While some of you might have heard stories of a flying machine known as pushpak biman flying the Subcontinental skies in ancient times (Ram, Sita and Laxman are said to have used one on the return leg from Lanka), all scientific evidence suggests that powered flight is a 20th century invention. The propulsion systems, material for airframes, and electrical advances required for heavier-than-air flying just were not available back then.
Like photography, railroads and the motor car, airplanes too were discoveries of the West. It is generally agreed that flying was invented by two American bicycle mechanic brothers who wanted to more than wheel along. The first planes to cross South Asian skies were flown in by the British colonists, some years after Orville and Wilbur Wright perfected their flying machine in 1903 and test flew it on the hill of Kitty Hawk.
The first planes were made up of wire, wood and fabric. In order to maximise the wing area required to lift the airplane into the air, they had two wings, one above and the other below the fuselage, which was why they were called biplanes.
As often happens, it is the demands of the military that push development of advanced technology, and this was true of air travel as well. The need to dominate the skies led the warring sides in both the First and Second World Wars to develop fighting flying machines.