Key People & Events in the History of Aviation Mr. Janosz Invention & Innovation
Chinese Develop Kites 300 B.C.E.
Archimedes and Buoyancy Principle 200 B.C.E.
Leonardo DaVinci 1500 C.E. Theorizes flight machines
Leonardo DaVinci 1500 C.E. Theorizes flight machines
Giovanni Borelli 1680 C.E. Human Muscles are too weak to sustain flight
Blanchard & Jeffries 7 January 1785 Cross the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon
George Cayley 1804 Sends a gliding aircraft across a valley in Britain George Cayley is known as the father of the study of aerodynamics
Samuel P. Langley 7 October & 8 December 1903 Full scale model of piloted aerodrome fails
Orville & Wilbur Wright 17 December 1903 Orville pilots “Kitty Hawk Flyer” on a 120ft, 12 second flight in North Carolina
Orville & Wilbur Wright 17 December 1903 First piloted heavier than air powered flight
Glenn Curtiss 30 November 1907 Forms first U.S. airplane company Curtiss and the Wrights would later merge their respective companies to form Curtiss-Wright. The Curtiss-Wright company developed new engines and had a production plant in Paterson.
World War I First large scale military application of powered aircraft
World War I
U.S. Air Mail 1917
1917
Night Flight 1921 U.S. Army sets beacons to allow for flying at night
Ford Trimotor “Tin Goose” 1927 First production airplane designed primarily for passengers
Curtiss Wright Merger 1929 Toward the end of the 1930’s Curtiss-Wright Corporation boasted an Aircraft Division with principal production facilities at Buffalo, New York and St. Louis, Missouri; Wright Aeronautical, the Engine Division, at Paterson, New Jersey (soon to expand to an enormous facility at Wood-Ridge, New Jersey) and the Curtiss Propeller Division at Clifton, New Jersey. The Propeller Division expanded to larger facilities in Caldwell, New Jersey and Indianapolis, Indiana when World War II began. Early in World War II aircraft plants were also opened in Louisville, Kentucky and Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. During the war Studebaker Corporation and Buick Division of General Motors participated in the manufacture of Wright engines. Source: Now headquartered in Lyndhurst, NJ Web link Web link
Charles Lindbergh May 1927 First solo transatlantic flight
1930’s Most innovative period Several airline companies in existence
Hindenberg Crash 1937
1937
Boeing Stratoliner 1940 First pressurized cabin allows flight over 20,000 feet
World War II Increased aircraft production dramatically
World War II Curtiss P36
World War II HE-1 Hospital Plane
World War II P51 Mustang
Frank Whittle 1930 British inventor develops first jet engine
Hans Von Ohain 1939 German inventor develops application of jet engine to aircraft
First Production Jet Aircraft 1942 Messerschmitt Me262
Chuck Yeager First to break sound barrier
Chuck Yeager Bell XS-1 14 October 1947