Any aeronautical vehicle capable of flying through the air. It may be lighter than air (supported by buoyancy) or heavier than air (supported by the dynamic action of air on its surfaces). Balloons and airships are lighter-than-air craft. Heavier-than-air craft include the aeroplane, glider, autogiro, and helicopter.
| 1522 | Germany | The German illustrator Albrecht Dürer designs a flying machine. |
| 1 December 1804 | UK | English aviation pioneer George Cayley develops an instrument to measure wind resistance. About this time he also begins to construct models of gliders with fixed wings, fuselage, elevators and a rudder – the basic configuration of the modern aeroplane. |
| 24 September 1852 | France | French engineer Henri Giffard flies the first steam-powered airship a distance of 28 km/17 mi, at an average speed of 10 kph/6 mph. |
| 1877 | Germany | German aeronautical engineer Otto Lilienthal begins to build successful gliders with arched wings like a bird and which he steers by moving his legs. The Wright brothers draw heavily on his experiements. |
| 2 July 1900 | Germany | German inventor Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin's lighter-than-air ship LZ-3D1 makes its first flight, at Lake Constance, Germany. It has an aluminium sheeting hull. |
| 8 August 1903 | USA | US astronomer and physicist Samuel Pierpont Langley achieves the first flight of a heavier-than-air vehicle powered by a petrol engine. It is uncrewed and flies 300 m/1,000 ft in 27 seconds. |
| 8 December 1903 | | US astronomer and physicist Samuel Pierpont Langley attempts his manned first flight. His plane, with a wing span of 13 m/40 ft, weighing only 386 kg/850 lb (including pilot), and powered by US aeronautical engineer Charles Manley's engine, snags on takeoff and plunges into the Potomac River just nine days before the Wright brothers make their first successful flight. It is reconstructed several years later and successfully flown by US aviator Glenn Curtiss. |
| 17 December 1903 | USA | US aviator Orville Wright makes the first successful flight in an aeroplane with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, covering 37 m/120ft in a flight lasting just 12 seconds. During the day, Orville and his brother Wilbur make a number of flights, the longest covering 260 m/852 ft and lasting 59 seconds. |
| 25 July 1909 | France, United Kingdom | French aviator Louis Blériot crosses the English Channel by monoplane in 37 minutes from Le Boraques, France, to Dover, England. |
| 1913 | United Kingdom | British firm Vickers introduce the Experimental Fighting Biplane No. 1. It is the first plane to have a machine gun mounted on it. |
| 1915 | Russian Empire | Russian engineer Igor Sikorsky builds a 16-passenger biplane. Passengers are in an enclosed cabin and the aeroplane is powered by four 100-horsepower Mercedes engines. It is the first multi-engine aeroplane. |
| 14–15 June 1919 | Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom | British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown fly, in a Vickers-Vimy twin-engined biplane, from Newfoundland to Ireland in 16 hr 12 min, winning the £10,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail for the first nonstop transatlantic flight. |
| 20–21 May 1927 | USA | US aviator Charles Lindbergh, in his single-engine aircraft Spirit of St Louis, flies from New York City to Paris, France, the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight. He arrives at Le Bourget Airfield, outside Paris, France, at 10:24 p.m., 33 hr 29 min after departing Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York. |
| 30 September 1929 | | German car manufacturer Fritz von Opel test-pilots the first rocket-powered aircraft, a glider with a gunpowder rocket attached. |
| 1930 | | English inventor Frank Whittle patents a turbo-jet engine. It is later used on the first jet aeroplane. |
| c. 1931–c. 1940 | | Aeroplanes undergo radical changes; they become streamlined, are made almost entirely of metal, acquire controllable-pitch propellers, have air-cooled engines and retractable landing gear, and passengers and crew are protected in soundproofed and insulated cabins. |
| 20–21 May 1932 | | US aviator Amelia Earhart flies from Newfoundland, Canada, to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in 13.5 hours, the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic. |
| 1 June 1933 | | The Douglas Company DC-1 airliner makes its first flight from Santa Monica, California. During the flight it loses power in both engines. Power is regained on the descent and it is discovered that the carburettors have been installed backwards. The plane has variable speed propellers and can fly at 241kph/150 mph and carry 12 passengers. |
| 15–22 July 1933 | | US aviator Wiley Post makes the first solo flight around the world, in 7 days 18 hr 49 min. |
| 3 February 1934 | Germany | Deutsche Lufthansa start the first regular transatlantic airmail service, completing the journey from Berlin, Germany to Buenos Aires, Argentina in four days. |
| 12 September 1935 | USA | US multimillionaire Howard Hughes sets the world's airspeed record of 567.23 kph/352.46 mph, in an aeroplane of his own design. |
| 1936 | USA | US aircraft manufacturer Douglas introduces the 21-passenger DC-3, one of the most successful commercial aircraft ever built (10,000 are produced by 1945). Powered by two 1200-horsepower engines, it reaches speeds of 300 kph/186 mph |
| 27 August 1939 | Germany | The Heinkel He 178 makes a test flight in Germany, achieving a speed of 500 kph/360 mph; it is the first jet aeroplane to fly. |
| 14 September 1939 | USA | The first effective helicopter, the VS-300, designed by Ukranian-born US engineer Igor Sikorsky, makes its first test flight. |
| July 1942 | Germany | The German Messerschmidt Me 262 makes its first flight; it is the first operational jet aeroplane. |
| 14 October 1947 | USA | US test pilot Major Charles ‘Chuck’ Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound; he does it in a Bell X-1 rocket plane which reaches Mach 1.06 (1,207 kph/750 mph) |
| 1948 | USA | The Consolidated B-36 bomber is introduced in the US Air Force. With a range of 16,000 km/10,000 mi, it is the first intercontinental bomber. |
| 27 February–2 March 1949 | USA | The US B-50 bomber Lucky Lady II is the first aeroplane to fly nonstop around the world, refuelling in midair and completing 37,734 km/23,452 mi in 94 hr 1 min. |
| 2 May 1952 | UK, South Africa | BOAC's De Havilland Comet inaugurates jet-powered passenger aircraft service with the first scheduled commercial flight, from London, England, to Johannesburg, South Africa. |
| 1955 | USA | US firm IBM develops SABRE (Semi-Automated Business Related Environment) for American Airlines passenger reservations. It consists of more than 1,000 teletypewriters connected to a central database – the first computer network. |
| October 1958 | UK, USA | The first scheduled transatlantic jet services are launched, by British Overseas Airways Corporation flying a Comet IV between London, England, and New York City, followed by Pan-Am flying a Boeing 707 between Paris, France, and New York City. |
| 8 June 1959 | USA | The US X-15 rocket plane makes its first flight. Only three of the planes are built, but over the next ten years they achieve a speed of 7,200 kph/4,500 mph (Mach 6) and an altitude of 106,700 m/350,000 ft. |
| 31 August 1966 | UK | British Aerospace's Harrier, a vertical take off and landing (VTOL) jet, makes its first test flight. |
| 31 December 1968 | USSR | The world's first supersonic airliner, the Tupolev TU-144, designed by Soviet engineer Alexey Tupolev, makes its first flight. |
| 2 March 1969 | UK, France | The prototype of the French–British supersonic airliner Concorde makes its first test flight. Its first supersonic flight takes place on 1 October. |
| 21 January 1976 | UK, Bahrain, France, Brazil | Two Concorde aircraft make their first commercial flights, from London, England, to Bahrain and from Paris, France, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. |
| 21 January 1976 | UK, France | The British-French supersonic airliner Concorde begins a regular passenger service across the Atlantic; it is the world's first scheduled supersonic passenger service. |
| 1977 | USA | US inventor Paul MacCready's aircraft Gossamer Condor makes the first human-powered flight and wins the £50,000 Kremer Prize. |
| 24 October 1978 | USA | The US Airline Deregulation Act provides for the phasing out of government control of the airline industry; routes are to be deregulated by 1982 and prices by 1 January 1985. The airlines respond by abandoning the less profitable shorter routes and competing on the longer, more profitable ones by cutting fares. |
| 1981 | USA | US pilot Stephen Ptacek crosses the English Channel from Paris, France, to Manston, Kent, England (368 km /180 mi), at a height of 3,353 m/11,000 ft, in 5.5 hrs in Solar Challenger, the first solar-powered aircraft; it uses 16,000 solar cells. |
| 12–14 April 1981 | USA | The US reusable space shuttle, using the orbiter Columbia, makes its first flight (second shuttle flight 12–14 November). It is also the first landing of a US spacecraft on land. |
| July 1989 | USA | The US Air Force's Stealth Bomber (B-2) makes its first flight. Its profile, and the material used in its construction, are intended to reduce radar reflection. |
| 15 February 2005 | USA | In response to the European Airbus consortium's new A380 superjumbo jet unveiled in January 2005, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing presents the first of its new generation of long-range airliners at its plant in Seattle. The 777-200LR will be the first passenger jet capable of flying non-stop from London, England, to Sydney, Australia. |
| 3 March 2005 | | US millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly around the world on a solo, non-stop journey without refuelling aboard the specially-designed Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer aircraft. Between take-off and landing at Salina in Kansas, he sets a record of just over 67 hours. |
