Did you know that one of the most famous kite flyers of all time was a 10 year-old boy? His name was Homan Walsh, and without him the Niagara Falls Bridge would not have been built in 1847. Before building of the bridge could begin, someone needed to get a line from one side of the gorge to the other. Homan successfully flew a kite from one side of the gorge to the other, and his kite line was the first to span the gorge. After securing Homan's initial kite string, heavier and heavier line was fed across until a steel cable could be connected across the gorge so that bridge construction could begin. Homan was rewarded with a ten-dollar cash prize, which was a lot of money in 1847!

Another famous kite flying duo were the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright. Before building the first successful airplanes, they experimented with various designs by using kites. By making many different kite models of their airplanes, they eventually came up with a design that worked, and the rest is history.

There are many different kite designs. Some kite designs are very old, like traditional Chinese and Japanese kites. Some designs are very new, like the dynamic stunt kites used in sport kite flying competitions. These kites are made with modern materials and designs which make them ultra maneuverable. Kites come in all shapes and sizes, as you can see in Figure 1.