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George Cayley
Although people say the Wright Brothers performed the first flight, it was actually George Cayley. The Wright Brothers performed the first POWERED flight, but George Cayley performed the first normal flight and also invented the airfoil. *The date of the flight is unknown so I just listed Cayley's birthday. -
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Planes and the Industrial Revolution
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Bernoulli's Principle
In 1783, Daniel Bernoulli released the Bernoulli's Principle to the public which made way for modern aviation as we know it. Although I said January 1st, the exact date is unknown except for the year. -
First Factory
Samuel Slater built the first factory in the United States in 1790. Soon, other factories were built and eventually there would be aircraft factories. This was also the beginning of the industrial revolution. -
Propeller
In February of 1827, Josef Ressel invented the first screw propeller which the Wright Brothers would improve by adding an airfoil over 70 years later. -
Wright Flyer
Wilbur and Oroville Wright invented the first powered aircraft. This was still during the Industrial Revolution. -
Lt. Selfridge
On September 17, 1908, the first fatal airplane crash occured. The Wright Brothers were showing their Wright Flyer to the U.S. Army with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge on board when the right prop fractured and the plane began to go into a nosedive. Photo: The last image of Lt. Selfridge before the Wright Flyer took off. -
Lockheed Martin
On December 19, 1912, Malcolm Lockheed, Allan Haines Lockheed, and Glenn L. Martin founded Lockheed Martin. The provider for most of the Air Force's aircraft. -
Assembly Line
In 1913, Henry Ford invented the assembly line. Assembly lines are used in building, well, anything really. Assembly lines are also used to construct aircraft and assemble the parts of the aircraft. -
Boeing
In 1916, William Boeing founded the company "Boeing", the leading commercial and military aircraft company. -
AT&T
On October 5th, 1916, George Holt Thomas founded the first airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel (or AT&T). Today, there are 5,511 airlines in the world. -
Sopwith Camel
Some early planes were covered in cotton fabrics. The Industrial Revolution started because of cotton. -
Travel Air 2000
Some planes like the Travel Air 2000 are steam-powered. Steam-powered locomotives were invented during the Industrial Revolution. -
Queen Bee
In 1935, Britain developed the first unmanned air vehicle or UAV. -
Heinkel He 176
On June 20th, 1939, the Heinkel He 176 flew for the first time. The Heinkel He 176 was the first rocket-powered aircraft. 7 years later, a rocket powered aircraft was used to break the sound barrier. -
Heinkel He 178
On August 27, 1939, the Heinkel He 178 made it's maiden flight. The Heinkel He 178 was the first plane to use a jet engine for propulsion. -
X-1
On October 14th, 1947, Charles "Chuck" Yeager flew the first supersonic flight with an X-1 experimental aircraft. -
Fly-By-Wire
The first aircraft to be controlled digitally was the BAE/Aeropostale Concorde. It used a system called Fly-By-Wire (or FBW for short) because it had to be capable of reaching speeds over Mach 1. -
Militky MB-E1
The Militky MB-E1 runs solely on induction electric motors, which were invented by Nikola Tesla during the American Industrial Revolution. -
Air France Flight 4590
The crash of the Concorde AF4590 caused the permanent decommission of Concordes. -
Present Day
Today, there are advanced technologies like fly-by-wire that improve aircraft safety and flying difficulty.
