Is earlier aviation transportation feasible?

Gan

Banned
So, could air-based transportation have been feasible before the modern age, without going ASB? Basically, could someone design an aircraft using only technologies and materials from an earlier period?

If it is possible much earlier, how far back could this go before it really is impossible?
 
Materials are easy - early fighter planes were wood and canvas, for Pete's sake.

But the engines are going to take the OTL technology used (which may be developed earlier but things more primitive than that won't suffice).
 
Materials are easy - early fighter planes were wood and canvas, for Pete's sake.

But the engines are going to take the OTL technology used (which may be developed earlier but things more primitive than that won't suffice).

What about hang gliding?
 
Materials are easy - early fighter planes were wood and canvas, for Pete's sake.

But the engines are going to take the OTL technology used (which may be developed earlier but things more primitive than that won't suffice).

Agreed. The Chinese had primitive point and shoot rocket launchers, so some kind of glider/kite bomb is not completely out of the realm of possibility but if you want aerial dogfights at Waterloo (that's actually kind of a cool image :D), you need other, more extensive, PODs.
 
And gliders dont get you far. If you want to transport something more than a few miles, you have to haul the load AND the glider to the top of multiple hills. Very expensive, and its not obvious to me that would be any faster than simply transporting the liad directly. Plus, youd need a convenient set of hills, which severely limits your routes.

So, no, gliders arent of any use for transportation.
 
Rockets were under development by Waterloo in fact, hence the Star Spangled Banner "and the rocket's red glare"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congreve_rocket

And they derived from even earlier ones...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysorean_Rockets

So if you could use these earlier with British research into rockets you might be able to derive light "artillery" from spotter aircraft during the later Napoleonic Wars, though accuracy would be very limited. Most other means would be limited by engine technology as was already discussed, materials other than wood light enough for air travel were late 19th century developments for the most part.
 

Delta Force

Banned
The early glider and powered aircraft designs all seemed to use a ramp or railroad of some kind to facilitate launch. Assuming a strong enough structure could be developed blackpowder rockets or modified cannons could be used for aircraft carrier/1950s style rail launches. It might be an issue to build a sturdy enough wood and canvas structure since the materials can withstand less G forces than modern structures and blackpowder gives more of a sudden shock. From the Earth to the Moon mentions guncotton as giving a smoother acceleration, but it wasn't developed until the 1830s and by that time you could probably carrier/rail launch a steam powered aircraft.
 

Flubber

Banned
I was going to post a refutation to the concentrated derping in this thread, but then I thought to myself; "Why bother? They never remember, they never learn. Why make the effort?"
 
I was going to post a refutation to the concentrated derping in this thread, but then I thought to myself; "Why bother? They never remember, they never learn. Why make the effort?"

Thank you for your post. I looked up derping and I have nothing more to say.
 
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