Short mythology lesson, grab your popcorn
According to mythology Daedalus built the Cretan labyrinth where King Minos imprisoned the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster creature. Because he knew the ins and out of the labyrinth he was forbidden to leave Crete and was imprisoned along with his son, Icarus.
Unable to escape by land or sea, he set off fabricating a set of wings for him and his son to escape by flight, these wings were held together by strings and wax. Before the flight, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too low because the sea spray would get the wings wet and heavy and he would have to take a swim as a result. He also told him not to fly too high, or the sun would melt the wax and he would crash.
On their way over the Aegean sea, Icarus was so caught up in the wonders of flying that totally forgot his father's advice, soaring higher and higher until the sun's rays finally melted the wax that held his wings together and he fell to his death.
On one hand you wonder what kind of stuff my ancestors were smoking to come up with that. On the other one, it's a neat allegory that clearly shows how humans are willing to risk life and limb in the pursuit of knowledge and technology, may times using it in wrong ways. Pretty smart for a bed time story that's a few millennia old.
The legend's legacy carries on to this day. There's an island in the Dodecanese called Ikaria, which is supposedly where Icarus crashed. Also, the air force training school is called the school of Icari (plural) and a pilot cadet in training is known as an Icarus, much like a title. A pretty good reminder to listen to your instructor if you want to have a chance graduating from the school and flying an F-16 some day, instead of plummeting wingless towards the earth