Jetex
IN 1871, ALPHONSE Pénaud gathered members of the Société Aéronautique to the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris to witness what was to become a seminal moment in aviation. Picking up a bird-like winged device, he rotated its tail-mounted propeller to wind up its rubber band ‘engine’, the first of its kind, and launched it into the air.
As the kinetic energy in the band was released, the craft soared skywards, describing two lazy circles before gliding
