Fun Kite Facts.

In 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite and proved that lightning is electricity. This is Franklin's most famous flight, but he flew kites many other times. As a boy, he once used a kite to pull himself across the water!

Three hundred years ago, judges flew a kite above people accused of crimes. They believed that the kite would dip down over a guilty person.

Kite-fighting is a popular sport in many countries. The strings of fighting kites have a layer of glass or sand on them. A flyer uses this string to cut other kites' lines and send them crashing to the ground.

Baskets attached to kites once lifted tools to workers on top of high buildings.

In 1825, a schoolteacher named George Pocock invented the kite carriage. Two kites pulled the carriage along at twenty-five miles per hour. Mr. Pocock also used a kite to lift his son more than 100 feet off the ground!