We are concerned here with vehicles which can move about under the command of their occupants for some distance, independent of the ground. Kites, balloons, and gliders are thus only mentioned in passing, although the achievements of de Gusmao and the Montgolfiers cannot be underestimated.

Human flight is currently by aerostat (balloons, navigable balloons, and rigid or semi-rigid airships), aerodynes (aeroplanes, helicopters, gliders, kites, etc.), and by magical means (sorcery and magically-propelled objects). The great period of advances in non-magical flight began twenty years ago; currently more interest is focused on magical methods of transport, due to the success of the Bavarians in creating an Aeromarine force.

Britain and the Empire

In 1853, Sir George Cayley (1773-1857) built a practical man-carrying triplane glider, after decades of research. His aged coachman was privileged to make the first flight by a (non-magical) heavier-than-air craft; the coachman gave in his notice immediately afterwards, complaining that he was 'hired to drive and not to fly.' Cayley conducted numerous experiments of a theoretical nature, and is regarded (in England, at any rate) as the 'Father of Aviation.' He realized before 1807 the primary need for powerful engines to propel aerodynes, and built the first gunpowder engine in that year. Few, however, have ever wished to trust their lives to his engine.

Also in 1853 William Samuel Henson (1812-1859), of Chard, Somerset, built and flew an aeroplane (called at the time an 'aerial steam carriage') of remarkable design; the Ariel has set the standard for the shape of many aeroplanes since. With a wingspan of 150 feet, and driven by a 30 horsepower steam engine, it was able to travel several miles before landing heavily but safely. This represented the first successful powered flight by a heavier-than-air craft. Henson continued experimenting with aerial travel, but was killed in 1859 in an ballooning accident after emigrating to America.

Francis H. Wenham published a paper in 1866 on Aerial Locomotion for the new Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, and in 1871 built the first wind tunnel. His concepts came to the attention of Nordenfelt, and the Swedish magnate funded an experimental quintiplane. Powered by one of John Stringfellow's (1799-1883) powerful steam engines, and using Richard Harte's new control surfaces, it made several flights in 1870 and 1871 before a disastrous crash.

Stringfellow built and flew a steam-powered triplane in 1868 for the first aeronautical exposition at the Crystal Palace. While of limited performance, it gained world-wide publicity. At the exposition were exhibited engines powered by steam, oil, gas, alcohol, and guncotton.

Admiral Sir Arthur Cochran began his interest in aerial matters with the design of large kits to pull sea-mines to their target; this project, while thought successful, has not been put into service. He has since produced a series of gliders and gyrocopters to be towed behind ships; some have reached quite impressive altitudes, and have a remarkably good safety record. A compressed-steam aeroplane of his design was built and flow in 1872, but with unimpressive results.

France

The first non-magically powered aerial vehicle to fly was an airship launched in 1852 by Henri Giffard (1825-1882), which cruised about at 7 mph powered by a 3 hp steam engine. Only 44 feet long, it had a range of ten to twenty miles.

The first French aeronaut to fly his own design was L. C. Letur, who descended (from a balloon) and swooped about in a sort of glider-parachute as early as 1853; he was tragically killed in a crash in 1854 -- the first person to be killed in serious heavier-than-air flight.

In 1860 the giant airship Alpha was launched by Msr. Petain; essentially a dozen balloons joined together by a 100 foot long undercarriage of bamboo, wicker, rope, wire and canvas. It was capable of carrying 300 persons, but burned and exploded on the ground after flying about for a year or so.

In 1863 a French naval officer, Felix du Temple de la Croix (1823-1874), built and briefly flew a small forward-swept monoplane of his own design, powered by clockwork. After a decade of small improvements Du Temple was killed in a crash last year. His first aircraft was very underpowered, needing a downhill run on a ramp in order to become airborne.

France established in 1870 the Compagnie d'Aerostiers Militaires, employing various balloons and airships for military purposes.

Alphonse Penaud (1856-1880) built in 1871 an efficient and attractive model airplane, the Planophore, powered by twisted rubber; tens of thousands of these were sold to young and old enthusiasts alike. This year the 19-year-old Penaud has built a full-sized monoplane aircraft, with a glass 'greenhouse' canopy, retractable landing gear, tractor propellers turned by a clockwork engine, proper rudder and elevators controlled by a single stick. The fuselage is suspended beneath a large wing (75 feet span) which extends back to the tail surfaces; four persons can be accomodated in addition to the pilot.

Captain Jean-Marie le Bris, a retired merchant sailor, built a series of bird-shaped gliders starting in 1857; after nearly twenty years of improvement, he has recently (1874) produced a large aerial craft of 50 feet span. He recently made an attempt to fly across the English Channel in this craft, but was frustrated by bad weather, and his craft was damaged. Le Bris's aeroplane is propelled by three pairs of propellers, three pushing and three pulling; the power source is a small steam engine, fuelled by paraffin.

Two officers of the Corps of Engineers, Captains Charles Renaud (1847-1905) and A. C. Krebs have just launched an airship to rival the Badenese Zeppelins. Named La France, their vessel is 165 feet long, with electrically-driven propellers driving it at 20 miles per hour; 24 bi-chromate batteries provide power for the propellers. A dozen or so passengers can be carried in the fabric-covered gondola.

Baden

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917) was present as a military observer from the Grand Duchy of Baden during the American Civil War, and designed a simple airship for the Federal Balloon Corps. Upon his return to Europe after the war, he began research into the design and materials needed for the creation of improved airships -- originally at the behest of the Prussian Postmaster-General. Four years ago (1871), his first airship flew from his works near Manzell, on Lake Constance.

Employing Dwarven craftsmen from the nearby city of Crafthall Throne, Count Zeppelin has built his later, improved airships with frames of aluminum; four 85 hp steam engines propel them at 28 mph. 426 feet long, 39 feet in diameter, with a mass of six tons lifted by 17 hydrogen gas bags, they represent the current acme of (non-magical) airship development. Their range of less than 200 miles has somewhat limited their utility; and the appearance of the magically-lifted and propelled Bavarian aero-navy has definitely put Count Zeppelin’s invention in the military shade.

Funding from Prussia has allowed Zeppelin to continue his work, and the Prussian military now possess several Zeppelins. Von Zeppelin is no Prussian, though, and will sell an example of his invention to any (non-criminal) person with the cash -- £12,000 for the current version.

Austria

As long ago as 1809, Jacob Degen flew a combination man-powered balloon-ornithopter; his invention was ingenious and amusing, but largely impractical.

During the 1849 campaign against Venice, the Austrian Army launched unpiloted bomb-balloons toward the city, armed with clockwork-controlled bombs.

In 1867, Manfred Kulitz and a team of Dwarven craftsmen built the first helicopter; powered by a magically-heated boiler, it could carry four passengers and a pilot.

An American company has recently begun making and selling (for 5,000 pounds sterling!) slightly improved, and entirely unlicensed, copies of Kulitz's helicopter; their manufacture has been attended by a innumerable court cases regarding infringement of patents. A score or so have been sold; most have eventually crashed. The American versions employ an alcohol boiler rather than magical heat.

In December 1872, Paul Hanlein flew an airship filled with coal gas at Brunn, which was fed to a 6 hp Lenoir-type gas engine -- the first internal-combustion engine to fly.

Bavaria

Bavaria is of course most famous for their Aeroships, the first four examples of which (aerovettes) were created in 1866 after only two weeks of experimentation and construction. Since then, the Kingdom of Bavaria has created two dozen more aerovettes, several aerocruisers, two aerobattleships, and a single aeroliner for 'civil' commerce. None have been sold to foreign countries; all remain the property of the Bavarian crown.

The basic aerovette has a lift envelope only 100 feet in diameter, with a length of perhaps 200 feet. Even if filled with a vacuum, this would only support ten tons of load -- but the aerovette has a mass of at least fifty tons! The Bavarians have provided contradictory and elusive answers as to the actual function and nature of the gas within the envelope -- some observers have decided that the entire envelope may be nothing more than a deception to draw attention away from the actual lifting process.

None the less, the aerovettes are fantastic creations. Their sorcerous engines can propel them up to 200 miles per hour, for up to a week at a time. The light armour of the aerovettes is proof against rifle bullets; several machine guns and light cannons are mounted in turrets; and a hatch allows bombs to be dropped on foes below. A crew of twenty mans these vessel; another four or five persons can be accommodated in cramped quarters. The aerocruiser is half again longer than the aerovette; the recently-launched aerobattleship twice that again, with a mass of at least 500 tons!

The only apparent drawback of the Bavarian aeroships, in comparison with other aerial craft, is their limited altitude. None has yet been seen to exceed a mile above the Earth’s surface when under way (although they have drifted higher); their sorcerous engines are possibly ineffective at heights of a mile or more.

The first civil aeroliner, the Princess Sophie, has an envelope 400 feet long, and twelve decks of space for 100 passengers, 50 crew, and five tons of cargo.

Bavarian aeroships have traveled to many parts of the world, attracting enormous attention. While they claim to be traveling on purely peaceable missions, the sight of an armored warship hovering out of reach above a city sends an unmistakable message.

Russia

Alexander F. Mozhaiski (1825-1890) recently built and launched (down a sloping ramp near St. Petersburg) a large monoplane. Its one tractor propeller and two pusher propellers are powered by two steam engines, and it has shown an impressive turn of speed; but the only pilot ever to fly it, I. N. Golubev, declares it to be impossible to control.

Nikolai Ivanovich Kilbalchich has designed and built a small 'rocket ship' powered by a black powder rocket. Small charges are fed mechanically into three combustion chambers, which are steered by the pilot to direct the craft. Alas that Kilbalchich is an anarchist, on the run from the Tsar's police.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) has begun designing (well, more like doodling) space rockets, and studying the arithmetic needed for space travel.

American efforts

The Federal military, during the recent Civil War, employed tethered hydrogen balloons for reconnaissance; the famous aviators John Wise, John La Mountain and Thaddeus Lowe advanced the safety and utility of ballooning to a great degree during the war. The (later) famous Badenese officer, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, was present as an observer, and suggested improvements in the form of the balloon, and a simple hand-cranked propeller. Several of these 'Zeppelin balloons' were constructed by the Balloon Corps, although their military and vehicular qualities were limited by their low speed.

After the war, the American military abandoned the 'Zeppelin balloon' as expensive and inefficient. However, a number of private persons have built slightly improved 'Zeppelins' for their own use. None of these hand-cranked vehicles has ever crossed any large body of water without mishap.

The Army of the Confederate States constructed a small number of their own hand-cranked dirigible balloons for use near the end of the 'War Between the States,' mostly copies of Union 'Zeppelin balloons.' Their record in action was minimal, but several of these, and others to the same design, have shown up since then in the hands of aerial pirates on the edges of the Gulf of Mexico.

Other Places and Ideas

A rich and famous Swedish inventor, Thorsten Nordenfelt (1842-1920) has tried his hand at inventing or constructing nearly any machine with possible military applications. He is best know for his automatic machine gun, but has also turned his hand to submarines, armored trains, artillery, etc. His sales tactics could be called mercenary -- he frequently will sell some invention to one country, and then offer more of the same, or some counter, to its neighbors.

A semi-rigid airship of his design was recently flown; its performance was apparently not entirely satisfactory, but a number of improved copies are to be sold to the Ottoman Empire.

Magical Vehicles

Of course, human flight has been a fact for centuries, if not millennia, due to magical agencies. Excluding transformations into the forms of animals, the most common examples of magical flight are the products of Templar spells learned from the books of Osman.

In past centuries Templars have flown on ships, carpets, buildings, animals, by themselves, on horseback, etc..

The famous aerial criminal Robur has attacked several European cities with his large helicopter, the Albatross. It is considered quite likely that this vessel embodies magical effects to produce some -- or all! -- of its remarkable qualities.