當世人將成功發明飛機的光環加在萊特兄弟身上的時候﹐很少有人會想起英國航空學之父喬治·凱利﹐也很少有人知道﹐若非凱利在飛行史上的拓荒行動﹐萊特兄弟很難脫離地面

1799年﹐凱利的發現讓航空史向前邁進一大步他放棄仿製鳥翼的構想﹐採用固定機翼的方式﹐製造了世界上第一架可以飛行的滑翔機﹐也為現代飛機的規格定下了基本雛型﹐更在1853年﹐完成了人類史上的第一次載人飛行他所發表的「空中航行論」﹐更提供接下來一個世紀﹐所有熱衷研究飛行科學的後進﹐一個重要的參考指南一位研究凱利多年的退休牧師表示﹐凱利的成就為航空學奠定基礎﹐若當時他能早點想到使用重量輕的引擎﹐也許人類成功飛行的歷史將就此向前推進50年

儘管凱利在飛行史上具有相當重要的地位﹐成就也受到世界各國的肯定﹐但對祖國英國的人民來說﹐這個名字卻是相當陌生

Orville and Wilbur Wright secured their place in the history books, and this year, their remarkable achievement is being celebrated at centenary events in the United States and around the world. But who now remembers Sir George Cayley?

Very few in Britain, it seems, even though this remarkable inventor paved the way for the Wright Brothers and all the aviators who followed. If it had not been for Sir George's pioneering work, the Wright brothers may not have got off the ground.

Cayley is the man described by aviation experts as the father of aeronautics. He designed his first aircraft as long ago as 1799, and by the middle of the 19th Century, he was building and flying gliders（滑翔機）. A small boy was the first passenger.

But Cayley realised that only a flight with a grown man would demonstrate the potential of his strange-looking aircraft. So in 1853, Sir George's coachman（馬車夫） was ordered to take to the skies at Brompton-by-Sawdon, near Scarborough.

After his alarming experience of air travel, a shocked John Appleby faced his employer. "Please, Sir George, I wish to give notice," he said. "I was hired to drive and not to fly." The servant may not have appreciated it, but he had just made history by completing the first manned flight in a fixed-wing aircraft. Amazingly, the inventor whose vision made it possible has been largely forgotten in his own country.

"The French and the Americans take more interest in Sir George than we do," says the Reverend Leonard Rivett, a retired pastor who has spent years documenting the Cayley story.

"He laid the foundations of aeronautics in 1799 by discovering the principles of lift and thrust, and the means of vertical and horizontal control. The Wright Brothers knew that an Englishman had worked out the theory, and asked for his research. If Cayley had come across a lightweight engine, we would have had powered flight 50s years before the Wrights."

The importance of Cayley's work has been acknowledged by the US space agency NASA, and many other scientific institutions around the world. But when his name is mentioned in Britain, the puzzled response is usually: "George who?"

農夫之子理查·皮爾斯畢生致力於製造燈光﹑動力飛行引擎和飛行器他首次的飛行是在 1903年3月﹐透過將一具水平配置式雙圓柱引擎﹐裝在單翼飛機上而完成的﹐飛行距離達137公尺遠許多人常質疑﹐未接受技術訓練﹐設備和經費有限的皮爾斯﹐在別人紛告失敗之際﹐怎可能完成飛上青天的偉大夢想﹖證據就在於他在引擎和飛機的先進設計上﹐許多構想極具原創性而在獲知萊特兄弟已成功飛上青天後﹐皮爾斯自謙地說自己的飛行不算「真正的飛行」﹐但他發明補助翼和變距空氣螺旋槳﹐仍領先許多研究操縱界面的人

Richard William Pearse spent much of his lifetime building light, powerful aero-engines and constructing aircraft for his numerous attempts at powered flight.

His most spectacular flights were those made after the turn of the 20th century using a horizontally opposed twin-cylinder（雙圓柱式） engine fitted to a high-wing monoplane; both plane and engine were built by Pearse using materials available in the locality.

The last of his planes with its unusual engine is now on view at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, but only parts of two earlier engines remain; these were recovered from a rubbish dump after being buried and lost for many years.

A question often asked is: "Did this man, a farmer's son with no technical training and with severely limited facilities and funds, really succeed where so many others had failed?" The proof can be seen in the advanced design of his engines and aircraft, which had many original features not then found elsewhere; and although many of his ideas were never developed to their full extent nevertheless his engine produced more than adequate power for the purpose of getting his plane airborne. The motor car did not appear in his locality until some years after Pearse had built and run his petrol engine; his design was based on the steam engines and early oil engines in use in the district, supplemented by information gathered from engineering books...

It is probably now impossible to establish without doubt if Pearse flew before the Wright Brothers. However, there is no doubt that Pearse's definition of flying was far more rigorous than that of the Wright Brothers, and that flights he made prior to the Wright's attempts were never classified by himself as, "actually flying". Pearse invented the aileron（補助翼） and variable pitch air-screw（變距空氣螺旋槳） many years ahead of others researching control surfaces（操縱界面）.

前言﹕駕駛飛機登上青天的第一人究竟是誰﹖ 12月17日﹐在美國大肆慶祝萊特兄弟首次成功飛行百週年紀念的同時﹐包括巴西﹑英國﹑紐西蘭等國家民眾發出不平之鳴﹐認為萊特兄弟是掠人之美﹐首度飛上青天的是另有其人各國互爭第一的背後﹐隱含著濃濃的民族主義情緒﹐因為飛行是人類歷史與科技史上重要的一步﹐各國都想宣稱自己領先群雄不過﹐無論是誰拔得頭籌﹐可以確定的是在萊特兄弟之前﹐已有很多人為飛機的發明打下基礎﹐特別是19世紀最後10年﹐萊特兄弟只是踩著這些人的足跡早走一步﹔而萊特兄弟在飛機發明上唯一的「第一」﹐是把飛機賣給美國政府當殺人機器（詳見本報12月17日二版「衛報週評」）﹐這樣的第一實在沒有多少光彩﹗