Open Site - Science: Aerospace: History: George Cayley

Top: Science: Aerospace: History: George Cayley

George Cayley

Cayley's 1853 Sketch

Sir George Cayley (b1773-d1857), an aristocrat from Brompton-By-Sawdon, near Scarborough in England, was a designer of gliders. From around 1804, he experimented with model gliders and the effect of lift in comparison to wing shape. In 1809 and 1810 Cayley published three research papers where he identified how lift was gained through an inclined plane being driven into the air.

Cayley designed and built a larger glider in 1849 in which an unknown boy of around 10 years of age, flew. In 1853, Cayley designed and built his largest glider for a full-sized man whose identity remains a point of some controversy. The glider was propelled the use of 'flappers' - Cayley's preferred means of propulsion. Cayley's airman was airborne for only a short distance, so it is best regarded as a 'short hop' rather than controlled flight. Cayley (by now in his 80s) never saw his machine fly again. His research and experiments proved to be beneficial to those who followed and his work was highly influential on later aviation pioneers such as the German Lilienthal and American Wright Brothers.

Cayley's 1857 Sketch

The most notable design feature of Cayley's gliders was short, stubby wing. Through observing the wing forms of birds during flight, he knew that the long, slender wing was more efficient, but his constant concerns for safety, and his fear that this long thin wing would break up in flight, meant that he always applied wings with a small aspect (length to width) ratio.