| Leonardo da Vinci designs a flying machine |
1487 |
| Francesco de Lana designs the first airship |
1670 |
| Laurenco de Gusmao fails in his attempt to launch a bird-shaped glider |
1709 |
| Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier's hot air balloon reaches a height of 6,560 feet (2,000 m) |
1783 |
| Jacques Charles tests the first hydrogen hot air balloon in Paris |
1783 |
| Jean Blanchard and John Jeffries become the first to cross the English Channel by air balloon |
1785 |
| Pilâtre de Rozier and Pierre Romain become the first men to be killed in a hot air balloon |
1785 |
| André Jacques Garnerin makes first successful parachute jump above Paris |
1797 |
| Jeanne-Genevieve Garnerin, became the first woman to make a parachute jump |
1799 |
| André Jacques Garnerin makes parachute jump of 8,000 feet (2,438 m) |
1802 |
| Jacob Degen survives a crash in Vienna in his ornithopter |
1809 |
| The Vauxhall air balloon flies from England to Germany, covering 480 miles in 18 hours |
1836 |
| George Cayley builds a triplane glider |
1849 |
| Henri Gifford builds an airship powered by a 3-hp steam engine |
1852 |
| Louis Charles Letur builds a parachute-glider in France |
1853 |
| A triplane built by George Cayley flies 900 feet (275 m) across a small valley |
1853 |
| Louis Charles Letur is killed in his pilot-controlled air machine |
1854 |
| Alphonse Pénaud's aeroplane travels 131 feet (39.92 m) in 11 seconds |
1871 |
| Vincent de Groof is killed when his aircraft launched from a balloon crashes |
1874 |
| Alexander Mozhaiski's aeroplane travels 98 feet (29.87 m) at Krasnoye Selo, Russia |
1884 |
| Otto Lilienthal, a German engineer, publishes a book outlining his theories on flight |
1889 |
| Clement Adler's aircraft, Eole, travels 165 feet (50.29 m) at Gretz |
1890 |
| Percy Pilcher flies his Bat glider for the first time |
1895 |
| Otto Lilienthal, the German engineer, is killed while flying his recently designed glider |
1896 |
| Percy Pilcher is killed when flying his new aircraft, the Hawk |
1899 |
| The LZ airship, designed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, makes its first flight |
1900 |
| Samuel Pierpont Langley builds the first aircraft powered by a gasoline engine |
1901 |
| Samuel Pierpont Langley abandons his experiments when his aircraft, Aerodrome, crashes |
1903 |
| Orville and Wilber Wright's fly the first heavier-than-air machine at Kitty Hawk |
1903 |
| Orville and Wilber Wright's Flyer II fails to take-off |
1904 |
| Ferdinand Ferber builds a biplane glider with fixed tail |
1904 |
| Orville and Wilber Wright's Flyer III flies 24.2 miles (38.95 km) in 38 minutes |
1905 |
| Blériot VII reaches a speed of about 50 mph (80 kpm) |
1907 |
| Louis Bleriot becomes the first man to fly across the English Channel |
1909 |
| The establishment of the Aéronautique Militaire |
1910 |
| First parachute jump from an aeroplane take place at St. Louis |
1912 |
| The establishment of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) |
1912 |
| A Zeppelin airship bombs Liege in Belgium |
1914 |
| Roland Garros uses deflector plates |
1915 |
| Zeppelin raid on London kills 28 people |
1915 |
| First lightweight aircraft receiver tested in England |
1916 |
| First heavy bomber, the Handley Page, goes into action |
1916 |
| Charles Augustus Lindbergh flies nonstop between New York and Paris |
1927 |
| Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean |
1928 |
| Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates his radar system to Air Ministry |
1935 |
| The Hawker Hurricane, designed by Sydney Camm, makes its first flight |
1935 |
| The Spitfire, designed by Reginald J. Mitchell, makes its first flight |
1936 |
| The Messerschmitt 110 makes its first flight |
1936 |
| Frank Whittle tests the first prototype jet engine |
1937 |
| Amelia Earhart killed during an attempt on a round-the-world flight |
1937 |
| Junkers Ju 88A makes its first flight |
1939 |
| The Vought Corsair becomes the first fighter aircraft to fly at 400 mph |
1940 |
| Frank Whittle's jet-propelled Gloster E28 takes its first flight |
1941 |
| Wernher von Braun demonstrates his V2 Rocket to Nazi leaders |
1942 |
| The Messerschmitt Me 262 makes its first test flight |
1942 |
| The B-29 Superfortress makes its first flight |
1942 |
| Wing Commander Guy Gibson leads the Dambusters Raid |
1943 |
| The Arado Ar 234, the world's first jet bomber, makes its first flight |
1943 |
| Gloster Meteor, Britain's first jet-fighter, is used by the Royal Air Force |
1944 |
| The turbo-jet Heinkel He 162 makes its first test flight |
1944 |