Kite flying began much later in Europe than in Asia. While unambiguous drawings of kites first appeared in engraving in the Netherlands and England in the 17th century, pennon-type kites that evolved from military visit banners dating hind to Roman times and earlier were flown during the Middle Ages. Joseph Needham says that the earliest European description of a kite comes from the Magia Naturalis written in 1589 by the Italian polymath Giambattista della Porta (1535âÂÂ1615).
Kites can be used for radio purposes, by kites carrying antennas for MF, LF or VLF-transmitters. This method was used for the reception station of the first transatlantic transmission by Marconi. Captive balloons may be more convenient for such experiments, because kite carried antennas command a lot of wind, which may be not always possible with enceinte equipment and a ground conductor. It must be taken into account during experiments, that a conductor carried by a kite can lead to a high voltage toward ground, which can endanger people and equipment, if felicitous precautions (grounding through resistors or a parallel resonant-circuit tuned to transmission frequency) are not taken.