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History of Aviation
Leonardo da Vinci designs a flying machine1487
Francesco de Lana designs the first airship1670
Laurenco de Gusmao fails in his attempt to launch a bird-shaped glider1709
Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier's hot air balloon reaches a height of 6,560 feet (2,000 m)1783
Jacques Charles tests the first hydrogen hot air balloon in Paris1783
Jean Blanchard and John Jeffries become the first to cross the English Channel by air balloon1785
Pilâtre de Rozier and Pierre Romain become the first men to be killed in a hot air balloon1785
André Jacques Garnerin makes first successful parachute jump above Paris1797
Jeanne-Genevieve Garnerin, became the first woman to make a parachute jump1799
André Jacques Garnerin makes parachute jump of 8,000 feet (2,438 m)1802
Jacob Degen survives a crash in Vienna in his ornithopter1809
The Vauxhall air balloon flies from England to Germany, covering 480 miles in 18 hours1836
George Cayley builds a triplane glider1849
Henri Gifford builds an airship powered by a 3-hp steam engine1852
Louis Charles Letur builds a parachute-glider in France1853
A triplane built by George Cayley flies 900 feet (275 m) across a small valley1853
Louis Charles Letur is killed in his pilot-controlled air machine1854
Alphonse Pénaud's aeroplane travels 131 feet (39.92 m) in 11 seconds1871
Vincent de Groof is killed when his aircraft launched from a balloon crashes1874
Alexander Mozhaiski's aeroplane travels 98 feet (29.87 m) at Krasnoye Selo, Russia1884
Otto Lilienthal, a German engineer, publishes a book outlining his theories on flight1889
Clement Adler's aircraft, Eole, travels 165 feet (50.29 m) at Gretz1890
Percy Pilcher flies his Bat glider for the first time1895
Otto Lilienthal, the German engineer, is killed while flying his recently designed glider1896
Percy Pilcher is killed when flying his new aircraft, the Hawk1899
The LZ airship, designed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, makes its first flight1900
Samuel Pierpont Langley builds the first aircraft powered by a gasoline engine 1901
Samuel Pierpont Langley abandons his experiments when his aircraft, Aerodrome, crashes 1903
Orville and Wilber Wright's fly the first heavier-than-air machine at Kitty Hawk 1903
Orville and Wilber Wright's Flyer II fails to take-off1904
Ferdinand Ferber builds a biplane glider with fixed tail1904
Orville and Wilber Wright's Flyer III flies 24.2 miles (38.95 km) in 38 minutes1905
Blériot VII reaches a speed of about 50 mph (80 kpm)1907
Louis Bleriot becomes the first man to fly across the English Channel1909
The establishment of the Aéronautique Militaire1910
First parachute jump from an aeroplane take place at St. Louis1912
The establishment of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC)1912
A Zeppelin airship bombs Liege in Belgium1914
Roland Garros uses deflector plates1915
Zeppelin raid on London kills 28 people1915
First lightweight aircraft receiver tested in England1916
First heavy bomber, the Handley Page, goes into action1916
Charles Augustus Lindbergh flies nonstop between New York and Paris1927
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean1928
Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates his radar system to Air Ministry1935
The Hawker Hurricane, designed by Sydney Camm, makes its first flight1935
The Spitfire, designed by Reginald J. Mitchell, makes its first flight1936
The Messerschmitt 110 makes its first flight1936
Frank Whittle tests the first prototype jet engine1937
Amelia Earhart killed during an attempt on a round-the-world flight1937
Junkers Ju 88A makes its first flight1939
The Vought Corsair becomes the first fighter aircraft to fly at 400 mph1940
Frank Whittle's jet-propelled Gloster E28 takes its first flight1941
Wernher von Braun demonstrates his V2 Rocket to Nazi leaders1942
The Messerschmitt Me 262 makes its first test flight1942
The B-29 Superfortress makes its first flight1942
Wing Commander Guy Gibson leads the Dambusters Raid1943
The Arado Ar 234, the world's first jet bomber, makes its first flight1943
Gloster Meteor, Britain's first jet-fighter, is used by the Royal Air Force1944
The turbo-jet Heinkel He 162 makes its first test flight1944
By John Simkin (john@spartacus-educational.com) © September 1997 (updated January 2020).

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