-
1485
Leonardo Da Vinci
Until the nineteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci was generally known only as a painter. ... Among the many subjects Leonardo studied, the possibility of human mechanical flight held particular fascination. He produced more than 35,000 words and 500 sketches dealing with flying machines, the nature of air, and bird flight. -
Henry Cavendish
Henry Cavendish FRS was a British natural philosopher, scientist, and an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. Cavendish is noted for his discovery of hydrogen or what he called "inflammable air". -
Montgolfier Brothers
Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier were paper manufacturers from Annonay, in Ardèche, France best known as inventors of the Montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique. They launched the first piloted ascent, carrying Étienne. -
Sir George Cayley
Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet was an English engineer, inventor, and aviator. He is one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him to be the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight. -
John Stringfellow
John Stringfellow was born in Sheffield, England and is known for his work on the Aerial Steam Carriage with William Samuel Henson. Stringfellow worked in Chard, Somerset, England as a maker of bobbins and carriages for the lace industry. -
Francis H. Wenham
Francis Herbert Wenham, commonly referred to as Frank, was a British marine engineer who studied the problem of human flight and wrote a perceptive and influential academic paper which he presented to the first meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society in London in 1866. -
Otto Lilienthal
Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of aviation who became known as the flying man. He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with gliders. -
Wright Brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two American aviators, engineers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane. -
World War I
World War I was the first major conflict involving the large-scale use of aircraft. Tethered observation balloons had already been employed in several wars. Germany employed Zeppelins for strategic bombing raids over Britain and the Eastern Front. Airplanes were just coming into military use. Pilots and engineers learned from experience, leading to the development of fighters, bombers, and trench strafers. -
Charles A. Lindberg
Charles Augustus Lindberg, an American aviator, made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20-21, 1927. Other pilots had crossed the Atlantic before him. But Lindbergh was the first person to do it alone nonstop. -
Frank Whittle
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle was a British Royal Air Force air officer. He is credited with single-handedly inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for a similar invention; however, this was technically unfeasible at the time. -
Amelia Earheart
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. -
Hindenburg
The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. It was destroyed due to it being filled with highly combustible/flammable hydrogen. At this time they did not have helium. It was caused by a spark that ignited leaking hydrogen. Of the 97 people on board, there were 35 fatalities. -
World War II
It was known as the war with the greatest aviation advancements. All-metal fighters replaced wood and fabric biplanes. With remote-controlled guns, pressurized cabins, and powerful engines, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress became the most advanced bomber of its day. Late in the war, the relentless process of technical refinement culminated with the debut of jet aircraft. -
Sputnik I
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two people on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC.
