How Did We Take the Leap and Fly Like a Bird

People have been filled with the desire to fly ever since the dawn of time. While some have tried and failed, others established the groundwork for modern airplanes.

Like this monk named Eilmer, he conducted glider experiments to be able to fly in the 11th century. And I suppose you are familiar with the drawings of some kind of an aircraft designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. 
Also, there is a myth saying that in the 17th century, a man named Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi actually wore the wings he had designed and successfully flew over the Bosphorus. These are examples from different regions and different eras. But there are many other stories that prove people wanted to be up in the sky.
Thus bringing the era of aircrafts.

French brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier designed a hot air balloon in 1783. It managed to travel 5 miles (8,5 kilometers) in about half an hour. After a short while, Jacques Alexander Charles and Nicholas Louis Robert designed a balloon that managed to travel 22 miles (36 kilometers) in two hours.

Then an engineer named Henri Giffard accomplished the first steam-powered air flight. He designed a cigar-shaped airship powered by a 3-horsepower steam engine and driven by a three-bladed propeller. He traveled exactly 26 miles (43 km) from Paris to Élancourt with this airship he named "Giffard Dirigible." The flight was the first example that a steam-powered airship could be steered and controlled. But the design was abandoned because it was easily affected by weather conditions. However, it gave hope for a bigger invention: the airplane!