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1903 First Powered Flight
Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first recorded powered, sustained and controlled flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine. -
1904 – First powered flight in New Zealand
Richard Pearse from New Zealand makes his first recorded powered flight of more than a few seconds, though witnesses contend his first flight may have been just before the Wright brothers. -
1906 – First powered flight in Europe
Alberto Santos-Dumont makes the first successful powered flight in Europe. -
1911 – New Zealander launches glider
Kiwi aviator George Bolt’s flying career began in the South Island in 1911. Aged just 18, he launched a glider that he had designed and built himself from the Cashmere Hills above Christchurch. In 1911 Bolt took New Zealand’s first aerial photographs. In 1916 he began work as an apprentice mechanic at the Walsh brothers’ New Zealand Flying School in Auckland. -
1921 – A pilot licence first
Bessie Coleman became the first African-American to gain a pilot’s license. -
1927 – First trans-Atlantic flight
Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. -
1930 – Jet engine invented
British inventor Frank Whittle invents the jet engine. -
1932 – First woman flies across Atlantic
Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly a solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. -
1932–1937 – Record-breaking flights
New Zealander Jean Batten makes record-breaking flights around the world. -
1939 – First jet-propelled aircraft
Germany’s Heinkel 178 is the first fully jet-propelled aircraft to fly.
