Airplanes

1800's

People have been trying to engineer powered flight well before the Wright brother's flights. In 1804, Sir George Caylay started modern aeronautical engineering with test and flying the fist successful winged aircraft. Otto Lilienthal also studied aeronautical engineering with aerodynamic test that influenced future aeronautical experiments.

1901
Samuel Langley creates the first successful flying model propelled by an internal combustion engine. He builds his model "Aerodromes," with wingspans up to 15 feet.

1903

Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled engine four miles South of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in Kill Devil Hills. Their best flight is 852 feet in 59 seconds.

1910

Eugene Ely pilots a Biplane and is the first to take off from a ship. He takes off on an anchored cruiser and land on the coast of Virginia. He is also the first person to take off from land and land on a ship in California.

1914

Lawrence Sperry demonstrates an automatic gyrostabilizer that can travel in a strait line without a pilot in New York. Two years later, he and his partner create the first automatic pilot.

1915
United States Congress charters National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (N.A.C.A) for advanced aeronautic research.

1927

Charles Lindberg completes the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in the "Spirit of St. Louis," leaving from New York and arriving in Paris, France at 3,600 miles.

1933

Boeing introduces the 247, a twin engine, ten passenger airplane used as the first commercial airliner.

1937

The first jet engine is designed and tested by Frank Whittle and Hans von Ohian that later was used to make the first jet aircraft.

1947
On October 14, U.S. Air Force Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager pilots the Bell X-1 and breaks the sound barrier for the first time.

1950

The B-52 bomber is made with 8 turbojet engines, and a capacity of 500,000 pounds.

1990

The B-2 bomber, developed by Northrop Grumman, uses stealth technology and is undetectable on radar. In the same year, Lockheed makes the F-117 stealth fighter (A.K.A. Nighthawk) and is also uses stealth technology and is undetectable on radar.