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Ever since Icarus reached for the sky but flew too close to the sun, mankind has dreamed of flight. In ancient Greece, Icarus gained his ability to fly through wings made from wax and bird feathers made by his father. Yet he plummeted to his death when, overcome by excitement at his newfound wings, he flew too high and the wax holding his wings together melted.
Over the centuries, it is recorded that others tried, including a brave Turkish pioneer who leapt from a column in Constantinople in the 12th century AD, wearing an outfit made of fabric that consisted of hundreds of pockets. The idea was to glide down gracefully like a bird, but sadly this experiment ended in failure, costing the brave pioneer his life.
What if one of these early pioneers of flight had succeeded, one way or another, in coming up with some means of flight? Let’s say they started by building gliders, and then progressed from there. What if they had developed powered flight? Imagine if the ancient Greeks had been able to transport their army through the air, landing in Persia like 5th century BC paratroopers? Or if the medieval Arabs had built gliders and used them to discover distant lands?