History Main / ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines

[[TruthInTelevision Actual]] aircraft in the early days of aviation, as well as many early unsuccessful attempts to build flying machines, may well fit here. LeonardoDaVinci deserves special mention for dreaming up many fanciful aircraft in the early 16th century (several examples below were inspired by his work). The trope likely stopped applying to RealLife sometime during WorldWarI as airplanes gradually became more streamlined, less improbable-looking, and more mundane.

* ''SinkTheBismarck'' The only torpedo bomber the British had at the time was Fairey Swordfish, a fragile looking two-seat ''biplane''. Which went up against the biggest battleship in the German fleet.

** Don't forget Samuel Pierpont Langley, who created the first successful heavier-than-air flying machine, Alberto Santos-Dumont, who created the first successful heavier-than-air flying machine, Gustave Whitehead, who created the first successful heavier-than-air flying machine, etc. It isn't really agreed upon who did it.

[[caption-width-right:300:Someone should watch where they're going...]]

** Which may [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithopter flap]].

->''It's a Falling Machine. I'm so '''impressed'''.''\\
-- ''GirlGenius'' [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030623]].

* Gil's bat-wing flyer in ''GirlGenius'' counts (and provides the page quote). The numerous {{Cool Airship}}s found throughout the work are examples as well.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ThoseMagnificentMenTitle_8271.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines Someone should watch where they're going...]]]]

[[folder:Manga and Anime]]
* HayaoMiyazaki's entire filmography: scenic flying sequences are a signature element, and he grew up around old airplanes in the factory operated by his father and uncle.
** ''TheCastleOfCagliostro'' adds a classic autogyro to a ''LupinIII'' story as a ChekhovsGun.
** ''NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' has fanciful gliders and balloons.
** ''CastleInTheSky'' might as well be considered flying machine porn.
** ''KikisDeliveryService'' has a pedal powered experimental plane and extensive broomstick flight scenes.
** ''PorcoRosso'' is a love letter to early aviation, using some of the most fanciful designs from real aviation to ever actually work.
** The steam-powered, wing-flapping aircraft of ''[[Film/HowlsMovingCastle Howl's Moving Castle]]'' are beautiful examples, including both giant war-planes and small [[FlyingCar commuter craft]]. Eventually, the castle itself becomes an example.
** ''PrincessMononoke'', ''MyNeighborTotoro'', and ''SpiritedAway'' are exceptions, but tend to feature flying scenes anyway, via high-jumping, running on cliffs, dragon-riding, or treetop cat-bus rides.
* In the first ''[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', this is Ed's reaction to seeing the [[WorldWarOne WWI]] planes of our world.
* ''TheDaughterOfTwentyFaces'' has a double-balloon airship that is definitely strange, SteamPunk, and propeller-laden enough to count.
* Most of the flying machines seen in the first episode of ''NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater''.
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[[folder:Web Animation]]
* The air-ships in ''TheMysteriousGeographicExplorationsOfJasperMorello'' appear to stay in the air ''solely'' through reaching a critical mass of SteamPunk.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other / RealLife]]

* The steam-powered, wing-flapping aircraft of ''[[Film/HowlsMovingCastle Howl's Moving Castle]]'' are beautiful examples, including both giant war-planes and small [[FlyingCar commuter craft]].

** ''HowlsMovingCastle'' has little runabout ornithopters and eventually the castle itself.

** ''NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWinds'' has fanciful gliders and balloons.

* ''CastleInTheSky'' might as well be considered flying machine porn.

-->''It's a Falling Machine. I'm so '''impressed'''.''\\

* The jet-propelled ornithopters of the ''{{Dune}}'' universe probably count, though they are an unusually high-tech example.

* A working, human-powered [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithopter ornithopter]] -- believed to be the world's first -- was built by University of {{Toronto}} post-graduate students and [[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/university-of-toronto-students-make-history-with-human-powered-flight/article1719728/ flown successfully in August 2010]] (though it needed help getting airborne). Interestingly, the design was created using {{Leonardo Da Vinci}}'s sketches as an early starting point, though the final product looks nothing like his work (but no less impressive in flight for that).

** Which may flap.

* A working, human-powered ornithopter -- believed to be the world's first -- was built by University of {{Toronto}} post-graduate students and [[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/university-of-toronto-students-make-history-with-human-powered-flight/article1719728/ flown successfully in August 2010]] (though it needed help getting airborne). Interestingly, the design was created using {{Leonardo Da Vinci}}'s sketches as an early starting point, though the final product looks nothing like his work (but no less impressive in flight for that).

* In SergeyLukyanenko's AlernateHistory duology ''{{Seekers of the Sky}}'', the deficit of iron in the world has drastically slowed down the scientific progress. As such, flying is still in its infancy. All flying machines are gliders made up mostly of wood and sheets. They do have engines, which can be started with either a chemical or an electrical lighter. Also, gliders can be outfitted with one-time booster rockets that drop off after their fuel is expended. Most of the time, gliders are only used to deliver messages, as flying them is extremely dangerous, preventing them from taking on passengers. All pilots must memorize wind maps, as no instruments are present in gliders. Chinese gliders are the most advanced, and their boosters allow them to cross entire continents in one go. Due to their fragile nature, OldSchoolDogfighting is impossible. In wartime, gliders may be used to drop bombs.

* ''Master of the World'' featured the propeller-studded ''Albatross''.

* The film ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' featured one of these.

* In the first [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist anime]], this is Ed's reaction to seeing the [[WorldWarOne WWI]] planes of our world.
* TheDaughterOfTwentyFaces has a double-balloon airship that is definitely strange, SteamPunk, and propeller-laden enough to count.
* Most of the flying machines seen in the first episode of NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater.

* In WorldOfWarcraft, engineers can craft a Flying Machine (actually called that) that fits this trope perfectly. It looks like an old plane with tiny wings and a helicopter-like propeller on the top, belches smoke, and seems to barely stay airborne. If you idle in air with it, its engine will occasionally turn off for a second or so, causing it to fall a few feet before it turns back on.

* Used at least once (probably more, due to the Steampunk setting) in TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack.

* 'SinkTheBismarck'' The only torpedo bomber the British had at the time was Fairey Swordfish, a fragile looking two-seat ''biplane''. Which went up against the biggest battleship in the German fleet.

* ''ChittyChittyBangBang'' was is an old-timey race car fitted with little wings and propellers.

Once upon a time [[{{Flight}} Flying]] was not the relatively mundane commute that it is today, but an adventure into an unexplored realm, a victory over gravity that was long though to be impossible. Flying machines were not the shiny, high-technology {{Cool Plane}}s we regularly see in the sky nowadays, but fabulous contraptions cobbled together by {{Mad Scientist}}s, sporting lots of spinny bits, belching smoke and fire, risky and ''magnificent''.