape.