My Italy

Flying has been a dream of mankind since ancient times. In ancient times, our ancestors dreamed of flying into the sky like a bird. Therefore, angels with wings and gods flying in the clouds and mist also appear in people's fantasies. The sages knew that you can't achieve anything by fantasy alone, you need to work hard on your own, so there are people who flap their wings and try to imitate the flight of birds.

Of course, since the Renaissance, people have also known that flying cannot be achieved by relying on human power, and must rely on machines. So Leonardo da Vinci had a draft of the aircraft design, and then people tried to figure it out from the machine.

Of course, the emergence of the internal combustion engine gave people who wanted to fly into the sky a better choice.

The small town of Pavia, located southwest of Milan, lives a good life relying on the bustling city of Milan. The residents in the town like to grow vegetables and fruits and sell them in Milan, living a happy and comfortable life.

But today, the town of Pavia was very lively. Everyone happily went to a wasteland in the southwest of the town because someone was working on an aircraft here.

That's right, it's a machine that can fly. It's such a rare thing that makes everyone rush over. There were probably as many as a thousand people around here, and this also shows that people-watching is popular everywhere, let alone at the end of the 19th century when entertainment activities were barren.

With so many people surrounding them, the pressure on Duilio Siegel and Gerardo Carni was very high.

"Duilio, didn't you tell me not to be so public? Why do I feel like there are almost a thousand people here? If this fails in public, how will it end?"

"Don't ask me, how did I know there were so many people today? I just said it casually. This aircraft has been our hard work for many years, so you can't have more confidence. Now it's better to keep an eye on the aircraft and don't let anyone touch it."

It wasn't the first time that the two of them had been watched by people while flying, but it was the first time that so many people were watching. There were so many people, and they were afraid of something happening.

After the two of them hurriedly drove people around the test flight site, the sharp-eyed Siegel patted his partner on the shoulder.

"Look, the reporter from Milan Daily is here, let's go up to him."

Blake looked at the huge flying machine in front of him and felt lucky. This time the headline should be mine. Fortunately, he listened to the advice of his friend Jill and came to see if this was really worth the 6 lire of carriage money. Thinking of this, Blake raised the camera in his hand and took a few pictures of the flying machine.

“Hello, are you Blake reporter from Milan Daily News?”

A voice pulled Blake, who had been immersed in taking pictures, back.

"Yes, I am."

Blake looked at Siegel and Carney who appeared in front of him.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Duilio Siegel. Next to me is my partner Gerardo Carni. The aircraft you photographed was made by us."

Faced with Siegel's introduction, Blake immediately understood. He quickly took out a paper and pen and spoke. "Hello, Mr. Siegel and Mr. Carney, I'm sorry, I was just shocked by the aircraft you two built. Now can you tell me about the process of making this aircraft?"

Facing Blake's question, the two looked at each other before Siegel spoke. "No problem, it's a long story..."

In Siegel's account, he, the youngest son of a Lord, had a fantasy about flying since he was a child. Later, he even read Otto Lilienthal's concept drawings of aircraft and never forgot about flying. Later, when he was studying at the University of Milan, he met a like-minded partner, Carni, the son of a construction engineer.

The next thing is simple. Two people who both want to fly will naturally start pursuing their dreams after graduation. The pair's first funding came from Siegel's father, Lord Siegel Sr. The old Lord invested fifty thousand lire in his son's dream, and they later raised another thirty thousand lire from others.

With this funding, the two began their dream of flying. They started with flying models and built three flying models and a glider in the first year.

Then he used the natural wind outlet of the Como Pass to experiment with his own flight model and glider, and collected a lot of data.

Then the next year, the two developed two gliders and tested them with different wings. In the experiment, they corrected some erroneous flight data and designed a wing cross-section shape with greater lift.

By the third year, the two began to develop a real aircraft, Pioneer 1. The aircraft is 6.17 meters long, has a wingspan of 6.78 meters, and is equipped with a 12-horsepower gasoline engine. Unfortunately, this aircraft, which represented the two people's hard work, had a bad start and did not fly at all.

Although Pioneer 1 failed to succeed, the two men did not give up at all. First they looked for the reason and after some searching. The two believed that the lift was insufficient. Faced with this reason, they chose to expand the wingspan. Compared with the 15.51 square meters of Pioneer 1, the wingspan of the new Pioneer 2 increased by one and a half times to 41.17 square meters.

Of course, just increasing the wingspan is not enough. The two also made major changes to Pioneer 2, so Pioneer 2 is very different from Pioneer 1.

Now Pioneer 2 is 6.94 meters long, with a wingspan of 13.3 meters and a height of 2.95 meters. It has a double-layer wing and is equipped with a 15.6-horsepower four-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine.

Reporter Blake kept taking notes on Siegel's story and asked questions from time to time. Faced with these questions, Siegel also answered them one by one, and the conversation between the two was very harmonious.

"Hope you guys are successful."

After asking the questions, reporter Blake gave his blessing.

"Thanks."

At this moment, reporter Blake suddenly asked. "By the way, can I ask, who is flying this flying machine today?"

"it's me."

Siegel answered. "To ensure a successful flight, I dropped to 102 pounds."

Well, this is indeed a warrior who works hard for his dream of flying. He can lose so much weight for himself. He thought he was already so thin.

Seeing this, reporter Blake picked up the camera again and said. "Can I take a picture of you? Stand next to the machine and take a picture."

"no problem."

"Snapped!"

With a flash of fluorescent pink, the famous photo of the tall and lanky Seagal standing next to Pioneer 2, wrapped in a windbreaker, became.

Later, Siegel was lying on the Pioneer wearing a fur hat. Yes, he was lying on his stomach. In order to make the flight successful, even Siegel lost weight. What is the seat?

Then Carney started the engine, and there was a roar of the gasoline engine, and the propellers on both sides of the nose began to rotate rapidly.

Four more people pushed up from the wings to give the Pioneer better acceleration.

With help from others, the pioneer's speed became faster and faster, and soon everyone felt a lightness in their hands, and at the same time a burst of cheers rang out from the surrounding onlookers.

Pioneer 2's guide wheel left the ground.

"It's flying!"

Blake's camera snapped, recording such a great moment. With the help of machinery, mankind finally left the ground and made its first flight, and Siegel became the first human pilot.

The test flight of the two people in Pavia was very successful. Pioneer 2 flew in the air three times in total. The longest flight lasted 1 minute and 49 seconds and flew a distance of 389 meters.

On the same day, Milan Daily reported this grand flight with a front-page headline.

Sorry, it's late, this is number 9