BOX KITE

Hargrave became the first person ever to be lifted off the ground by a heavier than air machine in a vertical take-off. Using a strong gust of air to propel him into the air, Hargrave made aeronautical history by lifting himself off the ground and remaining steady in the buffeting wind carried by his ingeniously designed four box kites.

INVENTOR: Lawrence HargraveYEAR: 1894

Immediately after an air disaster, investigators search for the ‘black box’. David Warren invented the first black box to combine a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder. Now widely accepted and used worldwide, it helps solve the mystery of what happened and more importantly, contributes to knowing how to stop similar disasters happening in the future.

BLACK BOX

INVENTOR: Dr David WarrenYEAR: 1957

INFLATABLE ESCAPE SLIDE-RAFT

Jack Grant, an employee of Qantas Airlines, invented the inflatable aircraft escape slide-raft. The combined slide-raft was designed to carry passengers in the event of a water landing as the invention floats and can detach from the aircraft in an emergency. This invention is now mandatory safety equipment on all major airlines around the world.

INVENTOR: Jack GrantYEAR: 1965

BOOMERANG

The returning boomerang is one of Australia's unique emblems and humanity’s first heavier-than-air flying machine. Its wings are shaped with an aerofoil design, similar to the shape of an aeroplane's wing, proving Indigenous Australians understood the physics of aerodynamics at least 20,000 (possibly even 60,000) years before aeronautical engineers. Its returning spin is achieved by one wing moving through the air faster than the other, now known as gyroscopic precession.

INVENTOR: Indigenous AustraliansYEAR: 18,000 BC

Episode 7: AIRBORNE Visionary Australian inventions that helped humans conquer the skies.

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