Page 14 - All About History - Issue 16-14

Transport

Hall of fame

PIONEERS OF TRANSPORT

Discover the figures whose pioneering work in the world of transport reached

new heights of innovation and propelled the human race forward

JACQUES-ÉTIENNE MONTGOLFIER THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
INVENTED, BUILT AND FLEW THE FIRST AEROPLANE
JOINT INVENTOR OF THE HOT-AIR BALLOON A name synonymous with aviation, Orville and
Long before the Wright brothers made their first Wilbur Wright are known for inventing, building
King
flight, the Montgolfier brothers were launched and flying the world’s first working aeroplane. The
Louis XVI
into the sky and transportation history. brothers achieved this monumental feat on 17
honoured the
Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier and his brother December 1903, and what set the Wright brothers’
Montgolfier brothers’
Joseph-Michel built the first hot-air balloon plane apart from others was the ability for the pilot
achievements by
and when they showed it to the public on to steer the plane and maintain equilibrium, known
elevating their father to
5 June 1783 word quickly spread. On 15 th i t l Thi i till
nobility with the title
October, Jacques-Étienne became the first
de Montgolfier
human to lift off the Earth when he floated
into the sky in their new invention, to the
shocked awe of the assembled spectators.
Jacqueline Cochran “If birds can gl
AVIATION RECORD BREAKER
Cochran was a highly successful and for long period
gifted racing pilot, as well as a pioneer for
women’s rights. She worked with Amelia of time, then […
Earhart to open the Bendix Trophy to
women, and set a new women’s national why can’t I?”
speed record in 1937. She was also the first
woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic. The Wright
Cochran was instrumental in the creation Orville Wright brothers promised
of the wartime Women’s Auxiliary Army
Corps (WAAC) and Women Airforce Service their father they
Pilots (WASP). By the time she died, no would never fly
person in history held more speed, distance together as he feared
or altitude records than the ‘speed queen.’ losing them in an
accident
Before
getting
involved in
aviation, Cochran
worked as a
hairdresser in Orville and Wilbur Wright, the
Pensacola Zhang Qian makers of the first aeroplane
SILK ROAD PIONEER
A Chinese envoy and explorer, Q
explorations opened up the ancie
legendary Silk Road. From 139 to
BCE, Qian journeyed from Easter
to the Western regions, paving th
for the world-famous route. The S
was a vital trading route through
continent, linking merchants, pil
monks, soldiers, traders and urba
Jacqueline Cochran with her It also aided the development of
Bendix Race-winning Seversky European and Arabian civilisatio
as a precursor to cultural and pol
by way of international trade.

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