<P> Many stories from antiquity involve flight, such as the Greek legend of Icarus and Daedalus, and the Vimana in ancient Indian epics . Around 400 BC in Greece, Archytas was reputed to have designed and built the first artificial, self - propelled flying device, a bird - shaped model propelled by a jet of what was probably steam, said to have flown some 200 m (660 ft). This machine may have been suspended for its flight . </P> <P> Some of the earliest recorded attempts with gliders were those by the 9th - century poet Abbas ibn Firnas and the 11th - century monk Eilmer of Malmesbury; both experiments injured their pilots . Leonardo da Vinci researched the wing design of birds and designed a man - powered aircraft in his Codex on the Flight of Birds (1502). </P> <P> In 1799, George Cayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed - wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control . Cayley was building and flying models of fixed - wing aircraft as early as 1803, and he built a successful passenger - carrying glider in 1853 . In 1856, Frenchman Jean - Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight, by having his glider "L'Albatros artificiel" pulled by a horse on a beach . Then Alexander F. Mozhaisky also made some innovative designs . In 1883, the American John J. Montgomery made a controlled flight in a glider . Other aviators who made similar flights at that time were Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher, and Octave Chanute . </P> <P> Sir Hiram Maxim built a craft that weighed 3.5 tons, with a 110 - foot (34 meter) wingspan that was powered by two 360 - horsepower (270 kW) steam engines driving two propellers . In 1894, his machine was tested with overhead rails to prevent it from rising . The test showed that it had enough lift to take off . The craft was uncontrollable, which Maxim, it is presumed, realized, because he subsequently abandoned work on it . </P>

Who came up with the idea of airplanes