Leonardo da Vinci was quite an inventor, because he made sketches of a flying machine that used manpower. The earliest flying machines had no power; they were actually huge kites or gliders. During the 19th century many experiments with that were carried on. Till that time nobody had yet made a heavier-than-air machine that was equipped with its own power. The first man to show that it could be done was Professor Samuel Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian institution of Washington, D.C. He built two machines of 1.5 horse power steam engine and became successful in 1896. In 1903, Langley's full-sized flying machine was tested and wrecked. Orville and Wilbur Wright succeeded in making man's first flight in a heavier-than-air machine with its own power, on 17th December, 1903. At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they traveled one flight of 30 meters in 12 seconds and a second flight of 260 meters in 59 seconds.
Leonardo's sketch were very important. Once Leonardo DA Vince died his sketch became famous. Either did someone find his sketch to have told to the wright brothers or did they have almost identical ideas.Leonardo DA Vince was a fairly wise man, who had possibly had gotten these ideas from the kite. The wright Brothers May have gotten their Ideas from there.During that time people were discovering new inventions. It is possible they might have been thinking about something similar. Keep in mind what exact sketches Leonardo DA Vince made and compare them with the Wright Brothers.The wright brothers and Leonardo DA Vince are known for history, They must have gotten this idea from the kite the only invention with its own power.
Leonardo Da Vinci sketched helicopters, so technically it wasn't an aeroplane... But you also asked who invented the first flying machines, and you don't have to physically build something to have invented it.
There were tests to see if Da Vinci's helicopter plans would have been successful, and he was close but not perfect... So to his death he never finished the entire plans.
So based on that I would say it was the Wright brothers in 1913 when they made a fully successful aeroplane... Although even their aeroplanes frequently crashed and weren't fully perfected until years later!
But the difference is the Wright brothers tested and perfected theirs, unlike Da Vinci.
During the Renaissance, Leonardo drew but could never prove what he theorized. The Wright brothers being technologically advanced in the 20th century could create an airplane, the first successful airplane.
