Did you know...

[JC004]

Actually, the first man to fly was a caveman who jumped off a cliff while holding a big leaf.

But seriously, the Montgolfiers, as 4fhoward posted, were the first people to officially fly.

and in America, it started here - in Philadelphia.  If you visit Independence National Historical Park, the area is marked.  It would have likely looked much like the balloon scene in the HBO series, John Adams. 

http://www.historynet.com/jean-pierre-blanchard-made-first-us-aerial-voyage-in-1793.htm

[THRAWN]

...and landed in what is now Deptford NJ. Lovely place, big mall, pig farms, and a water tower that I drove past for about 25 years painted with a balloon and the date of the flight.....

Actually, the first man to fly was a caveman who jumped off a cliff while holding a big leaf.

But seriously, the Montgolfiers, as 4fhoward posted, were the first people to officially fly.

and in America, it started here - in Philadelphia.  If you visit Independence National Historical Park, the area is marked.  It would have likely looked much like the balloon scene in the HBO series, John Adams. 

http://www.historynet.com/jean-pierre-blanchard-made-first-us-aerial-voyage-in-1793.htm

[4fhoward]

If we are talking the first to fly then it is correct to say the Wrights were not the first, but if you are talking about powered flight then the Wrights were the first.

Hirum Maxim was flying steam powered airplanes in the 1890s.  What make the Wright brothers flight significant is that it was controlled powered flight.

Maxim's airplanes were tethered to a track; he was testing the possibility of lift.  He had one airplane that produced enough lift to break the tether and fly for 200ft before crashing because of the lack of control.

Maxim also invented the Maxim machine gun made infamous in WWI.

In the end you can still say that powered flight was invented by America's.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

So it's safe to say Hirum Maxim was better at breaking stuff.

[ColonelJack]

If we are talking the first to fly then it is correct to say the Wrights were not the first, but if you are talking about powered flight then the Wrights were the first.

Hirum Maxim was flying steam powered airplanes in the 1890s.  What make the Wright brothers flight significant is that it was controlled powered flight.

Maxim's airplanes were tethered to a track; he was testing the possibility of lift.  He had one airplane that produced enough lift to break the tether and fly for 200ft before crashing because of the lack of control.

Maxim also invented the Maxim machine gun made infamous in WWI.

In the end you can still say that powered flight was invented by America's.

"Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not."

Jack