The Man Who Discovered Flight: George Cayley and the First Airplane (review)

For English aristocrat Sir George Cayley (1773–1857), ‘A day passed without acquiring a new idea, was a day wasted.’ According to biographer Richard Dee, Cayley not only voiced these words, he lived them. Cayley spent most of his life seeking knowledge, promoting education, and encouraging the practical application of science. In particular, he keenly desired to solve the riddle of heavier-than-air flight. Dee’s fascinating biography offers new insights into Cayley’s achievements and will appeal to readers interested in all aspects of the history of science, since Cayley exemplified the unfailing optimism and varied interests held by amateur scientists during these years.

Dee combined his family’s interest in aviation, a background in science, and historical research to recapture the importance of Cayley’s work. Living in York, England, as a child, not far from Cayley’s home, Dee acquired a love for aviation from his father, who served in the Royal Air Force. Now residing in Toronto, Dee works as a post-doctoral fellow at York University, where he uses research in neuroscience to help future astronauts cope with extended space flight. While still focusing on the future, Dee began studying aviation’s past. After examining Cayley’s notebooks, publications, and family correspondence, Dee argues that Cayley discovered the secret of ‘aerial navigation’ and even launched the first airplane long before the American Wright Brothers’ groundbreaking flight. Cayley’s numerous sketches, calculations, aerodynamic tests, and glider flights, all proved that heavier-than-air flight was possible. Sadly, Cayley also realized that engineering was not sufficiently advanced to make powered flight a reality. Nevertheless, Cayley’s work would influence future generations when they began their own experiments many years later.

Using chronological chapters to narrate Cayley’s personal and public life, Dee passes quickly over Cayley’s childhood to focus on his years as a baronet from age eighteen until his death at age eighty-four. By the time Cayley reached adulthood he had acquired an unconventional education due to its inclusion of theoretical and practical science. He then married Sarah Walker, the daughter of his first tutor, with whom he fathered ten children. Unfortunately, Cayley’s only surviving son, Digby, did not share his father’s interest in science and felt ashamed by his father’s work in aviation, a subject that many people regarded as mere fantasy. Although a brief political career temporarily prevented Cayley from publishing papers on heavier-than-air flight, public skepticism and family embarrassment failed to dissuade Cayley from following his passion. Cayley not only engaged in scientific inquiry, he promoted science-based education and its practical use by helping to establish local philosophical societies as well as London’s Polytechnic Institute, where he served as director of the governing board until his death.

Throughout his long life Cayley helped forward a variety of scientific disciplines, but aviation truly captured his imagination. Cayley’s efforts resulted in a list of accomplishments far too long to enumerate. A brief selection includes the following firsts: documentation of aerodynamic forces in 1793, flight testing of a winged flyer in 1804, and flight of a manned glider in 1849. Although these and other accomplishments ensured Cayley’s recognition as an expert during his lifetime, his work was soon forgotten after his death and his flyers hidden from view by his son. Fortunately, Cayley’s publications were rediscovered in the late nineteenth century and helped lead to what he knew was possible with advanced engine technology, the world’s first powered and controlled heavier-than-air flight in 1903.

While some criticisms can be made concerning the lack of citations and an introduction devoted to historiography, these omissions are understandable, given Dee’s work as an amateur historian and his desire to create a study acceptable to a wider audience. In fact, Dee’s explanation of science in lay terms ensures that this book will appeal to a wide readership. Aviation buffs will enjoy Cayley’s...