IN DEPTH: AVIATION
International Timeline
Alison Hancock and Owen Wood, CBC News Online | June 2, 2005
1485
First designs of flying machines
Leonardo da Vinci, Italy
Modeled after birds, Leonardo's designs range from flapping wings to imitating the way birds glide.
1783
First hot air balloon flights
Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier, France
1784
First powered airship (dirigible)
Jean Baptiste Marie Meusnier, France
Before this, passengers could not control the direction of the hot air balloon. The new ship was cigar-shaped and powered by three hand-cranked propellers. This dirigible is the predecessor of the famous Zeppelins.
Oct. 22, 1797
First person to use a parachute
Andre Jacques Garnerin, France
Garnerin jumped about 600 metres from a balloon and landed safely.
1804
First unmanned glider
Sir George Cayley, England
Sept. 24, 1852
First steam-powered air balloon
Henri Giffard, France
1853
First manned glider
Sir George Cayley, England
Built by Cayley, who was 79 at the time, but flown by his coachman, John Appleby, who promptly resigned after the flight.
After the Wright brothers' 1903 flight, they went on to demonstrate their plane in France |
Dec. 17, 1903
First engine-powered, manned, heavier-than-air, controlled flight
Wilbur and Orville Wright, United States
Flown at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the flight lasted 12 seconds and covered a distance of about 37 metres.
Nov. 13, 1907
First helicopter
Paul Cornu, France
The flight lasted 20 seconds and the helicopter hovered about 30 centimetres above the ground.
Sept. 28, 1924
First around-the-world flight
A team of Douglas World Cruisers, United States Army Air Service
Four planes, each with two crewmembers, left Seattle Washington and headed west on Apr. 6, 1924. One crashed in Alaska and a second in the Atlantic Ocean. Both crews survived – the second crew got a replacement plane and continued the journey. Three crews returned to Seattle on Sept. 22, 175 days after beginning the flight. The planes weren't without help during the trip though. Thirty spare engines were dispatched around the world before they took off, and 28 countries supplied fuel along the way.
March 16, 1926
First rocket using liquid fuel
Robert Goddard, United States
The rocket climbed about 12 metres in 2.5 seconds and landed about 56 metres away. Seven years earlier, Goddard suggested sending a vehicle to the moon by using rockets.
Charles Lindbergh |
May 20, 1927
First solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean
Charles Lindbergh, United States
Lindbergh flew non-stop from New York to Paris in a plane called The Spirit of St. Louis.
June 11, 1928
First manned flight of a rocket-powered glider
Friedrich Stamer, Germany
1929
First rocket-powered plane
Fritz Opel, Germany
January 1930
Patent for the design of the first jet engine
Frank Whittle, Britain
Whittle started building his first engine in 1935 and completed a successful test in 1937. However, Hans von Ohain of Germany, who was granted a patent for his jet engine design in 1936, got his in the air first, in 1939. Whittle's jet first flew two years later (May 15, 1941).
Sept. 8, 1944
First combat ballistic missiles
Germany
The first V1 and V2 rockets were fired by Germany against England during the Second World War.
Oct. 14, 1947
First plane to fly faster than the speed of sound
Capt. Charles E. Yeager, United States Air Force
The rocket-powered Bell X-1 research plane reached a speed of 1,127 km/h.
Oct. 4, 1957
First artificial satellite
Sputnik I, USSR
The achievement ushered in the space age. The following year, the United States established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA.
1959
First winged aircraft to reach speeds four to six times the speed of sound
North American X-15, United States (NASA)
The X-15, a rocket-powered research aircraft, not only became the first winged aircraft to travel at Mach 4, 5 and 6, it also was the first to operate at altitudes above 30,500 metres. These feats were achieved in various test flights during 1959.
Jan. 2, 1959
First man-made object to escape Earth's orbit
Luna 1, USSR
Feb. 12, 1961
First spacecraft to fly by a planet (Venus)
Venera 1, USSR
April 12, 1961
First human in space
Yuri Gagarin, USSR
He completes a full orbit of the Earth before returning safely
July 20, 1969
First human on the moon
Apollo 11, United States (NASA)
Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the surface of the moon, saying, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
1970
First jumbo jet in service
Boeing 747
Has room for nearly 500 passengers.
Apr. 19, 1971
First manned space laboratory
Salyut 1, USSR
Nov. 13, 1971
First spacecraft to orbit another planet (Mars)
Mariner 9, United States (NASA)
July 20, 1976
First spacecraft to land on Mars
Viking 1, United States (NASA)
Two months later, Viking 1 was joined by Viking 2. Both spacecraft sent photographs and data back to Earth until the early 1980s.
August 23, 1977
First sustained, manoeuverable human-powered flight
Bryan Allen, United States
Allen, a cyclist, flew the Gossamer Condor, designed by Paul MacCready and Peter Lissaman, in a figure-8 course around pylons half a mile apart in Shafter, Calif. Although there were earlier successful human-powered flights, this was the first to demonstrate performance comparable to the Wright Brothers' Flyer.
June 1983
First spacecraft to travel beyond Pluto
Pioneer 10, United States (NASA)
Launched on March 3, 1972, Pioneer 10 passed the last known planet in 1983 and continued operating with the use of solar-powered cells.
Dec. 17, 2003
100th anniversary of flight
June 14, 1919
First non-stop flight across the Atlantic
Capt. John Alcock and Lieut. Arthur Whitten Brown, two British First Word War flying veterans, cross the Atlantic in a converted Vickers Bomber, the Vimy IV. They take off from Lester's Field in St. John's, Nfld.
March 3, 2005
First non-stop flight around the world
American adventurer Steve Fossett, 60, flies around the world without stopping or refuelling in the custom-made Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.
June 14, 2005
Atlantic crossing re-enactment
Steve Fossett hopes to recreate the first non-stop transatlantic flight in a replica Vickers Vimy biplane, leaving St. John's, Nfld., on the 86th anniversary of Alcock and Brown's flight.
Sources: NASA, The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, U.S. National Air and Space Museum
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