This brief look into the history of flight is general thought to begin in the 1500’s when the Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci began drawing flying machines based on the characteristics of birds and other flying animals, extrapolating on their ability to displace air to stay aloft, though this was being considered up to a thousand years before Da Vinci. Of course, everyone is aware of the Wright Brothers monumental contribution with their famous craft and the subsequent endeavors of modern age aviators as humankind reached ever upward into Space.
Once considered a physical impossibility, the now long-standing tradition of “heavier-than-air flight,” stands as not only one of humankind’s finest accomplishments, but also an ongoing source for inspiration, industry, art, and imagination.
For those flying their own aircraft, the daily reality of flight is a joy and a privilege that never loses its luster. Do take the time to reflect on each of these amazing milestones and see them for the monumental accomplishments that they are.
So, starting with Da Vinci:
The 1500s
Leonardo da Vinci develops detailed sketches of flying machines that would inspire aviators for centuries to come.
1783
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI become the first to pilot a functional hot air balloon, mistakenly believing that the smoke, rather than the heat, was responsible for lifting their craft.
1903
The Wright Brothers launch their famous craft, the first powered aerial vehicle, the Wright Flyer, in Kitty Hawk, NC. The plane remained aloft for 12 seconds.
1907
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact date when the US Airforce was established as the beginnings of national air forces had different names. The US ‘Air Force’ came into being in 1907 – then name Aeronautical Division Signal’ Corps.
1909
Louis Bleriot of France becomes the first to successfully cross the English Channel by air.
1912
Albert Berry completes the first successful parachute jump from an airborne craft in Missouri.
1919
Arthur Whitten Brown and John Alcock complete the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic.
1923
Two Navy pilots complete the first transcontinental flight from New York to California.
1924
Two Army planes complete the first complete flight around the globe using four Douglas biplanes. The trip began in Seattle and took six months and six days to complete.
1927
Charles Lindbergh flies solo from New York across the Atlantic in 33 hours and 29 minutes, before landing safely in Paris.
1931
Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon become the first to make a nonstop flight across the Pacific.
1932
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1933
Wiley Post makes the first successful solo flight around the globe.
1939
The jet-engine technology is proven viable with its first successful flight.
1945
A B-25 bomber collides with the Empire State Building in New York City.
1947
Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the X-1 aircraft.
1949
The US Air Force completes the first nonstop flight around the world.
1958
A jet-powered plane crosses the Atlantic for the first time.
1961
Ham the chimpanzee goes into space in the Project Mercury capsule.
Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space.
1962
John Glen becomes the first American to orbit Earth.
1963
Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first female space-traveler.
1964
Jerrie Mock is the first woman to fly around the world solo.
1965
Russian cosmonaut Alexi Leonov executes the first spacewalk.
1969
Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.
1970
The famous Apollo 13 mission launches a harrowing lunar-landing attempt which was aborted due to malfunctions.
1971
The Russian Soyuz 11 spacecraft link up with the space station, Salyut 1.
1973
Skylab space station is launched on a 28+ day long flight.
1977
The Concorde SST lands in the United States.
1981
The Space Shuttle Columbia launches for the first time.
1983
Sally Ride becomes America’s first woman in space.
1988
Col. Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov set the record for time in space at an incredible 366 days on the Space Station Mir.
1990
The first paying passenger goes into space aboard the Soyuz TM-11.
1995
The Space Shuttle Discovery successfully mates with the Russian Space Station Mir, with Eileen Collins as the first female Shuttle pilot.
1998
The Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final docking at the Russian Space Station Mir, setting the stage for the ISP Partnership.
2003
Lockheed Martin’s 100th C-130J Super Hercules rolled off the assembling line, making it a staple among cargo airplanes.
2008
The New York Air National Guard’s fighter squadron switched from manned to all unmanned aircraft.
2009
The F-22 Raptor is the final word in stealth combat aircraft. But a lack of demand moves Congress to stop production in 2009.
2010
In a solar airplane, Bertrand Piccard and his Solar Impulse team fly more than 24 consecutive hours non–stop.
2011
The Space Shuttle Program officially ends with the final flight of space shuttle Atlantis.
2012
Electric vehicle pioneer Chip Yates flies an electric aircraft faster than 200 miles per hour for the first time.
2013
The unnamed aircraft, U.S. Navy’s X–47B drone, completes first-ever carrier landing on the moving flight deck of an aircraft carrier at sea.
2014
NASA’s Maven successfully reaches and enters Mar’s orbit, starts exploring Mar’s upper atmosphere.
2015
For the first time, SpaceX upgraded Falcon 9 rocket lands a spent orbital rocket after deploying 11 Orbcomm data satellites into orbit.
2016
Blue Origin launches and lands reusable rocket for third consecutive time.
2017
Airbus in November partnered with Rolls-Royce and Siemens to develop a hybrid-electric propulsion demonstrator, the E-fan X, to fly in 2020.
2018
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe sets record for “closest approach to the sun.”
Source(s):
http://www.historynet.com/a-brief-history-of-aviation-by-justfly.htm
https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a5115/4340775/