The History of Aviation Education and Training

Aviation education and training began early in the 20th century just after the first successful powered flight of the Wright brothers. In the present paper, the types of aviation education and training around the world are reviewed. Its developments were distinct in many different countries, and in some cases evolved from the military needs while in others from the dedication of a few enthusiasts. In the 21st century aeronautical and aerospace engineering is taught at the most advanced engineering schools in the world providing skills and competences that integrate advanced disciplines.


Introduction
Aviation Education and Training as an individual area began soon after the first successful powered flights early in the twentieth century.However, it should be pointed out that the Wright Brothers controlled flight in a heavier-than-air machine (Figure 1) would not be possible without the previous studies and experiments of others before them like Sir George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, or Samuel Langley.In most cases, aviation education and training was an evolution of a well-established military command like in the United States, United Kingdom or Portugal.The military branch that took the first steps depending on the tradition of each specific country, and in some cases like United Kingdom and Portugal it was the Navy.Also, much scientific knowledge necessary to navigate was at that time an adaptation from the nautical methods to aviation [1] [2].Training appeared in the first place as a consequence of the World War I and then World War II, and the necessity to prepare a significant number of pilots.The aerospace/aeronautical engineering studies appeared two decades after the Wright Brothers flight.Most detailed information on Aerospace Engineering education in the United States can be found in reference [3] that collects the history of aerospace/aeronautical engineering from 69 American institutions.However, with regard to the evolution of aeronautics education in the world no systematic study can be found in the literature.In the present paper, the history of aviation education and training around the world is discussed, with a special emphasis on its evolution to the aeronautical/aerospace engineering degrees.

Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering
Aeronautical/aerospace engineering may be considered an evolution of the ancient efforts on aviation training.However, before the first flight of a lighter-than-air machine there were several teaching initiatives of aeronautical/aerospace disciplines with profound scientific content.It is difficult to establish a clear milestone for the beginning of Aeronautical/Aerospace or Aircraft Education.So, in the present paper some events that were important to aviation education will be discussed, but no unequivocal idea of which university in the world was the first to offer such studies because the risk of not mention important initiatives that could have been relevant.Some of history's greatest mathematicians and physicists such as Newton, Bernoulli, Euler, and D'Alembert, developed and verified essential theories for the science of flying.The first scientist to study and publish about the design of flight vehicles was Leonardo da Vinci (1412-1519).After a long period of no apparent development, the next experimental designers were the inventors of the hot air balloons, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier (1740-1810 and 1745-1799 respectively).The first person to separate lift and drag was George Cayley (1799-1853) followed by the first successful glider designer Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) who was the first person to study control and stability of airplanes.In 1891 an American astrophysicist and astronomer, Samuel Langley made model airplanes powered by whirling arms and steam engines.One of them flew for 3/4s of a mile before running out of fuel.
In 1866 the Royal Aeronautical society was founded in London to further developments in the field of aeronautical science.This was shortly followed by     [15].honorary doctorate also from the TU Munich which was entitled "The pioneering engineer in the field of construction of metal aircraft" (Figure 7).

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the Wright Flyer I, the first airplane, on December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina [4].
similar associations and institutes in France, the USA and Germany.In 1881 Hermann Ganswindt gives a talk at the Technical University of Berlin on spatial flight and in 1902 a professor of mathematics of the Technical University of Munich, Martin Wilhelm Kutta, and states that the lift of an airfoil is proportional to the circulation around it.Kutta became an associate professor of TU Munich in 1907, and two years later the Wright brothers Wilbur and Orville received an honorary doctorate from this university "in recognition of their purposeful, bold and successful solution to the flight problem".In addition to a pioneering work with balloons, Santos-Dumont made the first European public flight of an airplane called 14-bis or Oiseau de Proie ("Bird of Prey") on October 23, 1906 (Figure 2).This first flight was witnessed by the European press and French aviation authorities, and has been certified by the Aéro Club de France and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).There is still some discussion on whether the Wright 1903 Flyer I, or the 14-Bis was the first airplane to fly.Santos-Dumont used wheels whereas the Wright brothers stuck with skids for too long, which necessitated the use of a catapult in the absence of significant wind.However, Wright brothers 1904 and 1905 Flyer machines could also take off unassisted given sufficient wind.Also, the 1905 Flyer (also called the Flyer III) flew more than 20 miles in October 1905, a full year before the 14-bis made its first flight.Santos-Dumont continued to fly until he had an accident in 1910 with the Demoiselle.He then felt serious ill and retired to a seaside village where he took astronomy as a hobby, and then came back to Brazil where he died in 1932 in not completely clear circumstances.One of the first initiatives of aviation education and training was military and occurred in the United States.On October 1909, Wilbur Wright instructed Lieutenants Frank P. Lahm and Frederic E. Humphreys on Signal Corps Airplane No. 1, which the Army had recently purchased from the Wright brothers (Figure 3).

Figure 4 .Figure 5 .
Figure 4. Octave Chanute (American railway engineer and aviation pioneer that provided the Wright brothers with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying experiments) [11].

In 1929
Figure 7. Hugo Junkers's 1924 design for a giant airplane closely approximated a true flying wing in concept [16].
Aviation education and training began early in the 20th century just after the first successful powered flight of the Wright brothers.Its roots were in France, although important events occurred in England and Germany.The evolution in the United States was very intense due to several vision men like Octave Chanute or Daniel Guggenheim.During World Wars I and II there was a rapid evolution of aviation training, but in the second half of the twentieth century civil schools become more important.Presently there are hundreds of colleges and degrees in aeronautics and aerospace engineering around the world.