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Inventers of the first plan
On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane. -
First parachut jump.
Tony Jannus piloted a Benoist biplane when Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane near St. Louis. -
First commercial airline flight
Tony Jannus conducted the United States' first scheduled commercial airline flight on 1 January 1914 for the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. -
NACA
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the first government-sponsored organization in support of aviation research and development, is formed. -
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January 24, 1925 - 25 airplanes take scientists and other observers above the clouds in Connecticut to view a total eclipse of the sun. -
First practical radar
British scientist Sir Robert Watson-Watt patents the first practical radar (for radio detection and ranging) system for meteorological applications. During World War II radar is successfully used in Great Britain to detect incoming aircraft and provide information to intercept bombers. -
A world war 2 airplane innovation
A world war again spurs innovation. The British develop airplane-detecting radar just in time for the Battle of Britain. At the same time the Germans develop radiowave navigation techniques. The both sides develop airborne radar, useful for attacking aircraft at night. German engineers produce the first practical jet fighter, the twin-engine ME 262, which flies at 540 miles per hour, and the Boeing Company modifies its B-17 into the high-altitude Flying Fortress. -
Boeing 777
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. Only a nose mockup was actually built before the vehicle was assembled—and the
assembly was only 0.03 mm out of alignment when a wing was attached.
