Level: U

DRA: 44
Social Studies
Strategy:
Monitor/Clarify
Word Count: 1,718

6.5.22 Build Vocabulary

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books

1033049
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN
 by Joe Flemings

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS: 4, 7 John Martin

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 Leonardo Da Vinci sketched this
parachute design hundreds of years ago.

Fascination with Flight

Hundreds of years ago, there lived a man who
loved to watch birds fly. He dreamed that someday
people would be able to soar through the sky like
birds. That man’s name was Leonardo da Vinci
(duh VIN chee). Da Vinci was an artist and inventor
in Italy. He filled notebooks with sketches of his many
ideas. Unfortunately, da Vinci did not live to see some
of his dreams become reality.

2
 Some of da Vinci’s drawings were of flying
machines with wings that flapped like a bird’s. He
drew plans for an early helicopter. He even made a
sketch of a parachute! Hundreds of years later, two
brothers did something amazing. Wilbur and Orville
Wright made the world’s first powered air flight. But it
was da Vinci and many others who paved the way for
their groundbreaking flight.

Stories about Flying

Ancient stories show that people have always
dreamed about flying. One example is the Greek myth
about Daedalus (DED uh lus). He and his son Icarus
(ICK uh rus) were prisoners on an island. Life on the
island was harsh. Their only way of escape was to fly
away. So Daedalus used feathers and wax to make
wings for himself and his son.
Up they went in a vertical flight. Father and son
soared high into the sky. Then something went wrong.
Daedalus had warned his son not to fly too close to
the sun. But Icarus didn’t listen. The wax in his wings
melted in the heat of the sun. Icarus fell into the sea
and drowned. Perhaps this myth was a reminder to
ancient Greeks that humans weren’t meant to fly.

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 Another ancient story tells about the king of
Persia. The king wanted to fly while sitting on his
throne. He had a plan for how this could be done.
According to his plan, he would need four very strong
eagles. Each corner of the throne would have a pole
with food on top. One eagle would be tied to the
bottom of each pole. When they got hungry, the
eagles would fly up to get the food. Then up into the
air would go the throne with the king sitting upon it.

The king of Persia wanted

eagles to lift him into the sky.

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 Are Kites the Key?
About 2,000 years ago
in China, the army used
kites to carry bamboo
pipes. The wind passed
through the pipes and
whistled a ghostly tune.
This strange sound scared
other armies and made
them run away.
People have been flying kites
In 1847, a kite helped for thousands of years.
build a bridge between the
United States and Canada. Engineers tied a cable to a
kite. Then they flew the kite across a river. When the
kite landed on the other side, it became the starting
point of the new bridge.
When people saw that kites could carry pipes and
cables, they began to wonder what else a kite could
carry. Could a kite carry a person? Were kites the key
to human flight?
One person who asked this question was
Alexander Graham Bell. He is famous for inventing
the telephone. But Bell was also interested in flying.
He believed that if the kites were big enough, they
would be able to lift people into the air.

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 Bell searched in frustration for kites that were the
right size and shape. But, like da Vinci before him,
Bell’s dreams of human flight went unrealized.
Later, two brothers named Orville and Wilbur
Wright tried to build an aircraft. After several failures,
the brothers realized that they had a lot to learn about
flying. So they practiced flying kites and balloons.
They weren’t the only ones who thought balloons
might carry humans into the sky.

Balloon shows are

still popular around
the world.

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Balloons in Flight
In 1783, two
French brothers sent up
their first large balloon.
The flight was a success.
Now the balloon was ready
for its first passengers.
The brothers found three
“volunteers” for this
experiment. A duck, a
rooster, and a sheep stayed
in the air for almost eight
minutes before landing safely.
Soon, flying in balloons
became a very popular pastime.
Unlike animals, people were very
willing passengers. By 1785,
Animals became the
a French balloonist and an first passengers to fly
in a balloon.
American doctor had made the
first balloon flight from France
to England. Eight years later, the Frenchman made
the first balloon flight within the United States. One
of the people watching this historic flight was George
Washington. He was president of the United States at
the time.

7
 Madame Blanchard, the
Frenchman’s wife, was also a
famous balloonist. She enjoyed
ballooning so much that she often
went up alone at night. She was
fond of the quiet she found there.
Some nights, however, Madame
Blanchard put on a show for
people on the ground. She would
set off fireworks from her balloon.
One night as she soared
through the night sky, something
went wrong. The fireworks set
her balloon on fire. The balloon
lurched to one side and hit
the roof of a house. Madame
Blanchard was killed.
By this time, though,
ballooning was popular around
the world. Not even the threat
of danger stopped people from
soaring into the sky.

Madame Blanchard, shown in one of her

famous balloon flights

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 Otto Lilienthal went
on more than 2,000
glides in his lifetime!

Gliders Gain Popularity

Flying in balloons was becoming commonplace.
Inventors were eager to find a new way to fly through
the sky. The next fad in flying technology was the
glider. Gliders are light aircraft that don’t use engines.
They use wind to lift them. The first glider probably
appeared around 1809. An English inventor made it.
In 1849, he sent the son of one of his servants floating
over a small valley. This ten-year-old boy made the
first human glider flight in history!
A German named Otto Lilienthal made the most
famous glider flights. In fact, he made the very first
piloted flight. He steered his gliders by twisting his
body in different directions.
9

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 Lilienthal built a cone-shaped hill in a barren
field. This hill offered the perfect conditions to test his
gliders. Wind arose from any direction because of the
hill’s shape. Thus, the hill let him catch just the right
wind for each test. He built 18 different glider models.
He tested each one. Each time, Lilienthal would
improve his design. But the gliders still remained hard
to control.
Sadly, Lilienthal died in a glider crash. But his
work inspired others. Two people who admired his
work were the Wright brothers. Luckily, Lilienthal had
kept careful notes. The Wright brothers were able to
read everything he wrote and learn from it.

Some early contraptions never

even made it off the ground!

10

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 A Dangerous Business
Birds fly on instinct. But why did so many people
try to fly? Over the years, many risk takers tried and
failed to achieve human flight. Some of them did so
in the strangest machines. Sometimes the machines
were old and decrepit. Some of the would-be flyers
tried imitating the flight of birds. Their machines
had wings that flapped. This is how they earned the
nickname “birdmen.” But these wings were not strong
enough for liftoff. Many people died or were badly
hurt during their experimental flights.
Meanwhile, other people’s attempts showed more
understanding of flight. Inventors were getting closer
and closer to powered aircraft.

11

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 A model of an
early airplane

One French scientist understood how a

mechanical aircraft might work. He didn’t try to fly,
though. Instead, he built a model of his design. This
model aircraft had something new — a propeller. Its
designer twisted a rubber band to turn the propeller.
Then he let it unwind. As it did, the energy the rubber
band created turned the propeller. Today, children
still play with models of this basic design.
Models can be helpful. They cost less to build,
and there’s no personal risk involved. But they don’t
prevent all problems. Samuel Pierpoint Langley built
many models for a powered aircraft. They all worked
well. Next, he built a plane using the same design. It
was to be launched from a barge on a river. Instead of
taking flight like his models did, the aircraft splashed
into the river and broke into pieces. This happened in
1903 — the same year that the Wright brothers made
their first flight. Langley never flew again.

12

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 Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was the
first female pilot to cross
the Atlantic Ocean alone.
The year was 1932. Five
years later, she set out to fly
around the world. Earhart
had nearly completed the
trip. Then she disappeared.
Her plane was never found.
What happened to Earhart
remains a mystery.

Earhart prepares to take off.

Airplanes Take Off!

Powered flight remained elusive until the Wright
brothers’ success in 1903. But after their historic
flight, advances came quickly. Many people worked
to improve on the Wright brothers’ designs. People in
business formed companies to build airplanes. New
designs made planes larger and more powerful. Planes
and pilots set records that were quickly broken.

13

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 The moon landing was another first in flight.

By the 1960s, many thought that the age of flight

had gone as far as it could go. But some people
turned their attention to an even greater goal — outer
space. The moon waited patiently for anyone daring
enough to reach for it. And reach it, they did. On July
20, 1969, the first humans set foot on the moon. This
historic event took place just 66 years after the Wright
brothers’ first powered flight.
Flight has fascinated people for thousands of
years. Thanks to the work of early pioneers, human
flight is a reality. Where will it take us in the future?
If Leonardo da Vinci were alive today, he would
probably have some ideas!

14

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 Responding
TARGET VOCABULARY Word Builder
The word comfortable means the opposite
of the word harsh. Words that are opposites
are called antonyms. Copy and complete the
chart below.

Vocabulary Word Antonyms

harsh comfortable

arose ?

barren ?

Write About It
Text to World Think of an animal that can fly,
such as an eagle. Write a paragraph describing
how it flies. Use two words from the Word
Builder in your paragraph.

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 TARGET VOCABULARY

arose frustration
barren harsh
conditions instinct
decrepit lurched
elusive vertical

TARGET STRATEGY Monitor/Clarify As you read,

notice what isn’t making sense. Find ways to figure
out the parts that are confusing.

Which vocabulary word means the

opposite of satisfaction?

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Level: U
DRA: 44
Social Studies
Strategy:
Monitor/Clarify
Word Count: 1,718

6.5.22 Build Vocabulary

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books

1033049
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN