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Dec 14, 1500
Leonardo Da Vinci Makes Orthinopter
Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. He had over 100 drawings that illustrated his theories on flight. The Ornithopter flying machine was never actually created. It was a design that Leonardo da Vinci created to show how man could fly. The modern day helicopter is based on this concept. -
Wright Brothers Make first airplane
The Wright Brother acomplished the ability of flight! The Wright brothers opened a flying school at Simms Station, Dayton, Ohio, where many trained to become pilots. In six years, the flight school produced 119 certified pilots. -
First Powered Airship
The French connection also inspired another big moment for flight. Charles Renard and Arthur C. Krebs, inventors and military officers in the French Army Corps of Engineers, built the first powered airship that could control its flight effectively by using a battery-powered electric motor and wooden propeller. -
First succesful helicopter flight
Igor Sikorsky's principal contribution to helicopter design was the use of a tail rotor to counteract the torque produced by the main rotor. It was this innovation that finally solved the last major hurdle in helicopter control and made the craft a truly practical flying machine. The VS-300 made its first flights in 1939 while tethered to the ground for safety, but the first free flight occurred on 13 May 1940 -
Air force established
The Air Force is America's first Aireal Combat Force. The Air Force was created to protect the air space of The United States. -
First flight to break the sound barrier
Only bullets, cannon balls and Superman had broken the sound barrier before Chuck Yeager climbed into a U.S. Air Force experimental rocket-powered aircraft on Oct. 14, 1947. The Bell X-1 used four rocket engines and a shape modeled after a machine gun bullet to help Yeager break the sound barrier and set a new milestone for future aircraft. -
First commercial flight of boenig 707
This aircraft and its contemporaries were the first to truly bring air travel to the masses, offering speed and comfort unrivaled by earlier planes. The 707 was also the first aircraft to introduce economy seating that made air travel affordable and allowed the plane to rapidly displace the train and passenger ship as the preferred method of long-distance travel -
First man landed on moon
Neil Armstrong's small step was not only the ultimate achievement of the space race, but also a giant leap in human history. -
First Space Station Launched: Salyut 1
Two separate crews of Soviet cosmonauts suffered near-fatal accidents and death during their return trips from the Soviet Salyut 1, the world's first space station. But Salyut 1 still helped pioneer methods for living and working in space over long periods in its 175 days in space following launch in 1971.
