National Aviation Week – August 19, 2026

History of National Aviation Week

Aviation is an invention that has existed for centuries in various forms. Why did humans want to fly? Because birds served as an example that living things can survive at a certain height. Inspired by their flights, legends regarding human flight started to be introduced in ancient Greek mythology. For instance, there is a legend of Icarus –— the flying human. However, it wasn’t until 1000 B.C. that a kite, the first flying device, was invented in China. In 852 B.C., a failed flying attempt took place where English King Bladud tried to fly but was killed in the process. Innovation improved by 400 B.C. and Archytas of Tarentum is reported to have made a steam-propelled pigeon. In 1250 A.D., English cleric Robert Bacon wrote about mechanical flight, and finally, between 1485 to 1500, Leonardo da Vinci began to design flying machines and parachutes. From that time onwards, the inventions related to flying only advanced.

In 1647, Italian inventor Tito Livio Burattini was invited by the Polish King Władysław IV to his court in Warsaw. This was the time he built a model aircraft with four fixed glider wings that became known as the “four pairs of wings attached to an elaborate dragon”. The device managed to lift a cat in 1648, but could not be used to help humans fly. This was considered the most sophisticated flying device of the 19th century. The airplanes as we know them today were developed by Orville Wright in the 1900s and the first flight of his invention lasted for 12 seconds. The Wright Brothers are recognized as the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing flight possible.