Many cultures have built devices that travel through the air, from the earliest projectiles such as stones and spears, to more sophisticated buoyant or aerodynamic devices such as the mechanical pigeon of Archytas in Ancient Greece[2][3], the boomerang in Australia, the hot air Kongming lantern, and kites. There are early legends of human flight such as the story of Icarus, and later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance human flights appear, such as the winged flights of Eilmer of Malmesbury (recorded in the 12th century), Abbas Ibn Firnas (recorded in the 17th century), and the hot-air Passarola of Bartolomeu Louren�o de Gusm�o.

The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783, in a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers.

The practicality of balloons was limited because they could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was required. Jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel in one in 1785. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.