Timeline of aviation


This is a timeline of aviation history, and a list of more detailed aviation timelines. The text in the diagram are clickable links to articles.

Timeline



ImageSize = width:500 height:2000
PlotArea = left:50 right:0 bottom:10 top:10
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1799 till:2011
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical order:reverse
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1880
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:5 start:1880
PlotData=
Color:red mark: align:left fontsize:S
shift: # shift text to right side of bar
# there is no automatic collision detection, fontsize:XS
# so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap shift:
at:1799 text: physics of flight
at:1804 text: successful model hangglider flight
at:1848 text: steam powered model glider
at:1853 text: towed, controlled, manned, glider flight
from:1884 till:1886 text: successful glider flights
at:1884 text: 1st fully controllable, lighter than air, free flight
at:1889 shift: text: A large vehicle lifts itself under power.
at:1890 text: Ader Éole lifts from ground.
from:1891 till:1896 text: controlled hangglider flights
at:1900 text: 1st Zeppelin
from:1901 till:1906 shift: text: 1st airplanes
at:1903 text: Wright Flyer 1, 260 m, controlled, witnessed, photographed
at:1905 text: Wright Flyer 3 controlled, safe landings, 38km
at:1906 text: 14-bis
at:1908 text: First aircraft manufacturer
at:1909 text: Santos-Dumont_Demoiselle
shift: at:1909 text: First crossing of the English channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft
at:1910 text: World's first jet-propelled aircraft
from:1914 till:1917 shift: text: World War I
at:1919 text: 1st Atlantic crossing
at:1919 shift: text: 1st nonstop Atlantic crossing
at:1919 shift: text: First airline is founded
at:1923 shift: text: First non-stop transcontinental flight
at:1924 text: First aerial circumnavigation
at:1927 text: 1st solo nonstop Atlantic crossing
at:1937 text: Hindenburg disaster
at:1939 text: He 178
from:1939 till:1945 shift: text: World War II
from:1940 till:1941 shift: text: The Blitz
from:1940 till:1941 shift: text: Battle of Britain
at:1940 text: Battle of Taranto
at:1944 text: V-2 rocket
at:1947 text: Sound barrier broken
at:1952 text: 1st commercial jet airliner
from:1957 till:1975 shift: text: Space Race
at:1957 shift: text: Sputnik
at:1958 text: Boeing 707
at:1961 text: 1st manned space mission
at:1969 shift: text: Apollo 11
at:1970 shift: text: SR-71 Fastest and highest flying aircraft
at:1976 text: Concorde makes first commercial flight
at:1979 text: 1st human-powered crossing of English Channel
at:1986 text: 1st nonstop unrefueled global circumnavigation
at:1988 text: World's heaviest aircraft
at:2004 shift: text: Space Ship One becomes first privately built space vehicle
at:2005 shift: text: Largest commercial airliner
at:2010 shift: text: First 24-hour flight using only solar panels and electric power