The document discusses the history of early ideas and experiments with air travel prior to the development of modern airplanes. In the Middle Ages, thinkers outlined ideas for flying machines but none were built. In the 17th century, an Italian priest designed a flying machine with hollow metal balls that would not have worked due to air pressure. In the 18th century, a Scottish professor suggested using hydrogen-filled bladders for flight, though this idea also went untested. The Montgolfier brothers' successful hot air balloon flights in 1783 marked the first manned flights. Their balloons carried animals and later humans to heights of over 500 feet.