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Wilber & Orville Wright create the first functioning plane
The Wright brothers successfully create the first flying vehicle. It flew for over 12 seconds and reached a height of about 8 feet. They did three more test flights. The second one was the same as the first, the third flight lasted 15 seconds, and the fourth flight was airborne for almost a minute. It flew 852 feet. -
First Seaplane
The first seaplane (an airplane that can land on water) was created by Glenn H. Curtiss. This invention led to the creation of British F-Boats, which helped turn the tide of WWI. -
First weaponized aircraft
The British military took an interest in the Wright brothers' airplane, and immediately thought "how can we weaponize this?" Their engineers took to work and after a while, they created the first-ever weaponized aircraft, called the "Vickers E.F.B.1 Biplane". -
First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight
The first nonstop Transatlantic flight was done by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown. -
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First Flight Around the World
Was done by eight U.S. Army Air Service pilots and mechanics, flying four airplanes named after these American cities: "Seattle", "Chicago", "Boston" and "New Orleans," It took 175 days. That must have been incredibly boring. -
Picture of "Heinkel He 178"
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Creation of the Jet Engine & the First Non-Propeller Airplane
Frank Whittle of the U.K. and Hans Von Ohains of Germany are the two engineers credited for creating the jet engine somewhere in the late 1930s. This jet engine would later be put on a plane, creating the first aircraft to not use a propeller to fly. This plane is called the "Heinkel He 178". -
First Commercial Airliner
The first passenger plane was the de Havilland DH 106 Comet, created by Tony Jannus. It was capable of holding between 36 and 44 passengers.