who invented the ancient chinese hot air balloon
History of ballooning Unmanned hot air balloons are popular in Chinese history. Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han kingdom, in the Three Kingdoms era (c. AD 220-280) used airborne lanterns for military signaling. These lanterns are known as Kongming lanterns (孔明灯).[1][2]
Helicopter The earliest references for vertical flight came from China. Since around 400 BC,[8] Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys (or Chinese top).[9][10][11] This bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor. The spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released.[8] The 4th-century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong (抱朴子 "Master who Embraces Simplicity") reportedly describes some of the ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft.[12]