Kite History/Timelines

Tal Streeter

Jalbert at Hampstead Park DF Archive

Brookite factory Brookite Archive, England

U-Boat Rotary Wing Kite G-2 SHAEF Archives

Tal Streeter David Wagner

courtesy of Eden Maxwell

At Haltern Ali Fujino

Reproduction Steiff Roloplan Scott Skinner

Bell Tetra AGB National Parks & Historic Sites, Canada

The first unambiguous reference to a kite occurs in Chinese literature from about 200 BCE; the kite itself is almost certainly older. We know that kites spread throughout Asia via known trade routes: they were present in Japan and Korea by approximately 1000 CE, and commonplace in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand by the 1500s. But where did the kite first appear? It was likely in the islands and peninsulas of the Pacific, where the needs of seafaring cultures could have driven the development of simple, utilitarian leaf kites for fishermen.

When the kite first appeared in Europe is similarly uncertain, but its probable origin was as a windsock or banner flown by the last Roman legions. Pennon-shaped kites were commonplace in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Europe, but by the early sixteenth century their popularity had been usurped by lozenge or arch-top designs that probably came to Europe via trade routes from Asia. By the early 1700s, kites were popular enough to cause French authorities to forbid flying kites in public places due to riots that had broken out between contending kite fliers.

Follow these links for timelines and resources about the history of kites.

• DF Board president Scott Skinner dates and describes some of the significant events in kite history during the past three hundred years.
• DF Board member Dave Lang offers a parafoil timeline,which he describes as a “work in progress.”
  
  
  
• Kites: An Historical Survey by Clive Hart is considered the best resource of its kind. Out of print, but available through the DF Online Store.
• Kites to Kitty Hawk chronicles kites and their inventorsas they move toward the goal of man-powered flight.
• From Kites to Wings surveys aviation history and shows cloisonné pins produced to honor ten aviation pioneers.



• A first image of kite fliers in chains.
• Rediscover the Kites of Lindenberg.
• Read about a kite train altitude record.
• A German Gibson Girl Kite?
• Learn about German resources about historical kites.
• Vlieger, Dutch kite magazine of record, ends publication.
• Did Ben Franklin really conduct his famous experiment? Read a discussion of Tom Tuckers Bolt of Fate.
• Kite flying means kite cutting in Texas during the mid-1800s
• Find out when kites came to Hungary.
• Bill Ottley appreciates Jalbert’s inventiveness.
• Philippe Cottenceau relives a moment in kite history—using kites to catch bats to eat.
• Southeast Asians form kite alliance.
• Learn who attended the first AKA meeting in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1978.
• Junction, the Texas kite retreat, contributes for fifteen years to creativity in kiting.
• Brookite is the oldest continuously operating kite company in England, perhaps in Europe
• How ancient is a kite painting on Sulawesi?
• The Indian patang sails by ship to Japan in the early years of the seventeenth century.
• Nine Nordic nations form a kite federation.
• U-Boats use rotary wing kites in World War II.
• Learn how the Blue Hill archive is being saved—and why that’s important.
• Kite historian Tal Streeter profiles inventor Domina Jalbert.
• Ed Grauel advises on patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
• Where was the sled kite invented , and what does kite historian Tal Streeter think about this question?
• Are kites indigenous to Africa after all?
• Ed Grauel discusses the origin of the word “kite.”
• Look at Maori drawings of tribal kites from 1818.
• Learn about William Eddy through study of an original kite, the inventor's life story, and an explanation of the kite's mystique.
• Petroglyphs display kite motifs.
• Mourn the demise of the magazine Kite Lines.
• Ed Grauel speculates about kites in early America.
• When was the first kite patent issued?
• Historical kite experts gather in Haltern, Germany
• Peter Lynn, Jr. discusses the early days of kite sailing.
• della Porta instructs on kite building in 1558.
• Smithsonian conserves trove of Chinese kites from 1876.
• Richard Synergysets sets single kite altitude record.
• Tal Streeter speculates on leaf kites in Sumatra.
• The Smithsonian holds a collection of historic kites.
• Learn about the challenges in building a Steiff Roloplan kite.
• When did a kite first lift scientific equipment to measure the atmosphere?
• Civil War prisoners fly kites to send messages.
• Ed Grauel describes German kite patents.
• E.W. Kemble illustrates Southern kite flying at the time of Mark Twain.
• Lt. Hugh D. Wise experiments with kites in 1896.
• A.G. Bell builds huge, triangular-celled kites, called tetras.
• Scott Skinner analyzes the "stroke of genius" in the Bell tetra.
• Tom Crouch details the Wrights’ crucial experiments in 1899.
• Read about the A.G. Bell symposium at Fanø 1999.
• The Blue Hill observatory reopens to the public.
• Ken Hyde and Rick Young reconstruct Wright kites.
• Ed Grauel researches English and Australian kite patents.
• Kites aid the birth of radio.
• Read about the first decade of retreats at Junction.
• Kite fishing details change little since 1913.
• Kites played a role at Blue Hill Observatory.