January 8, 1944 The Lockheed XP-80 makes its first flight.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The Lockheed XP-80 was the first operational jet fighter. See more flight pictures.
February 23, 1944 The German Wasserfall surface-to-air missile is fired for the first time.
March 6, 1944 The first USAAF attack on Berlin takes place with 660 heavy bombers; 69 bombers and 11 escort fighters are lost.
March 10, 1944 The Blohm und Voss Bv 238 prototype debuts.
May 28-June 4, 1944 U.S. Navy airships K-123 and K-130 make the first nonrigid airship Atlantic crossing.
June 13, 1944 The first German V-1s are launched from France.
July 5, 1944 The Northrop MX-324, a rocket-powered plane, is flown for the first time by Harry Crosby.
July 28, 1944 The de Havilland Hornet, the fastest twin-engine fighter yet, makes its first flight.
August 4, 1944 A Gloster Meteor "tips" over a V-1 in the first jet success of the Allies.
August 4, 1944 The first Aphrodite mission is flown.
August 13, 1944 The USAAF uses GB-4 TV-guided bombs against E-boat pens on the European coast.
September 7, 1944 The first V-2 rocket is launched against England.
September 8-9, 1944 V-2 operations begin against Paris and England.
September 10, 1944 The Fairchild XC-82 makes its first flight.
October 23, 1944 The Japanese introduce Kamikaze attacks in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
November 12, 1944 Germany's Tirpitz is sunk by the RAF.
November 15, 1944 The Boeing XC-97 prototype flies for the first time.
November 24, 1944 The first major Boeing B-29 raid on Japan takes place.
December 6, 1944 The Heinkel He 162 Volksjaeger makes its first flight.
December 17, 1944 Major Richard Bong scores his final victory, number 40.
December 22, 1944 The uncrewed Bachem Natter vertical-launch rocket interceptor is launched for the first time.
January 1, 1945 Operation Bodenplatte takes place. It is the last major attack by the Luftwaffe.
January 3-4, 1945 RAF Mosquitos bomb Berlin, adding to the city's tension and despair.
January 20, 1945 Robert T. Jones formulates his swept-back wing theory.
January 24, 1945 Germany launches the A-9, a winged Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) designed for use against New York.
January 26, 1945 The McDonnell XFD-1 makes its first flight.
February 1, 1945 The Bachem Natter is tested with a pilot. The aircraft crashes, and the pilot is killed.
February 3, 1945 One thousand bombers of the Eighth AF attack Berlin.
February 7, 1945 The Consolidated-Vultee XP-81 composite-power fighter makes its first flight.
February 13-15, 1945 The attack on Dresden takes place.
February 21, 1945 The Hawker Sea Fury debuts.
February 22, 1945 Allies launch Operation Clarion with several thousand bombers and fighters.
February 23, 1945 The Luftwaffe sinks its last ship of the war, the Henry Bacon.
March 3, 1945 V-1 attacks continue from Holland against England.
March 9-10, 1945 Boeing B-29 fire-raids take place against Tokyo.
March 14, 1945 The RAF drops a Grand Slam (22,000-pound) bomb on a key viaduct in Germany.
March 1945-November 1945 Flight Timeline
March 16, 1945 Organized resistance ends on Iwo Jima; Marine casualties: 6,891 dead, 18,070 wounded.
March 18, 1945 The Douglas XBT2D-1 Skyraider makes its first flight.
March 20-21, 1945 The last Luftwaffe raid on England takes place.
March 27, 1945 The last V-2 rocket falls on England at Orpington.
March 31, 1945 The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, which produced 54,098 pilots, is terminated.
April 1, 1945 Ohka Kamikaze planes hit the battleship USS West Virginia.
April 7, 1945 B-29s are accompanied to Japan by long-range fighters for the first time.
April 10, 1945 The Luftwaffe makes a last reconnaissance sortie over England using the Arado Ar.234 jet.
April 12, 1945 Ohka Kamikaze planes sink the destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele.
April 23, 1945 A U.S. Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator launches a Bat missile attack against Japanese shipping in Balikpapan Harbor.
April 25, 1945 Berchtesgaden (Hitler's residence) is destroyed by RAF bombers.
April 30, 1945 Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
May 7, 1945 The RAF sinks the last German U-boat of the war.May 8, 1945 VE day: Germany surrenders.
May 22, 1945 Japanese balloon bombs hit the U.S. West Coast.
May 23-24, 1945 The United States continues heavy air raids on Tokyo.
May 27, 1945 Japanese Kamikaze attacks intensify at Okinawa.
June 11, 1945 The B-29s that will ultimately carry the atomic bomb land in the Mariana Islands.
June 22, 1945 Organized resistance on Okinawa ends; Kamikaze attacks end.
July 2, 1945 The Japanese announce that all but 200,000 people have evacuated Tokyo.
July 10, 1945 U.S. carrier-based aircraft attack land targets in Japan.
July 16, 1945 The world's first atomic bomb is detonated at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
July 26, 1945 The Potsdam Declaration calls for Japan's unconditional surrender.
August 6, 1945 The first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima from the B-29 Enola Gay.
August 7, 1945 The first Japanese jet, Nakajima's Kikka, makes its first flight.
August 8, 1945 The U.S.S.R. declares war on Japan.
August 9, 1945 A second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki from an AAF B-29.
August 14, 1945 The last B-29 mission against Japan takes place.
August 15, 1945 Japan announces its unconditional surrender.
August 17, 1945 Japanese fighters attack B-29s on reconnaissance flights; three enemy planes are shot down.
August 27, 1945 Air Marshal "Bomber" Harris announces retirement.
August 27, 1945 The United States begins extensive airdrops of supplies to prisoners of war in Japan, China, and occupied territories.
August 29, 1945 Major General Curtis LeMay takes command of the XX Bomber Command.
September 2, 1945 The Japanese sign surrender documents on the Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
September 12, 1945 A report is released on German developments: 19 jets and 6 rocket-powered types are on the drawing board.
September 20, 1945 The first turboprop aircraft, a modified Gloster Meteor with a Rolls-Royce Trent engine, flies.
October 22, 1945 Air France reopens Paris to London service.
1945-1946 Flight Timeline
July 7, 1946 Howard Hughes is critically injured when his Hughes XF-11 aircraft crashes during a test flight.
July 11, 1946 A Lockheed Constellation crashes during a training flight. All remaining Constellations are grounded; two earlier accidents also involved this aircraft.
July 21, 1946 Congress post-humously awards Billy Mitchell a medal, which promotes him to Major General.
August 8, 1946 The Convair prototype XB-36 bomber makes its first flight.
September 2, 1946 The Air University is opened at Maxwell Field.
September 27, 1946 Geoffrey de Havilland, Jr., is killed when his de Havilland D.H.108 breaks up in a test flight over Thames Estuary.
October 1, 1946 A U.S. Navy PV2-1 Neptune "Truculent Turtle" flies nonstop from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio, (11,236 miles) in 55 hours, 15 minutes.
October 6, 1946 The Pacusan Dreamboat, a B-29, makes a 9,442-mile flight over the North Pole, from Honolulu to Cairo, Egypt, in 39 hours, 35 minutes.
October 11, 1946 Slick Goodlin makes an unpowered flight in a Bell XS-1.
December 1, 1946 An American Overseas Airways Connie flies from New York to London in 10 hours, 12 minutes, averaging 324 miles per hour.November 6, 1945 A Ryan Fireball, using jet power only, lands on the USS Wake Island. It's the first jet to land on a carrier.
November 7, 1945 The Gloster Meteor IV sets a world speed record of 606.25 miles per hour.
November 20, 1945 A USAAF B-29 flies nonstop from Guam to Washington, D.C.: 8,190 miles in 35 hours, 4 minutes.
December 2, 1945 The Bristol Freighter debuts.
December 3, 1945 A de Havilland Vampire becomes the first pure jet to land on a carrier, the HMS Ocean.
January 10, 1946 A Sikorsky R-5 helicopter sets an unofficial world altitude record of 21,000 feet.
January 16, 1946 The United States initiates its space program using V-2 rockets.
January 19, 1946 Jack Woolams pilots a Bell XS-1 in its first unpowered flight.
January 21, 1946 The United States announces that the USAAF has reduced its strength from a wartime peak of 2,400,000 troops to 900,000 and will go down to 400,000.
January 26, 1946 Colonel William Council flies an F-80 across the United States in 4 hours, 13 minutes, covering 2,470 miles nonstop at 584.6 miles per hour.
February 4, 1946 Pan Am flies a Constellation from the United States to England in 14 hours, 9 minutes.
February 15, 1946 TWA introduces Constellations on transcontinental flights.
February 28, 1946 The Republic XP-84 Thunderjet fighter makes its first flight.
March 21, 1946 The USAAF establishes Strategic Air Command (SAC), Tactical Air Command (TAC), and Air Defense Command (ADC).
April-September 1946 The United States tests 64 V-2 missiles at White Sands, New Mexico.
April 1, 1946 The Bell Rascal guided missile program is started.
April 19, 1946 The USAAF and Consolidated-Vultee launch Project MX-774, which will later lead to the Atlas missile.
April 24, 1946 The first Soviet jet aircraft, the Yak-15 and MiG-9, make their first flights.
May 17, 1946 The Douglas XB-43, the first American jet bomber, debuts.
May 22, 1946 The de Havilland Chipmunk trainer makes its first flight powered by a 140-horsepower Gypsy Major engine.
June 22, 1946 Jets (two P-80s) carry mail for the first time in the United States.
1946-1948 Flight Timeline
December 9, 1946 The Bell XS-1 makes its first powered flight.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The Bell XS-1 took Chuck Yeager into the history books when it broke the sound barrier.
December 12, 1946 A Gloster Meteor sets a London-to-Paris record of 23 minutes, 37 seconds.
January 26, 1947 Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden is killed in a KLM DC-3 accident in Copenhagen.
March 17, 1947 The North American XB-45 Tornado jet bomber debuts. It is the first USAAF production jet bomber.
April 15, 1947 The Douglas D-558 Skystreak makes its first flight.
June 8, 1947 American Airlines begins transcontinental DC-6 services.
June 19, 1947 A Lockheed P-80R sets a world speed record of 623.738 miles per hour.
July 3, 1947 The Tupelov Tu-4, a Chinese copy of the B-29, makes its first flight.
July 8, 1947 The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser makes its first flight.
July 16, 1947 The Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 flying boat jet fighter debuts.
August 20, 1947 A Douglas Skystreak D-558-1, flown by Commander Turner Caldwell, sets a world speed record of 640.663 miles per hour.
August 25, 1947 Major Marion Carl raises the speed record of the Douglas Skystreak D-558-1 to 650.796 miles per hour.
September 18, 1947 The United States Air Force is established.
October 1, 1947 The North American XP-86 Sabre debuts.
October 1, 1947 The first scheduled helicopter services begin in Los Angeles with the Sikorsky S-51.
October 14, 1947 Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell XS-1.
October 21, 1947 The Northrop YB-49 jet flying wing makes its first flight.
November 2, 1947 The Hughes Flying Boat makes its first and only flight.
November 14, 1947 The Avro AW-52 twin-jet flying wing makes its first flight.
November 24, 1947 The Consolidated-Vultee XC-99, a cargo version of the B-36, makes its first flight.
December 17, 1947 The Boeing XB-47 debuts.
December 30, 1947 The MiG-15 prototype makes its first flight.
January 15, 1948 BOAC withdraws Boeing 314 flying boats and substitutes Constellations between the United Kingdom and Bermuda.
January 30, 1948 Orville Wright dies.
January 30, 1948 An Avro Tudor IV disappears on a flight to Bermuda; Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, the father of British ground-attack tactics, is on board.
February 4, 1948 Army Air Force and Navy Air Force transport services are merged to form Military Air Transport service.
February 4, 1948 The Douglas D-558-2 makes its first flight.
March 1, 1948 The last Curtiss fighter, the XF-87, makes its first flight.
March 23, 1948 Group Captain John Cunningham sets a world altitude record of 59,446 feet in a de Havilland D.H.100 Vampire.
April 5, 1948 A Soviet fighter collides with a British airliner over Berlin; 15 people are killed.
April 25, 1948 The XP-86 Sabre goes supersonic in a dive. It is the first jet to do so.
May 3, 1948 Howard C. Lilly dies in the crash of a Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak. He is the first NACA test pilot killed in the line of duty.
May 20, 1948 The Israeli Air Force goes into action for the first time.
June 26, 1948 The Berlin Airlift begins: 32 sorties by C-47s carry 80 tons of food.
July 12-14, 1948 Six de Havilland Vampires make the first jet crossing of the Atlantic.
1948-1949 Flight Timeline
July 13, 1948 The first MX-774 is launched. It is the predecessor of the Atlas ICBM.
July 16, 1948 Two USAF B-29 groups go to England for temporary duty as an implied threat to the Soviet Union.
July 16, 1948 The Vickers Viscount, the world's first turboprop airliner, makes its first flight.
July 20, 1948 Sixteen Lockheed F-80s fly the Atlantic.
August 16, 1948 The Northrop XF-89 Scorpion makes its first flight.
September 1, 1948 The Saab J-29 Flying Barrel, the first European swept-wing jet fighter, debuts.
September 5, 1948 The Martin Caroline Mars lifts 68,282 pounds, the heaviest load ever lifted by an aircraft.
September 6, 1948 A de Havilland D.H.108 breaks the sound barrier in a dive.
September 15, 1948 Major R. L. Johnson sets a world speed record of 670.98 miles per hour in a F-86A that is fully equipped with guns and ammunition.
September 18, 1948 The Convair XF-92 delta-wing prototype debuts.
October 20, 1948 The McDonnell XF 88A Voodoo flies for the first time.
November 22, 1948 England announces the sale of ten Rolls-Royce Nene engines to the Soviet Union; 55 engines are supplied in all. The engine becomes the basis for one used in the MiG-15.
November 30, 1948 Curtiss-Wright demonstrates new reversible-pitch propellers on a C-54.
December 15, 1948 A new airlift base is opened at Celle, Germany.
December 16, 1948 The Northrop X-4 tailless research plane makes its first flight.
January 3, 1949 USAF SAC bombers begin 90-day rotational training in England.
January 7, 1949 The Israeli Air Force attacks RAF reconnaissance planes, shooting down four Spitfires and one Tempest.
February 8, 1949 Russ Schleeh flies an XB-47 from Moses Lake, Washington, to Bolling Air Field, Washington, D.C., in 3 hours and 46 minutes at 607 miles per hour.
February 25, 1949 A two-stage V-2/WAC Corporal missile is launched from White Sands, New Mexico, setting a 244-mile altitude record.
February 26-March 2,1949 The USAF Boeing B-50A Lucky Lady II completes the first nonstop round-the-world flight in 94 hours and 1 minute, with four in-flight refuelings.
March 7-8, 1949 Captain Bill Odom flies a Beech Bonanza nonstop from Hawaii to Teterboro, New Jersey: 4,957 miles.
March 25, 1949 A Bell XH-12 claims a speed record for helicopters: 133.9 miles per hour.
April 21, 1949 The French fly the Leduc ram-jet powered research aircraft for the first time.
April 26, 1949 Sunkist Lady, an Aeronca lightplane, sets an endurance record of 1,008 hours; it is refueled by gasoline passed by hand from a jeep.
May 12, 1949 The Berlin blockade is rescinded by the Soviets; the airlift wins.
May 13, 1949 English Electric Canberra, a British jet bomber, makes its first flight.
June 2, 1949 H. H. Arnold is given the permanent five-star rank of General of the Air Force.
July 27, 1949 The de Havilland Comet prototype makes its first flight. It is powered by four de Havilland Ghost engines.
August 9, 1949 The first American emergency use of an ejection seat is carried out by J. L. Fruin after he loses control of a U.S. Navy Banshee aircraft.
September 4, 1949 The giant eight-engine Bristol Brabazon makes its first flight.
September 30, 1949 Allies formally end the Berlin Airlift.
1949-1951 Flight Timeline
November 2, 1949 The Piascecki HRP-2 helicopter makes its first flight.
December 22, 1949 The North American YF-86D Sabre Dog makes its first flight.
March 16, 1950 Group Captain John Cunningham flies a de Havilland Comet from England to Italy and back: 1,832 miles in four hours and six minutes at an average speed of 450 miles per hour.
April 4, 1950 A Gloster Meteor flies from England to Denmark in one hour and five minutes at 541.43 miles per hour.
May 12, 1950 The Bell XS-1 makes its last flight (for a motion picture).
June 3, 1950 The Republic F-84F prototype (YF-96A) makes its first flight.
June 25, 1950 The Korean War begins.
June 27, 1950 A North American F-82, flown by Lieutenant William G. Hudson, shoots down a Yak 9 fighter in the first U.S. victory of the Korean War.
July 3, 1950 A Grumman Panther, flying off the USS Valley Forge, is the first Navy jet in combat.
July 29, 1950 A prototype Vickers Viscount enters passenger service.
September 15, 1950 General Douglas MacArthur lands at Inchon in Korea.
September 22, 1950 Colonel David C. Schilling leads the flight of two F-84E aircraft for the first nonstop transatlantic jet crossing.
September 29, 1950 Captain R. V. Wheeler makes a record parachute jump from 42,449 feet.
October 9, 1950 The Soviet government protests a U.S. attack on a Soviet airfield near the Korean border.
October 20, 1950 Three thousand U.S. paratroopers are dropped near Seoul.
November 7, 1950 The British end use of flying boats in BOAC.
November 8, 1950 A Lockheed F-80C, piloted by Lieutenant Russell J. Brown, shoots down a MiG-15 in the first jet-versus-jet combat.
November 8, 1950 B-29s bomb North Korean bridges across Yalu.
December 17, 1950 The first F-86s go into actionin Korea, claiming four MiG-15s.
December 31, 1950 The world's airlines have carried 31.2 million passengers.
January 16, 1951 The first Consolidated-Vultee B-36D bombers land in England on a training flight from a base in Texas.
January 23, 1951 Republic F-84 Thunderjets (straight wing) shoot down four MiG-15s near Sinuiji.
February 6, 1951 The USAF announces the loss of 223 aircraft in Korea; only ten are due to enemy action, the rest were accidents.
February 14, 1951 The Republic F-84F makes its first flight.
February 21, 1951 An English Electric Canberra is the first jet to fly the Atlantic nonstop without refueling, making the flight in 4 hours, 37 minutes, at an average speed of 449.46 miles per hour.
February 23, 1951 The Dassault Mystère makes its first flight.
March 6, 1951 The USAF announces that Martin will build the Canberra.
March 15, 1951 A KC-97 tanker refuels a B-47 for the first time.
April 1-2, 1951 B-29s attack bridges across Yalu.
April 12, 1951 Two B-29s are shot down by MiG-15s in heavy fighting.
May 18, 1951 The first British V-bomber, the Vickers Valiant, flies. It is powered by four Rolls-Royce Avon engines.
May 20, 1951 The first U.S. jet ace, Captain James Jabara, gets his fifth and sixth victories of the Korean War when he shoots down two MiGs.
1951-1952 Flight Timeline
May 29, 1951 Charles Blair flies his Excalibur P-51 over the North Pole, from Northern Norway to Fairbanks, Alaska (3,375 miles), in 10 hours, 29 minutes.
May 31, 1951 Charles Blair flies from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Idlewild, New York, in 9 hours, 31 minutes.
June 11, 1951 Bill Bridgeman sets an unofficial speed and altitude record in a Douglas D-558-2: 1,200 miles per hour, 70,000 feet.
June 20, 1951 The Bell X-5 experimental aircraft, with variable geometry wings, makes its first flight.
June 20, 1951 The Martin B-61 Matador, a pilotless bomber (ground-launched cruise missile), is launched for the first time.
July 6, 1951 Lockheed RF-80 aircraft are refueled by a Boeing KB-29 tanker--the first air-to-air refueling in a combat zone.
July 20, 1951 The prototype Hawker Hunter, one of the most successful British jet fighters, makes its first flight.
August 1, 1951 The Vickers Swift swept-wing jet fighter makes its first flight. It is the first RAF swept-wing jet.
August 7, 1951 Bill Bridgeman flies a D-558-2 Skyrocket to 1,238 miles per hour.
August 15, 1951 Bill Bridgeman flies a Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket to 79,494 feet.
August 17, 1951 Colonel Fred Ascani sets a world speed record of 635.686 miles per hour for 100 kilometers in an F-86E during the National Air Races.
September 13, 1951 The first USAF guided missile squadron is formed with Matadors.
September 26, 1951 The de Havilland D.H.110 Sea Vixen two-seater all-weather fighter makes its first flight.
October 3, 1951 The Soviet Union explodes its second atomic bomb.
November 26, 1951 The Gloster Javelin, a twin-jet delta-wing interceptor, makes its first flight.
December 12, 1951 The de Havilland Otter makes its first flight.
December 16, 1951 The Kaman K-225, a gas-turbine helicopter, completes tests.
January 3, 1952 The Bristol Type 173 prototype helicopter makes its first flight.
January 5, 1952 Pan Am begins the first all-cargo transatlantic service with DC-6A aircraft.
April 15, 1952 The Boeing YB-52, powered by eight Pratt & Whitney J57 engines, makes its first flight.
May 2, 1952 The first scheduled jet airline service begins with de Havilland Comet flights from London to Johannesburg.
June 16, 1952 Soviet MiGs shoot down a Swedish Catalina on a rescue mission.
June 17, 1952 ZPN-1, the world's largest nonrigid airship, is delivered to the Navy by Goodyear Aircraft Company. It is 324 feet long and 35 feet high.
July 14-17, 1952 Fifty-eight Republic F-84s, led by Colonel David C. Schilling, fly with seven stops from Turner Air Force Base, Georgia, to Yokota, Japan.
July 15-31, 1952 Two Sikor-sky S-55s make the first helicopter crossing of the North Atlantic in 42 hours, 25 minutes, with four stops.
July 29, 1952 A North American RB-45C Tornado completes the first nonstop transpacific flight from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska to Yokota, Japan.
August 16, 1952 The Bristol Britannia makes its first flight.
August 22, 1952 The Saunders-Roe S.E.45 Princess, a ten-engine flying boat, makes its first flight.
August 30, 1952 The Avro Vulcan delta-wing bomber makes its first flight. It will be the mainstay of the RAF for the next three decades.
September 6, 1952 A de Havilland D.H.110 breaks up in flight, killing 30 people in an air-show crowd.
October 6, 1952 A de Havilland Comet is severely damaged during a takeoff accident in Rome.1952-1953 Flight Timeline
October 7, 1952 A USAF Boeing B-29 is shot down by Soviet fighters six miles off Hokkaido in Northern Japan.
October 8, 1952 Soviet MiG-15s attack a U.S. ambulance aircraft near Berlin.
October 23, 1952 The gigantic Hughes XH-17 Flying Crane makes its first flight.
October 28, 1952 The Douglas Skywarrior, XA3D-1, makes its first flight. It is the heaviest aircraft yet to enter service on carriers.
November 3, 1952 The Saab Lansen, a two-seat, all-weather attack plane, makes its first flight.
November 26, 1952 A Northrop B-62 Snark missile is launched from a zero-length launcher.
December 3, 1952 Soviet fighters force down a USAF C-47 aircraft in Hungary.
December 24, 1952 The Handley Page Victor makes its first flight.
January 12, 1953 The U.S. Navy's first angled deck carrier, the Antietam, begins flight trials.
February 1, 1953 Chance Vought delivers the last F4U Corsair (of 12,571 built since 1940).
February 16, 1953 Two Japanese pilots of Japan's Self Defense Force, flying F-84s, shoot down two Soviet piston-engine fighters over Hokkaiddo.
March 2, 1953 French aviation shows advances with the first flight of the Sud-Ouest SO 9000 Trident jet.
March 3, 1953 The Comet Empress of Hawaii crashes on takeoff from Karachi, killing all 11 on board. It is the first Comet accident with fatalities.
March 15, 1953 The last propeller-driven bomber, the RB-50H, is delivered to the USAF.
March 24, 1953 A Czech C-47 is hijacked and flown to an American zone in Germany; six highjackers are granted political asylum.
April 3, 1953 The BOAC inaugurates weekly London to Tokyo service with the Comet.
April 9, 1953 The Convair Sea Dart, a hydro-ski, delta-wing, twin-engine, sea-based fighter, makes its first flight.
May 2, 1953 One year after beginning operations, a Comet crashes near Calcutta, India; 43 are killed.
May 12, 1953 The first Bell X-2 rocket plane explodes during captive flight, killing Jean Zeigler, the test pilot.
May 18, 1953 The DC-7C, the ultimate Douglas piston-engine airliner, debuts.
May 18, 1953 Captain Joseph McConnell, a leading Korean ace, shoots down 3 MiG-15s to bring his total to 16.
May 19, 1953 Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break Mach 1 in a Canadian-built F-86E, powered by an Avro Orenda engine.
May 25, 1953 The USAF's first operational supersonic fighter, the North American F-100 Super Sabre, makes its first flight.
June 18, 1953 The Douglas C-124 Globemaster crashes on takeoff in Japan, killing 129 people. It is the worst air disaster to date.
July 16, 1953 Lieutenant Colonel William F. Barnes flies a North American F-86D Sabre at 715.6 miles per hour, setting a world speed record.
July 17, 1953 Lieutenant Guy Bordelon, flying a vintage Vought F4U Corsair, shoots down his fifth aircraft to become the first Navy ace of the Korean War.
July 27, 1953 The Korean Armistice is signed.
August 21, 1953 Marion Carl reaches 83,235 feet in an airdropped Douglas D-558-2.
August 25, 1953 The USAF announces that the B-36 can successfully launch and recover an F-84F in flight.
September 1, 1953 A B-47 is successfully refueled in flight by a jet tanker, a KB-47B.
September 7, 1953 Famous test pilot Neville Duke sets a world speed record in a Hawker Hunter: 727.48 miles per hour.
1953 Flight Timeline
September 21, 1953 Lieutenant Noh Keun-suk, a North Korean pilot, defects with a MiG-15 jet fighter; he is given political asylum and a $100,000 reward.
September 25, 1953 Mike Lithgow sets a world speed record of 737.7 miles per hour in a Supermarine Swift.
October 3, 1953 Lieutenant Commander James Verdin sets a world speed record of 752.94 miles per hour in a Douglas XF4-D Skyray.
October 16, 1953 Robert O. Rahn flies a Douglas XF4-D Skyray to 728.11 miles per hour for a closed-course record.
October 24, 1953 The Convair F-102 makes its first flight; the aircraft can't go supersonic until its fuselage is redesigned with "Coke-bottle" effect. It is the first U.S. delta-wing aircraft to go into service.
October 29, 1953 Lieutenant Colonel F. K. Everest flies a North American F-100A to 754.98 miles per hour over a 15-kilometer course.
November 20, 1953 Scott Crossfield reaches 1,327 miles per hour in a Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, the first Mach 2 flight.
November 29, 1953 The DC-7 enters commercial service with American Airlines.
December 12, 1953 Chuck Yeager flies an X-1A at 1,650 miles per hour (Mach 2.5) to 70,000 feet.
January 5, 1964 The Short Belfast, a four-turboprop transport, makes its first flight.
February 24, 1964 The Northrop F-5B, a two-seat version of the F-5, makes its first flight.
February 29, 1964 President Lyndon Johnson reveals the existence of the Lockheed A-11 version. The aircraft is later designated the YF-12A.
Lt. Cmdr. Art Legare / U. S. Navy
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic fighter plane with variable wing geometry. It was the Navy's primary aircraft for more than 30 years. See more pictures of flight.
April 9, 1964 The de Havilland (Canada) DHC-5 Buffalo makes its first flight.
April 17, 1964 Geraldine Mock becomes the first woman to fly around the world solo. She covers 23,103 miles in 29 days.
May 1, 1964 A Lockheed P-3A Orion, piloted by Captain R. P. Ruehrmund, makes an 18-day, 26,550-nautical mile flight around the world.
May 7, 1964 The British Aerospace Super VC-10 makes its first flight.
May 11, 1964 Jacqueline Cochran sets a women's 15/25 kilometer course record at 1,429.2 miles per hour.
May 11, 1964 The North American XB-70 is rolled out.
May 25, 1964 The Ryan XV-5A makes its first flight.
June 4, 1964 Jacqueline Cochran sets two women's speed records: 1,302 miles per hour (100 kilometers) and 1,135 miles per hour (500 kilometers).
Warren M. Bodie Collection
No aircraft in history ever had such a tremendous advantage over its contemporaries as the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which flew for the first time in 1964. The SR-71 still holds many of the records it set.
July 16, 1964 A Ryan XV-5A research aircraft, which uses a "fan in wing" principle, makes a vertical takeoff, flies conventionally, hovers, and lands vertically. The aircraft will go on to an extensive test program, but no production type aircraft will ensue.
July 28-31, 1964 The Ranger 7 is launched to take photos of the moon. After 68 hours of flight, it crash-lands on the lunar surface.
August 2, 1964 North Vietnamese torpedo boats attack the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin.
August 5, 1964 U.S. Navy planes from the USS Constellation and USS Ticonderoga attack North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases.
September 21, 1964 The North American XB-70A Valkyrie makes its first flight.
September 27, 1964 The British Aerospace TSR.2, the British equivalent of the F-111, makes its first flight.
September 28, 1964 Polaris A-3, a fleet ballistic missile, becomes operational.
September 29, 1964 The LTV-Hiller-Ryan XC-142 tilt-wing four-engine transport research airplane makes its first flight.
September 30, 1964 A Lockheed C-130 flies from Australia to Williams Field, McMurdo Station -- the first flight over the Pole from Australia.
October 14, 1964 The Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stallion makes its first flight.
November 28, 1964 NASA launches the Mariner 4 spacecraft for a Mars flyby (achieved July 14, 1965).
December 21, 1964 The General Dynamics F-111A Aardvark, a low-altitude supersonic bomber, makes its first flight.
December 22, 1964 The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight.
1965-1966 Flight Timeline
January 11, 1965 The LTV-Hiller-Ryan XC-142 makes successful transitions from vertical to forward flight and back.
February 16, 1965 The Saturn launch vehicle with payload debuts.
February 25, 1965 The Douglas DC-9 makes its first flight.
March 23, 1965 The two-person Gemini 3 spacecraft makes its first flight. Virgil "Gus" Grissom and John Young make three orbits in the first flight mission that moves from one orbit to another.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The LTV-Hiller-Ryan XC-142 tilt-wing aircraft transitions from vertical takeoff to horizontal flight in this photo montage.
April 6, 1965 The first commercial communications satellite Early Bird is launched into a 22,300-mile synchronous orbit.
May 1, 1965 Colonel Robert L. Stephens pilots a Lockheed YF-12A to establish a world speed record of 2,062 miles per hour at Edwards Air Force Base.
June 3-7, 1965 James A. McDivitt and Edward White complete 62 orbits in Gemini 4; White is the first American to walk in space.
June 13, 1965 The unusual-looking Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander makes its first flight.
September 7, 1965 The Bell Model 209, which will become the Huey Cobra, makes its first flight.
September 27, 1965 The LTV A-7A Corsair attack aircraft makes its first flight.
November 15, 1965 A Flying Tiger Boeing 707 becomes the first to fly around the world across the poles.
December 4-18, 1965 Frank Borman and James Lovell complete 206 orbits in Gemini 7 and rendezvous with Gemini 6.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The General Dynamics F-111A was one of the most controversial warplanes in history, made to meet the demand for commonality in United States Air Force and Navy fighters.
January 10, 1966 The Bell Model 206A Jet Ranger helicopter makes its first flight.
January 31, 1966 Luna 9 is launched to the moon.
February 8, 1966 Freddie Laker announces the formation of Laker Airways.
March 16, 1966 Gemini 8 achieves the first space docking.
March 17, 1966 The Bell X-22A makes its first flight.
April 3, 1966 Luna 10 becomes the first artificial moon satellite.
May 18, 1966 The LTV XC-142A triservice V/STOL transport makes carrier takeoffs and landings on the USS Bennington.
May 18-June 20, 1966 Englishwoman Shelia Scott completes a record solo round-the-world flight for women in a Piper Comanche, flying 29,005 miles.
June 16, 1966 Navy A-4s make the first carrier strike since 1964 against North Vietnam, hitting oil storage facilities at Thanh Hoa.
July 12, 1966 The Northrop M2-F2 lifting body, predecessor to the Space Shuttle, flies. It has a wingless design, using its fuselage to generate lift.
August 10, 1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 is launched by NASA to photograph the moon and survey Apollo landing sites.
August 31, 1966 The Hawker Siddeley AV-8A VTOL development aircraft makes its first hovering flight.
September 8, 1966 The Phoenix missile, to be the heart of the F-14 weapon system, undergoes a successful full-function test launch from an A-3A Skywarrior.
September 15, 1966 Reinhold Platz, Fokker's top designer in World War I, dies at age 80.
October 21, 1966 The Yakovlev Yak-40 trijet makes its first flight.
November 11, 1966 The last Gemini mission is flown by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and James Lovell. They complete 59 orbits, and Aldrin spends 51/2-hours in extravehicular activity (EVA).
December 6, 1966 The Luftwaffe grounds the Lockheed F-104 fleet after the 65th accident.
December 23, 1966 The Dassault Mirage F1 makes its first flight.1967-1968 Flight Timeline
January 2, 1967 Boeing is awarded the contract for the design of a supersonic transport; the design will eventually be canceled.
January 27, 1967 Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee die in a tragic fire during a preflight test.
February 10, 1967 The Dornier Do 31E flies for the first time.
February 26, 1967 Grumman A-6 Intruders conduct the first aerial mining of the Vietnam War, laying minefields in the mouths of the Song Ca and Son Giang rivers.
Warren M. Bodie Collection
The Bell Huey Cobra was an aerial fire support system with a narrow, tandem-seat fuselage and small stub wings for additional lift and an armament platform.
March 8, 1967 The all-metal Slingsby T.53 glider makes its first flight.
March 11, 1967 The Bede BD-2, an all-metal sailplane, makes its first flight.
April 9, 1967 The Boeing 737 twin-jet debuts.
April 18, 1967 Aeroflot begins Moscow to Tokyo service with a Tupolev Tu-114.
April 27, 1967 A-6 Intruders and A-4 Skyhawks raid Kep Airfield in North Vietnam, striking MiGs on the ground.
May 9, 1967 The Fokker F28 Friendship makes its first flight.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The Saab 37 Viggen, with its unique double-delta configuration, made its first flight in 1967, and rapidly became Sweden's primary military aircraft.
May 23, 1967 The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod, a development of the de Havilland Comet 4, makes its first flight.
June 8, 1967 Israeli forces sink the USS Liberty.
June 14, 1967 NASA launches Mariner 5 for a Venus flyby (achieved October 19, 1967).
September 2, 1967 The Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne attack helicopter, which features a rigid rotor and pusher propeller, makes its first flight.
October 3, 1967 Major William Knight flies a North American X-15 to the fastest speed of its career: 4,534 miles per hour (Mach 6.72).
October 23, 1967 The Canadair CL-215 water bomber makes its first flight.
November 18, 1967 The swing-wing Dassault Mirage G makes its first flight.
March 10, 1968 Lockheed selects the Rolls-Royce RB.211 engine to power its L-1011.
March 17, 1968 U.S. F-111s begin operation in Vietnam. The aircraft prove to be disastrous, and they are withdrawn from service.
March 27, 1968 The first Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, is killed in the crash of a two-seat MiG-15.
May 5, 1968 A Grumman Gulfstream II lands at London, completing the first nonstop transatlantic flight by an executive jet.
June 8, 1968 Barnes Wallis dies at the age of 80. He invented the "Dam Buster" raid bombs and geodetic airframes; he also designed dirigibles.
June 30, 1968 The world's largest airplane, the Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, makes its first flight.
July 6, 1968 Marine Corps North American OV-10A Broncos arrive in Vietnam.
September 8, 1968 A Consortium of French and English manufacturers results in the first flight of the Jaguar E-01 prototype; the aircraft will serve well in the Gulf War.
October 11, 1968 Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham make 163 orbits in the Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo mission.
December 21-27, 1968 Apollo 8, with Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders, orbits the moon ten times.
December 31, 1968 The Tupelov Tu-144 SST makes its first flight, becoming the world's first SST to fly.
1969 Flight Timeline
January 7, 1969 The United States Air Force accepts the 1,000th T-38 trainer from Northrop.
January 14, 1969 Exhaust from a starter generator unit detonates a Zuni rocket warhead onboard the USS Enterprise; 27 people are killed.
January 14-17, 1969 Colonel V. Shatalov in Soyuz 4 joins with Soyuz 5 and achieves the first docking between two piloted spacecraft.
NASA
The three primary crew members for the Apollo 10 mission (Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young) pose in front of a large map of the lunar surface. They launched on May 18, 1969.
February 3, 1969 The U.S. Navy issues a contract to Grumman for the F-14A.
February 9, 1969 The Boeing 747 makes its first flight.
February 24, 1969 Mariner 6 is launched for a Mars flyby (achieved July 31, 1969).
March 2, 1969 The prototype Concorde supersonic airliner makes its first flight.
March 3-13, 1969 Apollo 9, with James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart as crew, completes 151 Earth orbits and tests the Lunar module in flight.
March 5, 1969 The existence of the Mil-12 helicopter, the largest ever flown, is announced.
April 9, 1969 The second Concorde (British-built) makes its first flight.
April 14, 1969 A North Korean aircraft shoots down an unarmed Lockheed
EC-121 Constellation, killing the 31 crew members.
April 28, 1969 The Hawker Siddeley Harrier makes a transatlantic crossing.
May 11, 1969 Lieutenant Commander Brian Davis, Royal Navy, wins the Daily Mail transatlantic race in 4 hours, 17 minutes.
May 18-26, 1969 NASA launches Apollo 10 with Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan.
June 1, 1969 The Marine OV-10A Bronco sets a 2,539.78-mile distance record for turboprop aircraft.
June 15, 1969 Aeroflot and Pan Am begin Moscow to New York services.
July 14, 1969 The first Vought A-7E Corsair II is delivered to the Navy.
July 20, 1969 In the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin walk on the moon.
July 24, 1969 Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, the Apollo 11 astronauts who went to the moon, are recovered by helicopters off the USS Hornet.
August 4, 1969 The U.S. Navy orders $461 million worth of a new antisubmarine warfare plane, the Lockheed S-3A.
September 15, 1969 The Cessna Citation business jet makes its first flight.
October 2, 1969 The first Hawker Siddeley Nimrod, a development of the original de Havilland Comet, is delivered to the RAF.
October 12, 1969 The first SEPECAT Jaguar strike fighter to be completed in Britain makes its first flight.
November 10, 1969 Master showman Jim Bede sets an unrefueled closed-circuit course distance record of 8,973.4 miles in his radical BD-2.
November 14-24, 1969 Apollo 12 makes a second lunar mission with Charles (Pete) Conrad, Jr.; Richard F. Gordon, Jr.; and Alan L. Bean as the crew.
December 17, 1969 The first Lockheed C-5A Galaxy is handed over to the Air Force; this controversial aircraft will have tremendous importance in several wars.
December 23, 1969 McDonnell Douglas is chosen to build the F-15 air-superiority fighter.
1970-1971 Flight Timeline
January 22, 1970 The Boeing 747 begins Pan Am transatlantic service.
February 15, 1970 Air Chief Marshal Lord (Hugh) Dowding dies at age 87; he was the Commander of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.
March 2, 1970 The General Electric CF-6 engine is tested on a Boeing B-52 test bed; the engine is intended for the McDonnell Douglas DC-10.
March 16, 1970 A Lockheed EC-121 crashes at Da Nang, Vietnam; 23 people are killed.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The Canadair CL-215 Water Bomber was the first water bomber specifically designed to fight forest fires. Previous planes filling the role had been retrofitted bombers or transport craft.
March 19, 1970 Major Jerauld Gentry makes the first piloted and powered flight in a Martin Marietta X-24A lifting body vehicle, a research tool for the shuttle.
March 28, 1970 A Navy Phantom II downs a MiG-21 to resume air combat after a bombing halt.
April 10, 1970 The Douglas A-4M Skyhawk, a much more advanced version of the original aircraft, makes its first flight.
April 11-17, 1970 The Apollo 13 mission is aborted after an explosion on board.
May 2, 1970 A Navy helicopter rescues 26 people from a DC-9 ditched in the Caribbean.
May 9, 1970 Navy helicopters and OV-10A Broncos combine with boats to attack in the Mekong Delta region.
May 26, 1970 The Tupolev Tu-144 reaches Mach 2 in test flights.
June 1, 1970 The first Lockheed C-5A goes into operational service.
June 9, 1970 A New York to Washington, D.C., speed record for helicopters is set--1 hour, 18 minutes at 156.43 miles per hour--in a Marine Corps Ch-53D flown by James Wright and Colonel Henry Hart.
June 10, 1970 A New York-to-Boston helicopter speed record is set (same crew and helicopter as above): one hour, nine minutes at 162.72 miles per hour.
July 17, 1970 Lockheed P-3A Orions begin operation with the Navy.
August 17, 1970 The Soviets launch Venera 7, which lands on Venus on December 15, 1970.
August 22, 1970 Two Sikorsky HH-53C helicopters fly a 9,000-mile nonstop transpacific flight refueled by Lockheed KC-130s.
August 29, 1970 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 makes its first flight.
September 25, 1970 The television-guided Condor missile is test fired.
October 24, 1970 Bill Dana makes the last flight in a North American X-15.
November 10, 1970 The Soviet Union lands the first remote-controlled moon rover Luna 17.
November 12, 1970 Japan reenters military aircraft building with the first flight of the NAMC XC-1 jet transport.
November 16, 1970 The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar makes its first flight.
November 21, 1970 The United States attempts to rescue U.S. prisoners of war from Son Tay prison in North Vietnam, only to learn that the prisoners have been moved.
December 21, 1970 The Grumman F-14A Tomcat makes its first flight.
January 6, 1971 The Marines accept the first Hawker Siddeley AV-8A Harrier.
January 22, 1971 A Navy Lockheed P-3C Orion, piloted by Commander Donald H. Lilienthal, sets a long-distance record for turboprops of 7,010 miles.
January 27, 1971 The Lockheed Orion sets a world speed record for its class (four-motor turboprop): 501.44 miles per hour over a closed course.
January 31-February 9, 1971 Apollo 14 gathers 94 pounds of material from the moon.
February 8, 1971 The P-3C Lockheed Orion sets a world altitude record of 46,214.5 feet, as well as four time-to-climb records for its class.
March 21, 1971 The Westland Lynx helicopter makes its first flight.
March 24, 1971 The Boeing SST is canceled.
April 16, 1971 The Douglas A-4M Skyhawk enters service. It is the seventh major version of the A-4.
April 17, 1971 Federal Express begins operations.
May 8, 1971 The Dassault variable-sweep Mirage G8 makes its first flight.
May 21, 1971 The Navy begins evaluation of helmet-mounted sighting for a fire-control system.
May 30, 1971 Mariner 9 is launched to orbit Mars.
June 18, 1971 Southwest Airlines begins operations.
June 29, 1971 Soyuz 11 docks with the Soviet space station Salyut 1. The crew is killed upon entering the earth's atmosphere on the return trip because of equipment failure.
July 7, 1971 The Navy A-1 Skyraider is retired.
July 20, 1971 Japan makes its first indigenous supersonic aircraft, the Mitsubishi XT-2 jet trainer.
July 26-August 7, 1971 Apollo 15 uses a lunar rover vehicle.
1972-1973 Flight Timeline
January 5, 1972 President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program.
January 21, 1972 The Lockheed S-3A Viking antisubmarine warfare aircraft makes its first flight. It has twice the speed and range of the Grumman S-2 Tracker it replaces.
February 6, 1972 Lyle Shelton sets a time-to-climb record in an F8F2 Bearcat: 3,000 meters in 1 minute, 31 seconds.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The Boeing B-52 was designed as a strategic long rifle, able to fly alone or in cells of three deep into the Soviet Union with powerful nuclear weapons. During the Vietnam War it became a tactical artillery barrage.
February 14-25, 1972 The Soviets send Luna 20 to the moon; it digs samples and rockets them back to the Soviet Union.
March 24, 1972 The first McDonnell Douglas QF-4B target drone is delivered.
March 29, 1972 The Ryan BQM-34E, a supersonic Firebee II, is used in missile defense exercises for the first time.
April 6, 1972 The Navy conducts heavy air strikes against North Vietnam.
April 16-27, 1972 The Apollo 16 mission sets up a lunar astronomical observatory.
May 6, 1972 U.S. Navy pilots down two MiG-21s and two MiG-17s.
May 9, 1972 Operation Pocket Money, the mining of principal North Vietnamese ports, begins.
May 10, 1972 The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II prototype ground-support aircraft debuts.
May 10, 1972 Navy pilots shoot down 10 MiGs; Lieutenant Randall Cunningham and RIO William Driscoll become aces with a triple victory over MiGs at Haiphong.
May 26, 1972 Cessna rolls out its 100,000th aircraft; no other company has approached this figure in total production.
May 30, 1972 The Northrop A-9A makes its first flight.
May 31, 1972 The Navy announces it has flown 3,949 sorties against North Vietnam during the month of May.
June 20, 1972 A new helicopter class altitude record of 40,820 feet is set by Jean Boulet in an Aerospatiale Lama.
July 26, 1972 Rockwell International wins the competition to build the Space Shuttle.
July 27, 1972 The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle makes its first flight.
August 5, 1972 An F-4J Phantom makes the first fully automated landing aboard a carrier, the USS Ranger.
August 11, 1972 The Northrop F-5E makes its first flight.
October 28, 1972 The Airbus Industrie A300 makes its first flight.
December 7-19, 1972 Apollo 17, the last flight in the program, is launched with Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt as crew.
December 18, 1972 Linebacker II bombing raids begin to bring the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table in Paris.
December 29, 1972 Heavy raids take place on Hanoi. The North Vietnamese go to the peace table.
January 12, 1973 The last Navy kill of the war is scored when an MiG-21 is shot down, bringing the total to 57 MiGs shot down.
January 27, 1973 The Vietnamese cease-fire is in effect.
March 29, 1973 The United States' participation in the Vietnam War officially ends.
April 6, 1973 NASA launches Pioneer 11 on a flyby to Jupiter and Saturn.
April 10, 1973 The Boeing T-43A, a navigator trainer version of the 737, debuts.
May 14, 1973 NASA launches the Skylab 1 space station; crews are sent up separately later.
May 25-June 22, 1973 Charles Conrad, Joseph Kerwin, and Paul Weitz, the first Skylab crew, board Skylab.
June 1, 1973 The first General Dynamics F-111Cs are delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force.
July 25, 1973 The Mikoyan Ye-266 sets a new altitude record of 118,898 feet.
August 1, 1973 The Martin X-24B lifting body, piloted by John Manke, makes a glide flight after being dropped from a Boeing B-52 mother ship.
August 16, 1973 A Grumman F-14 shoots down a QT-33 target drone with a Sparrowhawk missile.
October 6, 1973 Surprise air attacks by Arab forces open the Yom Kippur War.
October 19-24, 1973 Twenty-four Douglas A-4s are supplied to Israel.
October 21, 1973 The pioneer of aerial refueling, Sir Alan Cobham, dies at age 79.
October 26, 1973 The Alpha Jet trainer prototype makes its first flight; it is manufactured jointly by Dornier and Dassault/Breguet.
November 3, 1973 The United States launches Mariner 10 to go to Venus and Mercury.
February 2, 1974 The General Dynamics YF-16 makes its first "official" flight.
February 18, 1974 Tom Gatch takes off to cross the Atlantic in an unusual balloon/capsule system; he is lost at sea.
February 22, 1974 Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Barbara Ann Allen becomes the first female Navy Aviator.
March 1, 1974 The Sikorsky YCH-53 turboshaft transport makes its first flight.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
In modern times aircraft had longer lives than companies: what began as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk in 1974 became a British Aerospace Hawk and then a McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) T-45A Goshawk. This plane is still used for training and as attack aircraft. See more pictures of flight.
March 3, 1974 A Turkish Douglas DC-10 crashes after takeoff from Orly, France; 346 are killed.
April 2, 1974 The last Douglas C-54 Skymaster is retired.
May 20, 1974 The ATS-6 satellite is launched.
June 4, 1974 Second Lieutenant Sally D. Woolfolk becomes the first female Army aviator.
June 9, 1974 The Northrop YF-17 prototype makes its first flight.
August 3, 1974 The world's largest (volume of 50.3 million cubic feet) unpiloted balloon is launched from Fort Churchill in Manitoba, Canada; it rises to 155,000 feet.
August 9, 1974 The first EC-130 Hercules TACAMO aircraft is accepted by the U.S. Navy.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
Despite the company's relatively small size, Dassault came up with an amazing variety of aircraft, including the Etendard. The Dassault Super Etendard first flew in 1974.
August 21, 1974 The Hawker Siddeley P.1182 Hawk makes its first flight.
August 22, 1974 The Short SD3-30 makes its first flight.
August 25, 1974 Charles Lindbergh dies at age 72.
September 11, 1974 The Bell Model 206L Long Ranger makes its first flight.
September 25, 1974 The Northrop F-5F makes its first flight.
October 17, 1974 The Sikorsky YUH-60A helicopter makes its first flight.
October 28, 1974 The Dassault Super Etendard carrier-based fighter makes its first flight.
November 20, 1974 The first crash of a Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet" occurs; 59 people die.
December 23, 1974 The Rockwell International B-1A prototype makes its first flight.
January 13, 1975 The General Dynamics F-16 wins the lightweight fighter contest over the F-17.
January 16-February 1, 1975 A McDonnell Douglas F-15 "Streak Eagle" sets eight world time-to-climb records.
January 17, 1975 The first production version of the Lockheed P-3C Orion is delivered to the Navy.
March 7, 1975 The Yak 42 trijet transport makes its first flight.
March 27, 1975 The de Havilland DHC-7 Dash 7 transport makes its first flight.
April 4, 1975 More than 100 orphans and adult escorts are killed in the first crash of a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy while evacuating Saigon.
April 29-30, 1975 Naval and Marine Corps helicopters evacuate U.S. citizens and South Vietnamese refugees from Saigon as the North Vietnamese storm the city.
June 3, 1975 The Mitsubishi F-1 supersonic single-seat fighter debuts; it is a development of an earlier T-2 trainer.
June 22, 1975 Svetlana Savitskaya flies a Mikoyan Ye-133 at 1667.42 miles per hour to set a women's speed record.
July 15-24, 1975 U.S. astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts dock their spacecraft during the Apollo/Soyuz Project.
August 20, 1975 The Viking 1 spacecraft is launched to Mars to transmit pictures from the surface. It releases the lander on July 20, 1976, and pictures are transmitted on August 7, 1976.
August 26, 1975 The McDonnell Douglas YC-15 STOL transport makes its first flight.
September 9, 1975 The Viking 2 is launched to Mars and lands on September 3, 1976.
September 30, 1975 The Hughes YAH-64 Apache prototype helicopter debuts.
October 1, 1975 The Bell YAH-63, competitor to the YAH-64, flies for the first time.
October 3, 1975 The first KC-130R Hercules tanker is delivered.
December 26, 1975 A Tu-144 completes the first supersonic airmail service between Moscow and Alma Ata, Kazakhstan.
1976 Flight Timeline
January 21, 1976 The Concorde begins supersonic passenger service.
February 10, 1976 Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Saturn on its way out of the solar system.
March 24, 1976 A Boeing 747 SP sets a world record by flying 10,290 miles nonstop from Paine Field, Washington, to Capetown.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
Boeing engineers had never envisaged the 747 as part of a composite aircraft, intended to let the Space Shuttle Enterprise be launched for glide flights to the ground. The first approach and landing test was in 1977.
April 5, 1976 Aviation pioneer and reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes dies at the age of 70.
May 20, 1976 The Bell AH-IT Sea Cobra makes its first flight.
May 26, 1976 The Dassault Mirage F1-B makes its first flight.
June 5, 1976 A Tomahawk missile undergoes its first in-flight launch; it is released from the wing of an A-6 Intruder.
June 24, 1976 The Navy accepts the first Beech T-34C turboprop trainer.
July 3-4, 1976 The Israelis rescue hostages in a raid on Entebbe, Uganda, destroying 11 MiGs.
July 20, 1976 The indigenous Israeli fighter, Kfir, is demonstrated publicly.
July 28, 1976 A Lockheed SR-71, piloted by Captain E. W. Joersz and Major G. T. Morgan, sets a world speed record of 2,193.1 miles per hour.
July 28, 1976 A Lockheed SR-71 sets an altitude in sustained/level flight record of 85,069 feet; it is piloted by Captain Robert Helt and Major Larry Elliot.
August 9, 1976 The Boeing YC-14 prototype flies; it will compete with the YC-15.
September 6, 1976 Lieutenant Viktor I. Belenko flies a MiG-25 to Japan, defecting from the Soviet Union.
September 17, 1976 The Space Shuttle Enterprise is rolled out in Palmsdale, California.
October 6, 1976 The AV-8 Harrier is deployed overseas for the first time on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.
October 12, 1976 The Sikor-sky Model 72 prototype debuts.
November 7, 1976 The Dassault-Mystère Falcon 50 executive jet transport makes its first flight.
December 2, 1976 The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, makes its first flight.
December 22, 1976 The Ilyushin Il-86 wide-body transport makes its first flight.
December 23, 1976 The Sikorsky S-70 wins the U.S. Army competition; it will be designated the UH-60A.
1977-1978 Flight Timeline
January 13, 1977 AV-8 Harriers make the first bow-on, downwind landings in carrier history on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, illustrating the operation flexibility of VSTOL-type aircraft.
January 21, 1977 Tie-down tests begin on the Bell XV-15 tilt-rotor; it will lead to the V-22 Osprey.
January 31, 1977 The first Vought TA-7C two-seat version of the Corsair is delivered to the Navy.
January 31, 1977 The Cessna Citation II makes its first flight.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The highly inventive, two-seat, swing-wing Dassault Mirage G8 made its first flight on May 8, 1971, and was intended as an experimental variable geometry aircraft.
February 17, 1977 Beech-craft produces the 10,000th Bonanza.
February 18, 1977 The Space Shuttle Enterprise flies aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
March 16, 1977 The Army accepts the first production Bell AH-1S Cobra with TOW capability; it will be important in the Gulf War.
March 24, 1977 The first Boeing E-3A AWACs are delivered to the USAF.
March 24, 1977 The stretched Lockheed C-141B Starlifter debuts.
March 27, 1977 In the worst air disaster to date, Pan Am and KLM Boeing 747s collide on the runway at Tenerife in the Canary Islands; 575 people are killed.
April 5, 1977 The Navy takes delivery of the first Beech T-44A trainer.
April 8, 1977 The first E-2C Automatic Radar Processing System aircraft is delivered to the Navy.
May 3, 1977 The Bell XV-15 tilt-rotor makes its first hovering flight.
June 10, 1977 The Fairchild A-10 Republic Warthog is introduced into operational service.
June 16, 1977 Rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun dies.
June 22, 1977 OV-10 Broncos are tested with Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) Sensor, which gives the Bronco additional night capability.
June 30, 1977 President Jimmy Carter announces the cancellation of the B-1A bomber. A principal reason behind this decision -- the new stealth technology to come -- is kept secret.
August 12, 1977 The Space Shuttle Enterprise makes its first free-flight (glide) from the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
August 20, 1977 Voyager 2 is launched on a multiplanet flyby mission.
August 23, 1977 The Gossamer Condor, designed by Dr. Paul MacCready, wins the Kremer Prize for a human-powered flight around a course slightly longer than a mile.
August 26, 1977 The Rockwell International XFV-12 VSTOL fighter debuts; it will be short-lived.
August 31, 1977 Alexander Fedotov flies a Mikoyan Ye-266M to set a world altitude record for air-breathing engined aircraft of 123,524 feet.
September 5, 1977 Voyager 1 is launched on a multiplanet flyby mission.
December 10, 1977-March 16, 1978 Soviets in Soyuz 26 dock with Salyut 6 space station, breaking U.S. records for time in space with a 96-day, 10-hour stay.
December 13, 1977 Eastern Airlines begins preliminary Airbus service.
January 10-16, 1978 Soviets achieve the first docking of three spacecraft at once with Soyuz 26, Soyuz 27, and Salyut 6.
January 20-February 8, 1978 The Soviet space station Salyut 6 is resupplied by the uncrewed vehicle Progress.
January 31, 1978 The RAF buys 30 Boeing Vertol CH-47 Chinooks.
February 2, 1978 A Tomahawk missile is launched from the USS Barb, a submarine.
March 10, 1978 The Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter makes its first flight.
April 6, 1978 Eastern Airlines orders 25 Airbus A300s.
April 10, 1978 The Sikorsky S-72 compound helicopter flies.
May 9, 1978 David Cook pilots the first hang glider, a Revell VJ-23, across the English Channel, following Louis Blériot's route.
May 20, 1978 McDonnell Douglas delivers the 5,000th F-4 Phantom II, the most important western fighter of the Cold War.
June 6, 1978 Tu-144 SST service is suspended.
June 15-November 2, 1978 The Soviets set a record for space duration: 139 days, 14 hours in Salyut 6.
July 14, 1978 Boeing announces it will begin production of the model 767.
August 8, 1978 Pioneer 13 is launched by NASA; on December 9, 1978, it will drop five probes into the Venusian atmosphere.
August 12-17, 1978 Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo, and Larry Newman set a balloon duration record of 137 hours, 5 minutes in the Double Eagle II. It is the first transatlantic crossing of a gas balloon.
August 20, 1978 The BAE's Sea Harrier makes its first flight.
September 15, 1978 Professor Willy Messerschmitt dies at age 80.
October 24, 1978 President Jimmy Carter signs the Airline Deregulation Act.
November 8, 1978 The Canadair CL-600 "wide-bodied" business jet debuts.
November 9, 1978 The McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Advanced Harrier II makes its first flight.
November 18, 1978 The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet debuts.
November 20, 1978 After ten years of trying, McDonnell Douglas gets the go-ahead for the KC-10 tanker version of the DC-10.
December 19, 1978 The Solar One, the first solar-powered aircraft, flies.
1979 Flight Timeline
January 1, 1979 AWACS goes to duty with the United States Air Force.
January 6, 1979 The USAF accepts the first F-16A.
January 29, 1979 The Northrop RF-5E makes its first flight.
February 25-August 19, 1979 The Soviets set another space endurance record: Soyuz 32 docks with Salyut 6, and cosmonauts spend 175 days, 6 minutes in space.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The NASA AD-1 offered a unique configuration for supersonic flight: an oblique wing was fixed at conventional position for takeoff but swung to a fore-and-aft position for high-speeds.
February 27, 1979 McDonnell Douglas delivers the last A-4 Skyhawk to the Navy.
March 5, 1979 Voyager 1 gathers vast information during a flyby of Jupiter.
March 9, 1979 The Dassault-Breguet Super Mirage 4000 makes its first flight.
March 11, 1979 The U.S. NavStar Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite is used for the first time on a transatlantic flight.
March 22, 1979 The Lockheed CP-140 Aurora makes its first flight for the Canadian Armed Forces.
March 23, 1979 Boeing orders the 757 into production.
March 26, 1979 An AV-8B tests a new ski-ramp technique developed by the British; it cuts takeoff distance from 930 to 230 feet.
April 15, 1979 The Dassault Mirage 50 multimission fighter debuts.
April 17, 1979 The world's second solar-powered aircraft, the Solar Riser, flies.
April 20, 1979 The last Concorde makes its first flight.
April 30, 1979 The first Lockheed L-1011 is delivered to British Airways.
May 11, 1979 The Boeing Vertol YCH-47D makes its first flight.
May 25, 1979 A DC-10 loses its engine and pylon on takeoff at Chicago killing 272 people.
June 1, 1979 The United States agrees to train Egyptian pilots to fly 35 Phantom F-4Es supplied to them.
June 5, 1979 The first production of the Panavia Tornado is rolled out. It will distinguish itself in the Gulf War.
June 6, 1979 All DC-10s are grounded due to the accident in Chicago on May 25.
June 12, 1979 Dr. Paul MacCready's Gossamer Albatross makes the first human-powered flight across the English Channel.
June 20, 1979 Lieutenant Dona Spruill, flying a C-1A trader onto Independence, becomes the first woman qualified in fixed-wing aircraft on carrier landings.
July 9, 1979 Voyager 2 achieves flyby of Jupiter.
July 11, 1979 The American Space Station Skylab reenters the atmosphere and burns up.
July 13, 1979 The FAA lifts the grounding of DC-10s.
July 24, 1979 The Bell XV-15 makes a successful transition from a helicopter to a fixed-wing mode of flight.
August 30, 1979 The prototype Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk is rolled out at Stratford, Connecticut.
September 1, 1979 Pioneer 1 flies by Saturn and sends photographs to Earth. New outer rings are discovered.
September 15, 1979 The first Navy version of the Beech Super King Air, the UC-12B, arrives at Patuxent Naval Air Station for tests.
September 28, 1979 The last RA-5C Vigilante squadron (RVAH-7) is disbanded.
October 30, 1979 The F/A-18 begins carrier qualification trials.
October 30, 1979 Aircraft designer Sir Barnes Wallis dies at the age of 90.
November 4, 1979 Iranians seize hostages at the American Embassy in Teheran.
November 16, 1979 The Lockheed L-1011-500 Tristar debuts.
November 20, 1979 The RA-5C Vigilante makes its last flight.
December 21, 1979 NASA's AD-1 swing-wing research aircraft makes its first flight.
1980-1981 Flight Timeline
March 28, 1980 Learjet, produces its 1,000th aircraft.
April 9-October 11, 1980 The Soyuz 35 crew sets a new space record at Salyut 6: 184 days, 20 hours, and 12 minutes.
April 24-25, 1980 Eight RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters from the USS Nimitz attempt to rescue U.S. hostages, but efforts are aborted. One of the helicopters later collides with a C-130.
May 18, 1980 The People's Republic of China launches a prototype ICBM.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
The original Rockwell International B-1 supersonic bomber prototype first flew in 1974, but the program was canceled and then revived in October 1981. The production swing-wing B-1Bs had a top speed of 792 miles per hour.
June 4, 1980 A Japanese F-15 Eagle makes its first flight in St. Louis. Most will be manufactured in Japan.
June 20, 1980 The Beech C99 commuter airliner debuts.
July 12, 1980 The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender tanker makes its first flight.
July 18, 1980 India becomes the seventh nation to launch an artificial satellite, called the Rohini 1.
July 21, 1980 The F-16 is formally named the Fighting Falcon in honor of the Air Force Academy.
August 7, 1980 The MacCready Gossamer Penguin makes its first solar-powered flight.
August 9, 1980 Famous American pilot Jacqueline Cochran dies. She was the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound.
September 25, 1980 The Cameron D-38, a hot-airship, makes its first flight.
November 12, 1980 Voyager 1 flies within 77,000 miles of Saturn.
November 18-21, 1980 Judith Chisholm establishes a record for women between England and Australia, with a flight of 3 days, 13 hours in a Cessna Turbo Centurion.
November 20, 1980 The MacCready Solar Challenger makes its first flight on solar power alone.
December 3, 1980 Judith Chisholm sets a women's solo round-the-world record: 15 days, 22 minutes.
December 5, 1980 The Solar Challenger, piloted by Janice Brown, flies for 1 hour, 32 minutes, under solar power.
December 9, 1980 Boeing rolls out its 500th 747.
December 12, 1980 The Alpha Jet, produced by a consortium of Dassualt- Breguet/Dornier, makes its first flight.
January 5, 1981 Sir James Martin, designer of fighter prototypes and the Martin-Baker ejection seat, dies at age 87.
January 26, 1981 Pan Am retires the last of its 707s.
February 1, 1981 Donald Douglas dies at age 88.
February 18, 1981 John K. "Jack" Northrop dies at age 86.
April 3, 1981 Juan Trippe, founder of Pan Am, dies at age 81.
April 12-14, 1981 The Space Shuttle Columbia conducts its first orbital test flight.
June 1, 1981 The Short Brothers 360 makes its first flight.
June 5, 1981 Dick Rutan sets a straight-line distance for class record in a Rutan Long-Ez: 4,563.7 miles.
June 7, 1981 Israeli F-16s bomb the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
June 18, 1981 The Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter makes its first flight.
June 26, 1981 The Grumman/General Dynamics EF-111A Raven makes its first flight.
July 7, 1981 The Solar Challenger crosses the English Channel.
August 1, 1981 The Lockheed TR-1A, a development of the U-2, makes its first flight.
August 3, 1981 More than 13,000 U.S. Air Traffic controllers illegally go on strike; President Ronald Reagan will later fire them.
August 4, 1981 Boeing rolls out the first model 767.
August 25, 1981 Voyager 2 passes within 63,000 miles of Saturn.
August 26, 1981 The first Japanese-assembled F-15J Eagle debuts.
September 7, 1981 Ed Link, inventor of the original pilot simulator trainer, dies at 77.
September 7, 1981 McDonnell Douglas delivers the 1,000th DC-9 series airliner.
September 26, 1981 The Boeing 767 makes its first flight.
October 2, 1981 The Rockwell International B-1B will go into production; 100 air-craft are ordered.
October 9, 1981 The Super Chicken III, a helium-filled balloon, completes the first nonstop balloon flight across America, from California to Georgia, in 55 hours, 25 minutes.
November 12-14, 1981 The Space Shuttle Columbia makes its second orbital flight.
November 13, 1981 The Double Eagle V--piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, Ron Clark, and Rocky Aoki--makes a transpacific balloon flight.
1982 Flight Timeline
January 10, 1982 A Gulfstream III, Spirit of America, completes a round-the-world flight in 43 hours, 39 minutes, for a new record.
January 27, 1982 The 1,000th Cessna business jet is delivered.
February 19, 1982 The Boeing 757 makes its first flight from the plant at Renton, Washington.
March 1, 1982 A descent module from the Venera 13 spacecraft lands on Venus; it transmits data for 127 minutes, taking photos and analyzing soil samples.
Peter M. Bowers Collection
With its helicopterlike cockpit, the Edgley Optica gained worldwide attention upon its first flight in 1979. Unfortunately, the plane seemed to be cursed, suffering crashes, business failures, arson and other mishaps. Only a handful were made.
March 22-30, 1982 The Space Shuttle Columbia, with Jack Lousma and Gordon Fullerton as pilots, makes its third flight.
April 2, 1982 Argentina invades the Falkland Islands to force their return from Great Britain.
April 3, 1982 The Airbus 310 debuts.
April 19, 1982 The Soviets launch the Salyut 7 space station into orbit.
April 25, 1982 British helicopters go into action in the Falkland Islands to repel the Argentine invaders.
May 1, 1982 An Avro Vulcan, designed as a nuclear bomber, bombs Port Stanley airfield in the Falklands.
May 1, 1982 The British score their first victory with a Sea Harrier when it shoots down an Argentine Mirage IIIEA with a Sidewinder.
May 4, 1982 The British destroyer HMS Sheffield is sunk by an Exocet missile launched by an Argentine Super Etendard fighter.
May 13, 1982 Braniff International ceases operations, becoming the first major casualty of deregulation.
May 13-December 10, 1982 A two-person Soviet crew joins Salyut 7. They stay for 211 days, 8 hours, and 5 minutes.
May 17, 1982 Soviets make the first launch of a satellite from a space station.
May 20, 1982 The U.S. army accepts the first Boeing-Vertol CH-47D Chinook helicopter.
May 25, 1982 Argentine Skyhawks sink the British destroyer HMS Coventry.
June 3, 1982 Soviets test Cosmos 1374, a winged spacecraft that is the forerunner of the Soviet shuttle.
June 14, 1982 The war in the Falklands ends with Argentine surrender.
June 27-July 4, 1982 The Space Shuttle Columbia makes a fourth test flight.
June 30, 1982 The Space Shuttle Challenger is rolled out at Palmdale, from the Rockwell factory.
July 29, 1982 The Soviet Union sends Salyut 6 back into the atmosphere, burning it up.
August 1, 1982 The British Aerospace Model 146 Series 200 makes its first flight.
August 11, 1982 The first McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is delivered to the USAF.
August 19-27, 1982 Soviets launch Soyuz T-7 to go to Salyut 7 space station; Svetlana Savitskaya, the second woman in space, is on board.
August 30, 1982 The Northrop F-20 Tigershark makes its first flight.
September 3, 1982 The Beech Commuter aircraft, Model 1900, makes its first flight.
September 9, 1982 The Conestoga, the first U.S. private-venture space rocket, is launched by Space Services Inc. It does not make it to orbit, and the venture eventually fails.
September 30, 1982 H. Ross Perot, Jr., and Jay Coburn complete the first round-the-world flight by a helicopter.
October 15, 1982 Northrop delivers the 1,000th of its F-5 fighter series.
November 11-16, 1982 The Space Shuttle Columbia makes its first operational flight.
December 23, 1982 The Short Sherpa makes its first flight.
1983 Flight Timeline
January 25, 1983 The IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) is launched by NASA.
January 25, 1983 The Saab-Fairchild 340 twin turboprop makes its first flight.
February 3, 1983 A nuclear-attack version of the Dassault Mirage 2000N makes its first flight.
March 23, 1983 President Ronald Reagan announces the Star Wars antimissile system.
Photodisc
The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellites were perhaps the greatest bargains in space history. Voyager 1 (shown here) was launched September 5, 1977, and flew past Jupiter on March 5, 1979, and by Saturn on November 12, 1980.
March 23, 1983 The prototype Rockwell International B-1A resumes testing in preparation for the B-1B program.
April 4-9, 1983 The Space Shuttle Challenger is launched for the first time.
April 25, 1983 The Dornier Do 24TT amphibian makes it first flight.
June 18, 1983 Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
June 20, 1983 The de Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8 transport debuts.
July 8, 1983 General Dynamics delivers the 1,000th F-16 fighter.
July 22, 1983 The world's first solo round-the-world helicopter flight is completed by Dick Smith.
August 30-September 6, 1983 Space Shuttle Challenger makes its third operational mission.
November 28-December 8, 1983 Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the European Spacelab on board.
December 9, 1983 The 1,000th Boeing 737 is rolled out.
U.S. Department of Defense
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle was a tactical fighter introduced in 1976.
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