History Hop Tags - Aircraft

1896-05-06

Samuel Pierpont Langley flies his unpiloted Number 5 aircraft using a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River, USA. The aircraft travels almost 3/4 of a mile - ten times further than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine.

1896-11-11

Samuel Pierpont Langley's Number 6 'heavier-than-air' aircraft model flies over 1,500 m (5,000 ft).

1903-12-17

At 10:35 AM, 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight (Orville Wright)

1906-03-03

Vuia I aircraft built by Romanian Traja Vuia tested in France

1906-09-07

Alberto Santos-Dumont flies his 14-bis aircraft at Bagatelle, France for the first time successfully.

1907-08-01

Signal Corps of US army starts aircraft division

1910-05-10

1st aircraft air display held (Hendon, England)

1910-10-02

1st 2 aircraft collision (Milan Italy)

1911-06-26

Nieuport sets an aircraft speed record of 83 mph (133 kph)

1911-08-31

Anthony Fokker's demonstrates aircraft "Snip"

1911-09-01

M Fourny sets world aircraft distance record of 720 km

1912-08-25

1st time an aircraft recovers from a spin

1913-05-13

1st four-engined aircraft built and flown (Igor Sikorsky, Russia)

1913-08-20

1st pilot to parachute from an aircraft (Adolphe Pégoud, France)

1913-09-06

1st aircraft to loop the loop (Adolphe Pégoud-France)

1915-12-12

1st all-metal aircraft (Junkers J-1) test flown at Dessau, Germany

1916-05-18

US pilot Kiffin Rockwell shoots down German aircraft

1916-06-29

Boeing aircraft flies for 1st time

1917-09-03

1st night bombing of London by German aircraft

1917-09-06

French pilot Georges Guynemer shoots down 54th German aircraft

1919-05-31

NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes 1st crossing of Atlantic

1920-07-27

Radio compass used for 1st time for aircraft navigation

1922-03-20

USS Langley is commissioned, US Navy's 1st aircraft carrier

1922-11-30

1st speed test of 1st genuine Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho

1926-10-01

An oil field accident cost aviator Wiley Post his left eye, but he used the settlement money to buy his first aircraft.

1929-02-13

Cruiser Act, USA, approves the construction of 19 new cruisers & an aircraft carrier

1931-06-09

1st rocket-powered aircraft design patented (Robert Goddard)

1933-02-25

1st genuine aircraft carrier christened, USS Ranger

1933-07-17

After successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.

1934-06-12

Black-McKeller Bill passes causes Bill Boeing empire to break up into Boeing United Aircraft [Technologies] & United Air Lines

1935-11-06

1st test flight of Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft

1937-03-18

The human-powered aircraft, Pedaliante, flies 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) outside Milan.

1937-04-12

Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Rugby, England.

1937-12-12

Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologized & eventually paid US $2.2M in reparations)

1938-08-17

1st aircraft owned by US Forest Service in service (Oakland)

1939-09-17

German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die

1939-09-26

German seaplane shoots KLM-aircraft (1 killed)

1940-04-08

German battle cruisers sink British aircraft carrier Glorious

1940-05-14

Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production

1940-08-08

31 German aircraft shot down over England

1940-08-12

Luftwaffe bombs British radar stations, loses 31 aircraft

1940-08-13

Hermann Goering's "Adler Tag" (Eagle day); 45-48 German aircraft shot down over Southern England (Battle of Britain)

1940-08-15

Heavy dogfights above England: 75 German aircraft damaged

1940-08-18

71 German aircraft shot down above England

1940-08-31

RAF Fighter Command loses 39 aircraft against Luftwaffe 41

1940-09-09

28 German aircraft shot down above England

1940-09-18

19 German aircraft shot down above England

1940-09-30

47 German aircraft shot down above England

1941-05-26

Aircraft from HMS Ark Royal sights German battleship Bismarck

1941-11-12

Alma Heflin, the first American female test pilot for commercial aircraft, made her first test flight for the Piper Aircraft Corporation, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

1941-11-14

British aircraft carrier Ark Royal sank in Mediterranean, having been torpedoed by a German submarine the day before

1941-12-05

US aircraft carrier Lexington and 5 heavy cruisers leave Pearl Harbor

1941-12-13

U-81 torpedoes British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal

1941-12-25

Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi/Kagu back in Kure, Japan

1942-01-13

World War II: First use of aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.

1942-05-08

Aircraft carrier USS Lexington sunk by Japanese air attack in Coral Sea

1942-05-30

US aircraft carrier Yorktown leaves Pearl Harbor

1942-08-11

British aircraft carrier Eagle torpedoed & sinks

1942-09-15

US aircraft carrier Wasp torpedoed at Guadalcanal

1942-10-27

US aircraft carrier Hornet sinks off Santa Cruz

1942-10-30

US aircraft carrier Enterprise reaches Noumea

1943-07-07

Erich Hartmann shoots 7 Russian aircraft at Kursk

1943-11-29

US aircraft carrier Hornet launched

1944-02-20

World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.

1944-06-11

15 US aircraft carriers attack Japanese bases on Marianas

1944-07-19

Japanese aircraft carriers Taiho/Shokaku sinks in Marianas

1944-07-20

Japanese aircraft carrier Hijo sunk by US air attack

1944-10-24

US aircraft carrier Princeton sinks at Philippines

1945-01-03

US aircraft carriers attack Okinawa

1945-01-04

US jeep-aircraft carrier Ommaney Bay sinks after Japanese kamikaze attack

1945-02-25

US aircraft carriers attack Tokyo

1945-04-19

US aircraft carrier Franklin heavy damaged in Japanese air raid

1945-05-14

Kamikaze Zero strikes US aircraft carrier Enterprise

1947-02-01

NV United Dutch Fokker's Aircraft established

1947-08-20

Turner Caldwell in D-558-I sets aircraft speed record, 1131 kph

1947-08-25

Marion Carl in D-558-I sets world aircraft speech record, 1,047 kph

1948-09-15

F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speech record of 1080 kph

1949-02-12

Unidentified aircraft bomb Jerusalem

1952-04-26

US minesweeper Hobson rams aircraft carrier Wasp, kills 176

1952-06-29

USS Oriskany becomes 1st aircraft carrier to sail around Cape Horn

1952-11-19

North American F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speed record, 1124 KPH

1954-08-23

First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

1955-02-22

British aircraft carrier Ark Royal sets sail

1955-10-07

Aircraft carrier USS Saratoga launched at Brooklyn

1955-10-08

World's most powerful aircraft carrier, USS Saratoga, launched

1956-05-26

A fire on board the aircraft carrier USS Bennington in Narragansett Bay, off Rhode Island, kills 103 crew

1956-07-23

Bell X-2 rocket plane sets world aircraft speed record of 3,050 kph

1956-08-07

British government sends 3 aircraft carriers to Egypt

1956-09-07

Bell X-2 sets Unofficial manned aircraft altitude record 126,000'+

1958-05-07

US Air Force Major Howard Johnson sets world aircraft altitude record in a Lockhead F-104 Starfighter at 27,810 m

1960-01-30

CIA OKs Lockheed to produce a new U-2 aircraft (Oxcart)

1960-07-07

USSR shoots down a US aircraft over Barents sea

1960-08-04

Rocket propelled USAF research aircraft sets record at 2,150 MPH

1960-09-24

USS Enterprise, 1st nuclear power aircraft carrier, launched

1962-08-30

Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since the war and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.

1962-09-27

US sells Israel, Hawk anti-aircraft missiles

1963-07-13

Indian government announces it will cut last remaining links with South Africa by refusing landing facilities to South African aircraft

1964-02-10

Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager sinks after colliding with aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne, killing 82

1964-12-22

Lockheed SR-71 spy aircraft reaches 3,530 kph (record for a jet)

1965-01-27

1st ground station-to-aircraft radio communication via satellite

1965-04-04

The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft plane is unveiled.

1965-08-31

The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy Aircraft makes its first flight.

1966-10-13

173 US aircraft bomb North Vietnam

1966-10-26

US aircraft carrier Oriskany catches fire at Gulf on Tonken, 43 die

1967-11-15

The only fatality of the X-15 program occurs during the 191st flight when Air Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses control of his aircraft which is destroyed mid-air over the Mojave Desert.

1968-10-08

Dutch aircraft carrier Karel Doorman (formerly Britsh HMS Venerable) sold to Argentina

1969-01-14

25 members of US aircraft carrier Enterprise die during maneuvers

1969-06-02

Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne slices US destroyer USS Frank E Evans in half, killing 74 (South Vietnam)

1970-07-03

British aircraft crashes at Barcelona, 112 killed

1972-05-08

Sabena aircraft at Lod Intl, Tel Aviv, captured by Palestinians

1972-10-12

46 sailors injured in race riot on aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk

1973-02-21

Israeli fighters shoot Libyan aircraft down, killing 108

1977-08-31

Aleksandr Fedotov sets aircraft alt rec of 38.26 km (125,524')

1978-09-21

The Provisional Irish Republican Army explode bombs at the RAF airfield near Eglinton, County Londonderry; the terminal building, two aircraft hangars and four planes aree destroyed

1978-10-21

Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

1979-03-20

Columbia flies on Shuttle carrier aircraft to Kennedy Space Center

1979-03-24

Columbia flown on carrier aircraft lands at Kennedy Space Center

1979-06-12

Bryan Allen flew man-powered Gossamer Albatross over English Channel in a human-powered aircraft; flight took 2 hrs, 49 min

1981-03-02

Aircraft hijacked by 3 Pakistani terrorists

1981-07-07

The solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, successfully completes a 163 mile flight across the English Channel

1983-07-30

Official speed record for a piston-driven aircraft, 832 kph, Calif

1983-12-04

US jet fighters strike Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon

1984-03-21

Soviet sub crashes into USS aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off Japan

1984-07-31

Venz commandos terminate hijacking of an aircraft, 2 killed

1985-07-16

F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speed record of 1152 kph (716 mph)

1986-04-14

US aircraft attacks 5 terrorist locations in Libya

1987-10-23

Dutch government gives Fokker's Aircraft Ÿ212 million credit

1988-04-23

A Greek pedals self-powered aircraft, 74 miles

1989-03-19

Boeing B-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft makes maiden flight

1991-07-31

Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft

1993-04-19

South Dakota governor George Mickelson and seven others are killed when a state-owned aircraft crashed lands in Iowa.

1994-03-17

Iran transport aircraft crashes in Azerbaijan (32 killed)

1994-04-06

The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.

1997-10-29

Iraq's Revolution Command Council announces that it will no longer allow US citizens and US aircraft to serve with UN arms inspection teams

1999-05-07

Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

1999-07-16

John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are killed in a plane crash off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The Piper Saratoga aircraft was piloted by Kennedy.

2000-04-08

Nineteen US Marines are killed when a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashes near Marana, Arizona.

2001-04-11

The detained crew of a United States EP-3E aircraft that landed in Hainan, People's Republic of China after a collision with an J-8 fighter is released.

2001-09-13

Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

2001-11-07

The supersonic commercial aircraft Concorde resumes flying after a 15-month hiatus.

2002-05-03

A military MiG-21 aircraft crashes into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight.

2002-12-23

A MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat.

2003-03-28

In a "friendly fire" incident, two A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft from the United States Idaho Air National Guard's 190th Fighter Squadron attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing British soldier Matty Hull.

2005-04-27

The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France.

2005-09-08

Two EMERCOM Il-76 aircraft land at a disaster aid staging area at Little Rock Air Force Base; the first time Russia has flown such a mission to North America.

2005-12-03

XCOR Aerospace makes first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California.

2006-05-17

The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico to be an artificial reef

2006-08-10

Scotland Yard disrupts major terrorist plot to destroy aircraft travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States. All toiletries are banned from commercial airplanes.

2008-02-23

a B-2 Spirit of the USAF crashes at Guam. The crew survived but the aircraft was written off, making it the most expensive air crash in human history (the aircraft alone cost $1.2Bn). The B-2 had a perfect safety record before the crash; not one B-2 ever crashed.

2012-09-28

Aircraft crash kills 16 people in Kathmandu, Nepal

2013-11-17

50 people are killed after a Boeing 737 aircraft crashes in Kazan, Russia

2015-12-14

Dazzling new airplane patent offers seats on top of aircraft

2016-05-28

New York plane crash: WW2 aircraft in Hudson River

2016-12-25

China's 1st Aircraft Carrier Heads for Western Pacific

2017-04-09

US aircraft carrier-led strike group headed toward Korean Peninsula

1859-02-03

Hugo Junkers, German aircraft designer (d. 1935)

1868-05-24

Charles E. Taylor, First aircraft maintenance professional (d. 1956)

1881-10-01

William Edward Boeing, founded aircraft co (Boeing)

1882-07-27

Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft designer (d. 1965)

1884-11-09

Hector Abbas, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

1888-01-24

Ernst Heinrich Heinkel, German inventor (1st rocket-powered aircraft)

1888-11-10

Andrej N Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder

1889-05-25

Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American pioneer of aviation in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft

1890-04-06

Anthony Fokker, Dutch aviation pioneer and an aircraft manufacturer (Eindecker monoplanes, Fokker Triplane)

1892-01-12

Mikhail Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1976)

1892-04-06

Donald Wills Douglas, US, aircraft pioneer (McConnell Douglas)

1895-11-10

John Knudsen Northrop, aircraft designer (Northrop Air)

1896-01-02

Sir Lawrence Wackett, Australian aircraft engineer (d. 1982)

1898-02-24

Kurt Tank, German WW II aircraft designer

1898-03-18

Jake Swirbul, American aircraft manufacturer (d. 1960)

1898-06-26

Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer

1901-10-02

Charles Stark Draper, Windsor Missouri, American Scientist and Engineer who headed the team that invented the Apollo Guidance Computer and inertial navigation technology for aircraft, space vehicles, and submarines

1903-08-29

Olive Ann Beech, aircraft industry executive

1905-12-24

Howard Hughes, reclusive billionaire (Hughes Aircraft)/inventor

1906-02-07

Oleg Antonov, Soviet aircraft designer (d. 1984)

1906-05-17

Eric Mensforth, president (Westland Aircraft)

1908-03-14

Ed Heinemann, American aircraft designer (Douglas Aircraft; d. 1991)

1910-02-27

Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, American aircraft engineer (Lockheed Skunk Works; d. 1990)

1915-9-22

Emrys Jones, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

1917-02-20

Frederick Page, CEO (British Aerospace Aircraft Group)

1917-03-12

Googie Withers, Karachi India, actress (1 of Our Aircraft is Missing)

1925-09-25

Paul MacCready, engineer/inventor (1st man-powered aircraft)

1927-02-28

John Swire, British aircraft magnate (Cathay Pacific)

1928-01-16

John William Fozard, aircraft designer

1929-10-28

1st child born in aircraft, Miami, Florida

1932-02-15

Adrian Swire, British aircraft magnate (Cathay Pacific)

1934-01-27

Donald Spiers, controller (Aircraft MoD)

1943-06-09

Solveig Nordlund, Low-Flying Aircraft

1958-05-05

Ron Arad, Israeli aircraft navigator missing in action.

1963-01-27

Margarida Marinho, Low-Flying Aircraft

1919-05-31

1st wedding held in an aircraft (over Houston, Texas)

1896-08-09

Otto Lilenthal, aircraft pioneer, killed during a glider test at 48

1896-08-10

Otto Lilienthal, German aircraft pioneer, dies

1909-09-07

Eugene Lefebvre, dies test piloting a Wright A aircraft

1910-08-27

Clement of Maasdijk, 1st Dutch aircraft death

1917-08-07

Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning, first pilot to land his aircraft on a moving ship. (b. 1891)

1936-08-02

Louis Blériot, French aviator who made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier than air aircraft, dies of a heart attack at 64

1937-06-11

R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer (b. 1895)

1942-11-11

Hector Abbas, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

1960-06-28

Jake Swirbul, American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1898)

1965-05-21

Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft designer (b. 1882)

1970-12-09

Artem Mikoyan, Russian aircraft designer (MIG), dies at 65

1972-12-23

Andrej N Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder, dies at 84

1976-11-12

Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1893)

1978-09-15

Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft builder, dies at 80

1980-08-22

James Smith McDonnell, American aircraft manufacturer, dies of a stroke at 81 (b. 1899)

1981-02-02

Donald W Douglas, US aircraft pioneer/builder, dies at 88

1981-02-18

John Knudsen Northrop, American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1895)

1983-06-02

Stan Rogers, musician, dies in aircraft fire

1991-11-26

Ed Heinemann, American aircraft designer (Douglas Aircraft; b. 1908)

1996-07-17

John William Fozard, aircraft designer, dies at 68

2001-05-12

Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1925)

2005-06-10

Curtis Pitts, American aircraft designer (b. 1915)

2011-03-04

Mikhail Simonov, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1920)