The principle of jet propulsion (through the powerful discharge of a compressed gas) first appears in the flying pigeon, a magnificent flying machine, ancestral of the modern rocket-propelled technology, invented by Archytas of Tarentum (since the 5th century B.C.) and preserved by Favorinus in “Pantodape Historia” (Miscellaneous History) and by Aulus Gellius in “Noctes Atticae”.
