The emergence of world aviation was paved the way for the rapid development of science and technology, the work of enthusiastic inventors, scientists, and designers of several generations in different countries. First, kites and balloons, artificial wings similar to birds’ wings were created, and eventually projects of flying machines appeared. Leonardo da Vinci was the first to express this idea, and he created a design for a flying machine with partially fixed wings (a maholite ornithopter), as well as another model, a prototype of a helicopter. In 1754, the scientist M. Lomonosov theoretically substantiated the idea of a helicopter and created a model with two spring-driven propellers. The first technical design of an airplane with a steam engine was developed in 1835 by F. Mattis, an inventor from Nuremberg (Germany). In the following years of the 19th century, dozens of more advanced designs of airplanes and helicopters, mostly with steam engines, were proposed, including monoplanes, biplanes, and triplanes by the British W. Hanson and J. Stringfellow (1844-1868), helicopter (1861) and polyplane (1863) designs by Kharkiv’s M. Sauliak. Sauliak, airplanes by O. Mozhaisky (1882), Frenchman C. Adair (1890), British inventors G. Phillips (1892), P. S. Pilcher (1899), and British inventor of American origin H. Maxim (1894), in the United States – airplanes by S. Langley and G. Whitehead (1896-1903), in Germany – ornithopter and gliders by O. Lilienthal (1891-1896), and others.

However, only gliders were able to fly stably.

Projects to create a jet airplane were also being developed. The idea was first substantiated in 1835 by German engineers G. Rebenstein (using compressed carbonic acid) and F. Mattis (using gunpowder). G. Rebenstein presented the results of his research in the book “The Art of Floating in the Air Based on the Latest Experiences and Further Travel in All Directions with and Without Balloons, as well as Lifting the Greatest Weights to Arbitrary Heights and Moving Them Through the Air from One Place to Another with Extraordinary Speed and in the Shortest Time” (1837), published in Moscow.

The first design of an airplane with a jet engine was created by the French engineer S. de Louvrier (1865). A more advanced design of this type was proposed in 1867 by officer M. Teleshov, and in the UK, a jet aircraft by D. Butler and E. Edwards was patented at the same time. These projects were not realized, as were the projects of the inventor of Ukrainian origin M. Kybalchych, A. Winkler, F. Geschwendt, and others.

First flights
The first public airplane flight in Europe was made by A. Santos-Dumont (23.10.1906; Paris, France). It was a 14-bis airplane with an engine of his own design. A. Farman created a whole series of airplanes that were built in different countries. On 25.07.1909, the French designer-pilot L. Bleriot flew a monoplane “Bleriot XI” across the English Channel from France to England. At that time, the most widespread airplanes were the Newport, which were used by French, English, and Italian squadrons.