Evolution of Airplanes

By JWeisenbach

  • First Plane Flight

    The first plane to take flight, the wright flyer, made history. This historic moment would forever change the course of history. When the plane took flight, the Wright brothers became the first people to fly

  • First Plane to Drop Bombs

    A plane did something that was unheard of. The plane was equipped with bombs and was then the first plane in history to drop bombs, making way for bomber aircraft.

  • First Passenger Plane

    The world’s first scheduled passenger service, an airboat piloted by Tony Ganus, set off from St. Petersburg, Florida, and landed in Tampa, making the first commercial plane flight

  • Plane with Guns Takes to the Sky

    Just 12 years after the first flight, the first plane with guns on it took flight. This was another historic moment which would pave the skies for fighter aircraft to control the skies.

  • First Jet Aircraft Rips Through the Skies

    German engineers made a groundbreaking discovery. They made the first plane to be powered by jet engines, the ME-262, which was used to destroy bomber and fighter aircraft alike. At the time, all planes were powered by propellers. The P-51, for example, flew at 430 miles per hour, and the ME-262 flew at almost 560.

  • Faster Than Sound

    The Bell X-1 rocket managed something nothing else could do at the time. It broke the sound barrier, moving faster than the speed of sound. This rocket would be the first plane of many to go faster than sound.

  • Jet Powered and Passenger Carrying

    Great Britain made the de Havilland Comet, which was the first jet powered passenger plane, paving the way for more modern and iconic planes like the Boing 747, the Airbus A380, and many more.

  • Missile gets Kill

    a Taiwanese F-86F got the first air to air kill using a air to air missile, proving that the missiles were capable of killing aircraft.

  • Supersonic Public Travel

    Aerospatiale, Sud Aviation, the British Aircraft Corporation, and the British Aerospace made a truly amazing jet-powered commercial airliner called the Concorde. This legendary plane was able to carry between 92-128 passengers and fly at speeds of up to Mach 2.04 (2.04 times the speed of sound) or 1,565 mph and set a record that still stands today. The plane flew between New York City and London in 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds.