Timelines · Aviation
From the first controlled hop to the woven airframe — the machines that set the pattern.
Twelve seconds over a beach in North Carolina — the first controlled, powered flight.
The Red Baron’s triplane — three stacked wings and an engine that spun with the propeller.
The first airliner that made money carrying nothing but passengers.
The elliptical wing that fought the Battle of Britain — beauty with a physical justification.
The first operational jet fighter — 150 km/h faster than anything with a propeller.
Mach 3.2 for hours on end — still the fastest air-breathing aircraft ever flown.
A hundred passengers at twice the speed of sound — the only supersonic airliner that ever worked.
A carbon-fibre airliner that crosses any ocean on 25% less fuel.