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First successful flying model propelled by an internal combustion engine
Samuel Pierpont Langley builds a gasoline-powered version of his tandem-winged "Aerodromes." the first successful flying model to be propelled by an internal combustion engine. -
First sustained flight with a powered, controlled airplane
Wilbur and Orville Wright complete the first four sustained flights with a powered, controlled airplane at Kill Devil Hills, 4 miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. On their best flight of the day, Wilbur covers 852 feet over the ground in 59 seconds. In 1905 they introduce the Flyer, the world’s first practical airplane. -
Bleriot IX
In 1909 Louis Bleriot invented the the first monoplane called Bleriot IX. Bleriot completed a 36.6km flight from Calais, France to Dover,UK, in 37 minutes -
First take off from a ship
Eugene Ely pilots a Curtiss biplane on the first flight to take off from a ship. In November he departs from the deck of a cruiser anchored in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and lands onshore. In January 1911 he takes off from shore and lands on a ship anchored off the coast of California. -
Automatic gyrostabilizer leads to first automatic pilot
Lawrence Sperry demonstrates an automatic gyrostabilizer at Lake Keuka, Hammondsport, New York. A gyroscope linked to sensors keeps the craft level and traveling in a straight line without aid from the human pilot. Two years later Sperry and his inventor father, Elmer, add a steering gyroscope to the stabilizer gyro and demonstrate the first "automatic pilot." -
The first fighter plane
French pilot Roland Garros flew the first ever fighter plane. The plane was armed with a machine gun that shot through its propeller. While piloting the fighter plane took down 5 planes. -
Passenger service across the English Channel introduced
Britain and France introduce passenger service across the English Channel, flying initially between London and Paris. 1919 the first nonstop transatlantic flight, from Newfoundland to Ireland. -
First nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic
On May 21, Charles Lindbergh completes the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic from New York to Paris in a Ryan monoplane. -
First modern commercial airliner
In February, Boeing introduces the 247, a twin-engine 10-passenger monoplane that is the first modern commercial airliner. -
World War II innovation
A world war again spurs innovation. The British develop airplane-detecting radar. At the same time the Germans develop radiowave navigation techniques. German engineers produce the first practical jet fighter, and the Boeing Company modifies its B-17 into the high-altitude Flying Fortress. In Britain the Instrument Landing System (ILS) for landing in bad weather is put into use in 1944. -
Sound barrior broken
U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager becomes the fastest man alive when he pilots the Bell X-1 faster than sound for the first time on October 14 over the town of Victorville, California. -
Boeing 747
Boeing conducts the first flight of a wide-body, turbofan-powered commercial airliner, the 747, one of the most successful aircraft ever produced. -
First aircraft produced through computer-aided design and engineering
Boeing debuts the twin-engine 777, the biggest two-engine jet ever to fly and the first aircraft produced through computer-aided design and engineering. -
Joint research program to develop second-generation supersonic airliner
NASA teams with American and Russian aerospace industries develop a second-generation supersonic airliner for the 21st century. The centerpiece is the Tu-144LL, a first-generation Russian supersonic jetliner modified into a flying laboratory.
