First Flights |
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The idea of flight is nearly as old as human imagination. Inspired by birds and religion, |
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(1) ... every epoch of recorded human history includes references to flight in its art, |
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history, music, and literature. The ancient Egyptians (2) ... winged gods, the Greeks |
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(3) ... the legend of Icarus's risky business, and formidable Teutonic maidens celebrated |
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the ride of the Valkyries in song. Despite all of that, ancient civilizations left almost no credible |
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records of attempts to actually achieve mechanical powered flight. The (4) ... are few and |
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far between . In about 400 B.C. , the misty (5) ... figure of Archytas of Tarantum may |
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have built and flown a wooden dove powered by a steam jet. Armin Firmen, an Arab savant, |
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actually attempted a flight at Cordoba, Spain, in 852. Four centuries later, Roger Bacon, an |
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English Franciscan friar, made vague (6) ... in his writings to an ornithopter, a man-powered |
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machine that duplicated the flapping motion of birds. However, since human muscles are not |
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strong enough to (7) ... a man to fly, that contraption was doomed to failure. Others who |
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replicated his machine in one form or another achieved equally (8) ... results. |
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