While this high state of development in the aeroplane motor has been attained comparatively within a few years, the art of flying has occupied the mind of man since it was described in Greek mythology. The Chinese for thousands of years have used kites and balloons. The ancient Greeks watched the wonderful flights of the birds and invented myths about men who were able to fly. Then Achytes, his mind fired by these stories, invented a device in the form of a wooden dove which was propelled by heated air. Other inventors made devices that were intended to fly, and during the reign of Nero, "Simon the Magician" held the world's first aviation meet in Rome. According to the account, he "rose into the air through the assistance of demons." It further states that St. Peter stopped the action of the demons by a prayer, and that Simon was killed in the resultant fall. Simon made another record that way by being the first man to be killed in an aeronautical accident. Other records show that Baldud, one of the early tribal kings in what later was named England, tried to fly over a city, but fell and was killed. A little later, in the eleventh century, a Benedictine monk made himself a pair of wings, jumped from a high tower and broke his legs. These wings really were rude gliders and the principle remained in the minds of men, even in those days when their chief occupation was war. According to the legends, a man named Oliver of Malmesburg, who lived during the Middle Ages, built himself a glider and soared for 375 feet. [Illustration: Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution THE CHANUTE TYPE GLIDER Upon this machine was based the invention of the biplane.] [Illustration: Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution THE HERRING GLIDER Based on the idea of the Lilienthal gliders.] [Illustration: AN EARLY HELICOPTER An idea that was abandoned before the aeroplane became a reality.] THE THREE GREAT PIONEERS IN AVIATION [Illustration: Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Prof. Samuel Pierpont Langley] [Illustration: Courtesy of the _Scientific American_ Sir Hiram Maxim] [Illustration: Courtesy of E. L. Jones, N. Y. Octave Chanute] It was in the fifteenth century that men first began to make flying a scientific study by making records and, in part at least, tabulating the results of their experiments.