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Samuel Langley builds a gasoline-powered version of his tandem-winged "Aerodromes." This was the first successful flying model to be propelled by an internal combustion engine.
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Wilbur and Orville Wright complete the first successful flight with a powered, controlled(piloted) airplane. Wilbur covered 852 feet over the ground in 59 seconds.
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Eugene Ely was an aviation pioneer, successfully completing the first shipboard aircraft take off and landing.
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During World War I, the requirements of higher speed, higher altitude, and greater maneuverability influenced dramatic improvements in aerodynamics, structures, and control of propulsion system designs.
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Lawrence Sperry creates an automatic gyrostabilizer and adds a steering gyroscope, leading to the worlds first "automatic pilot".
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Hugo Junkers introduces an all-metal airplane built mostly from a relatively lightweight aluminum alloy called duralumin.
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The introduction of a new generation of lightweight, air-cooled radial engines revolutionizes aeronautics, making bigger, faster planes possible.
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Boeing introduces a twin-engine, 10-passenger monoplane that is the first modern commercial airliner. With variable-pitch propellers, it has an economical cruising speed and excellent takeoff. Retractable landing gear reduces drag during flight.
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Robert Watson-Watt creates the first practical radar system(for radio detection and ranging) which is successfully used to detect incoming aircraft.
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First jet aircraft, the Heinkel HE 178, takes off, powered by the worlds first jet engine.
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Charles Yeager becomes the fastest man alive when he pilots the Bell X-1, which became the first aircraft to travel faster than sound.
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First regular passenger service begins as the first jet-powered commercial aircraft is invented, flying between London and South Africa.
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Being able to carry seven passengers (including two pilots) in a fully pressurized cabin, the first small jet aircraft enters mass production, with more than 100 sold by the end of 1965.
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Boeing conducts the first flight of a wide-body, turbofan-powered commercial airliner, the 747, one of the most successful aircrafts ever produced.
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Concorde SST is introduced into commercial airline service, carrying a hundred passengers at 55,000 feet and twice the speed of sound, making the London to New York run in 3.5 hours—half the time of subsonic carriers.
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Burt Rutan crafts the Voyager using a carbon-composite material, enabling the craft to fly around the world nonstop on a single load of fuel. It was piloted by Jeana Yeager and Burt’s brother Dick Rutan, who circumnavigate the globe (26,000 miles) nonstop in 9 days.
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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.
