Aviation and space timeline

Wright brothers’ first flight

First flight — On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright covered 120 feet in 12 seconds aboard the Flyer: the first controlled, sustained, powered flight in history.

Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — 1903 Wright Flyer

Blériot crosses the English Channel

Record — On 25 July 1909 Louis Blériot flew the first Blériot XI across the English Channel, the first such crossing by a heavier-than-air aircraft. The feat made him a world figure overnight and secured the future of his aircraft manufacturing business. Its impact was captured by the British press headline declaring that Britain was no longer an island: the aeroplane had just erased a natural frontier.

Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — Blériot XI

First flight of the Fokker V.4

First flight — Fokker's first genuine triplane, the V.4, made its first flight in 1917. Its excessive control forces led to the next prototype, the V.5, the direct basis of the production Dr.I.

Fokker F.I prototypes delivered to the front

Milestone — Two F.I pre-production triplanes, closely based on the V.5, arrived at Markebeeke, Belgium, for combat evaluation with Jastas 10 and 11. Manfred von Richthofen first flew his on 1 September and scored his first two triplane victories in it.

Dr.I fleet grounded after the Gontermann and Pastor crashes

Institutional — After the in-flight upper-wing failure of two triplanes — Heinrich Gontermann's on 29 October and Günther Pastor's on 31 October 1917, both fatal — Idflieg grounded the entire in-service Dr.I fleet on 2 November pending an inquiry.

Source: The Aviationist — Faulty Fokker: The Troubled Dr.1 Triplane

Dr.I returns to service after wing reinforcement

Institutional — After reinforcing the upper wing ribs and improving the waterproof varnish, Idflieg authorized the Dr.I's return to service on 28 November 1917; production resumed in early December.

Source: HistoryNet — Deadly Duo: Sopwith Camel and Fokker Triplane

Death of Manfred von Richthofen

Accident — German ace Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron", was killed on 21 April 1918 while flying a Fokker Dr.I, the aircraft in which he had scored his final 17 victories.

Source: Australian War Memorial — The Red Falcon

Dr.I withdrawn from the front as the Fokker D.VII arrives

Milestone — The Dr.I was withdrawn from front-line service as the new Fokker D.VII entered widespread service in June and July 1918; surviving triplanes were relegated to training and home-defence units.

First flight of the Junkers F 13

First flight — The Junkers F 13 flew for the first time on 1919-06-25.

Source: Museo Estatal de Aviación de Ucrania — Junkers F.13

Service entry of the Junkers F 13

Milestone — The Junkers F 13 entered service in 1920.

First flight of the Fokker F.VII

First flight — The Fokker F.VII flew for the first time on 1924-11-24.

Service entry of the Fokker F.VII

Milestone — The Fokker F.VII entered service in 1925.

Lindbergh's solo Atlantic crossing (Spirit of St. Louis)

Record — Between 20 and 21 May 1927 Charles Lindbergh flew the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York, to Paris in the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight. The high-wing monoplane, purpose-built for the attempt, won him the $25,000 Orteig Prize. The crossing transformed how the public saw long-distance aviation.

Source: History.com — Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight

First flight of the Lockheed Vega

First flight — The Lockheed Vega flew for the first time on 1927-07-04.

Source: U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission — The Lockheed Vega

Service entry of the Lockheed Vega

Milestone — The Lockheed Vega entered service in 1928.

Source: U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission — The Lockheed Vega

Service entry of the Dornier Do X

Milestone — The Dornier Do X entered service in 1929.

First flight of the Dornier Do X

First flight — The Dornier Do X flew for the first time on 1929-07-12.

Source: Museo Estatal de Aviación de Ucrania — 95th Anniversary of the Dornier Do X Flying Boat

Service entry of the Boeing 247

Milestone — The Boeing 247 entered service in 1933.

Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — Boeing 247-D

First flight of the Boeing 247

First flight — The Boeing 247 flew for the first time on 1933-02-08.

Source: HistoryLink.org — Boeing 247D: Pioneer of Passenger Air Travel

First flight of the Stampe SV-4 prototype

First flight — The S-IV prototype, forerunner of the Stampe SV-4, flew from Deurne (Antwerp) with Jean Stampe at the controls. Most sources give the date as 17 May 1933, though one Dutch-language source states the 13th.

Source: Belgian Aviation Preservation Association (BAPA) — Stampe & Vertongen SV4, The Legend

Service entry of the Douglas DC-2

Milestone — The Douglas DC-2 entered service in 1934.

Source: Airways Magazine — DC-2 Takes Flight for the First Time

First flight of the Bücker Bü 131 prototype

First flight — The Bücker Bü 131 prototype, registered D-3150, makes its first flight at Johannisthal airfield (Berlin), flown by Joachim von Köppen, a test pilot of the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DVL).

Source: Warbirds Resource Group — Luftwaffe Resource Center: Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann

First flight of the Douglas DC-2

First flight — The Douglas DC-2 flew for the first time on 1934-05-11.

Source: Vintage Aviation News — Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Douglas DC-2

USAAC issues a specification for a multi-engine bomber

Institutional — On 8 August 1934 the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) issued a proposal to replace the Martin B-10, requiring a useful bomb-load carried at 10,000 ft for 10 hours at a top speed of at least 200 mph, with a desired range of 2,000 miles. The contract would be decided by a fly-off at Wilbur Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, between Boeing's design, the Douglas DB-1 and the Martin Model 146 — the competition that produced the aircraft that became the B-17.

Source: HistoryLink.org — Boeing's B-17 Flying Fortress

Retirement of the Dornier Do X

Milestone — The Dornier Do X was retired from service in 1935.

First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109

First flight — The Messerschmitt Bf 109 flew for the first time on 1935-05-28.

Source: Warbirds Resource Group — Luftwaffe Resource Center: Messerschmitt Bf 109 prototypes

First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

First flight — The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress flew for the first time on 1935-07-28.

Source: Vintage Aviation News — Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Boeing Model 299 (XB-17)

First flight of the Model 299, the B-17 prototype

First flight — On 28 July 1935 the Model 299 — Boeing's company-funded prototype of what would become the B-17 — made its first flight in Seattle with chief test pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. The day before, a Seattle Times reporter had coined the nickname "Flying Fortress" after seeing the number of machine guns bristling from the fuselage. The aircraft combined features of the experimental XB-15 bomber and the Model 247 transport, powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet engines.

Source: Vintage Aviation News — Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Boeing Model 299 (XB-17)

Model 299 crashes at Wright Field, giving rise to the pilot checklist

Accident — On 30 October 1935, during a climb-rate evaluation flight, the Model 299 stalled and crashed shortly after takeoff from Wright Field, killing command pilot Major Ployer Peter Hill and, weeks later, Boeing test pilot Leslie Tower. The investigation found the control-surface gust lock had not been released; the accident — later summed up as "pilot error, not the machine's fault" — led directly to the modern written pre-flight checklist still used by pilots today. It also disqualified the Model 299 from the competition, which the Douglas B-18 went on to win.

Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine — The Checklist

Service entry of the Short Empire

Milestone — The Short Empire entered service in 1936.

Source: Aussie Airliners — Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-ADHL «Canopus»

First flight of the Supermarine Spitfire

First flight — The Supermarine Spitfire flew for the first time on 1936-03-05.

Source: History of Manston Airfield — Spitfire Prototype K5054 maiden flight from Eastleigh airfield, 5th March 1936

First flight of the Short Empire

First flight — The Short Empire flew for the first time on 1936-07-03.

Source: Aussie Airliners — Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-ADHL Canopus

Service entry of the Messerschmitt Bf 109

Milestone — The Messerschmitt Bf 109 entered service in 1937.

Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6/R3

The Bf 109 enters combat with the Condor Legion in Spain

Milestone — Dozens of Bf 109s (A through E variants) first saw active service with the Condor Legion in mid-1937, replacing the Heinkel He 51 biplane against Republican-flown Soviet Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters. A total of 136 Bf 109s were sent to Spain; 47 of them remained in service with the Spanish Air Force after the war ended in 1939.

Source: HistoryNet — Messerschmitt Bf 109D-1 (Jon Guttman)

The Y1B-17 enters service evaluation

Milestone — Despite the Model 299 crash, on 17 January 1936 the Air Corps used a legal loophole to order 13 pre-production aircraft, designated Y1B-17. Between 1 March and 4 August 1937, 12 of them were delivered to the 2nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia, for operational development and flight testing — including the widely publicized interception and photographing of the Italian ocean liner Rex 610 miles off the Atlantic coast, led by then-Lieutenant Curtis LeMay.

Source: Vintage Aviation News — Today in Aviation History: Y1B-17 Officially Enters Service with 2nd Bomb Group

Service entry of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

Milestone — The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress entered service in 1938.

Hindenburg disaster

Accident — On 6 May 1937 the German commercial rigid airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, New Jersey. Filled with hydrogen, it was the lead ship of its class and the largest airship ever built by envelope volume. The accident killed 35 of the 97 people on board plus one person on the ground, and effectively ended the era of commercial passenger airship travel.

Source: HISTORY.com — The Hindenburg disaster (This Day in History, May 6)

World speed record of the Bf 109 V13

Record — On 11 November 1937, the Bf 109 V13 (D-IPKY), flown by Messerschmitt's chief test pilot Dr. Hermann Wurster and powered by a 1,230 kW (1,672 PS) DB 601R racing engine, set a new world air speed record for landplanes with piston engines of 610.95 km/h — the first time Germany had set this record. Converted from a Bf 109D, the aircraft was registered by the FAI and contemporary publications as a Messerschmitt Bf 113 (or Bf 113R).

Service entry of the Supermarine Spitfire

Milestone — The Supermarine Spitfire entered service in 1938.

Source: RAF Museum — Supermarine Spitfire I

First flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190

First flight — The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 flew for the first time on 1939-06-01.

Source: History of War — Focke-Wulf Fw 190: Design and Prototypes

First turbojet-powered flight (Heinkel He 178)

First flight — On 27 August 1939 German test pilot Erich Warsitz took the Heinkel He 178 into the air, the world's first aircraft to fly on the thrust of a turbojet engine. Warsitz had already made the first flight of a liquid-fuelled rocket-powered aeroplane, the He 176, on 20 June of the same year. The He 178 opened the jet age that would dominate military and commercial aviation for the rest of the century.

Source: History of War — Heinkel He 178

First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator

First flight — The Consolidated B-24 Liberator flew for the first time on 1939-12-29.

Source: Vintage Aviation News — Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator

First free flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300

First flight — On 13 May 1940 the VS-300, designed by Igor Sikorsky, made its first untethered free flight. With a single three-blade main rotor originally driven by a 75-horsepower engine, it was the first successful single-lifting-rotor helicopter in the United States and the first to counter torque with a vertical-plane tail rotor. That layout went on to become the industry standard for helicopters.

Source: U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission — Igor Sikorsky and the VS-300

First flight of the North American NA-62/B-25

First flight — The NA-62 prototype, developed from the NA-40B to meet a USAAC requirement, made its first test flight at Inglewood, California, flown by Vance Breese with North American engineer Roy Ferren aboard. The flight revealed a Dutch roll tendency that led to the later gull-wing redesign.

Source: B-25 History Project — First B-25-NA 40-2165

The Bf 109 in the Battle of Britain: 871 E-series fighters on strength

Milestone — On 31 August 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Luftwaffe fighter units (excluding JG 77) reported 375 Bf 109 E-1s, 125 E-3s, 339 E-4s and 32 E-7s on strength — 871 E-series fighters facing the RAF's Spitfires and Hurricanes.

First flight of the NA-73X (P-51 Mustang)

First flight — The NA-73X prototype, precursor of the P-51 Mustang, made its first flight on 26 October 1940 at Mines Field, North American Aviation's factory airfield in Inglewood, California, 149 days after the RAF contract was signed.

Source: Vintage Aviation News (This Day in Aviation, Bryan R. Swopes) — First Flight of the North American Aviation NA-73X (P-51 Mustang)

B-25 enters service with the USAAF

Milestone — The B-25 entered service with the United States Army Air Forces in early 1941, following the resolution of the stability issues found during the prototype's test flights.

Source: American Airpower Museum — North American B-25 "Mitchell"

Service entry of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190

Milestone — The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 entered service in 1941.

Source: Vintage Aviation News — Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Now On Display At Cosford

Escape to England of a Belgian Stampe SV-4

Milestone — Belgian military airmen Léon Divoy and Michel Donnet restored a Stampe SV-4 to flying condition and flew it out by night from occupied Belgium, crossing the Channel to England. The aircraft went on to serve with No. 510 Squadron RAF.

Source: Stampe en Vertongen Museum — S-SV4BPL (OO-BPL)

Service entry of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Milestone — The Consolidated B-24 Liberator entered service in 1941.

Source: History of War — Consolidated Liberator I (LB-30B)

First flight of the Avro Lancaster

First flight — The Avro Lancaster flew for the first time on 1941-01-09.

Source: Vintage Aviation News (This Day in Aviation, Bryan R. Swopes) — Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Avro Lancaster

Attack on Clark Field and first B-17 missions in the Pacific

Accident — On the same day as the Pearl Harbor attack (8 December, Philippine time), Japanese aircraft destroyed much of the Far East Air Force's 35 B-17s on the ground at Clark Field, after a chain of contradictory decisions delayed authorization for a counterstrike. Days earlier, on 7 December, a flight of 12 B-17s transiting to the Philippines had arrived over Pearl Harbor in the middle of the attack. On 10 December, Lieutenant Colin Kelly became a war hero after holding his burning B-17 steady so his crew could bail out near Clark Field.

Service entry of the Douglas DC-4

Milestone — The Douglas DC-4 entered service in 1942.

Source: History of War — Douglas C-54 Skymaster

Service entry of the North American P-51 Mustang

Milestone — The North American P-51 Mustang entered service in 1942.

Source: History of War — Timeline for the P-51 Mustang

RAF service entry of the Mustang

Milestone — The first squadron equipped with the Mustang Mk I, No. 26 Squadron RAF, entered service in January 1942, following the arrival of the initial aircraft in the UK in October 1941.

Source: History of War — North American Mustang in RAF Service

Service entry of the Avro Lancaster

Milestone — The Avro Lancaster entered service in 1942.

Source: RAF Museum — The Lancaster enters the fray

The C-87 Liberator Express and the "Hump" route

Milestone — Derived from the B-24 Liberator, the C-87 Liberator Express transport flew from 1942 on the dangerous "Hump" route over the Himalayas, carrying supplies from India to China after Japan cut the Burma Road. B-24 bomber units also operated in the China-Burma-India theater during the war.

First flight of the Douglas DC-4

First flight — The Douglas DC-4 flew for the first time on 1942-02-14.

Doolittle Raid

Milestone — Sixteen B-25B bombers, each with a crew of five, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the Pacific Ocean to bomb military and industrial targets in Japan, without fighter escort, continuing afterward toward China. The raid caused limited material damage but had a major psychological effect on both sides.

Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine — The Doolittle Raid

Eighth Air Force's first heavy bomber mission over Europe

Milestone — On 17 August 1942, twelve B-17Es of the 97th Bomb Group — lead aircraft flown by Major Paul Tibbets, with Brigadier General Ira Eaker aboard as observer — attacked the Rouen-Sotteville railway marshalling yards escorted by RAF Spitfires. It was the Eighth Air Force's first heavy bomber mission over occupied Europe, just three months after the group had arrived in England.

First flight of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress

First flight — The Boeing B-29 Superfortress flew for the first time on 1942-09-21.

Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay

The B-24 Liberator and closing the Mid-Atlantic Gap

Milestone — Very Long Range (VLR) versions of the B-24 Liberator, together with the naval PB4Y variants, gave the Allies their first air cover over the Mid-Atlantic Gap, the stretch of ocean where German U-boats had previously operated free of aerial threat. Liberators were credited with sinking, in whole or in part, 93 U-boats over the course of the anti-submarine campaign.

Source: The Churchill Project, Hillsdale College — Christopher M. Bell: Churchill y la batalla del Atlántico

The B-24 Liberator as the primary heavy bomber in the Pacific

Milestone — From 1943, the B-24 Liberator became the primary heavy bomber of US Army Air Forces in the Pacific theater, serving with the Fifth, Seventh, Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces on strategic bombing, maritime patrol and photo-reconnaissance missions against Japanese targets.

Battle of the Bismarck Sea

Milestone — Between 2 and 4 March 1943, Fifth Air Force B-25s, together with A-20 Havocs, used low-altitude skip bombing against a Japanese convoy in the Bismarck Sea off New Guinea, after earlier medium-altitude horizontal bombing had proven ineffective against moving ships.

Source: Australian War Memorial — Battle of the Bismarck Sea, 2-4 March 1943

B-25G with 75 mm cannon enters service

Milestone — In May 1943, the Air Corps accepted the B-25G series, armed with a 75 mm M4 cannon in the nose for use against ships and hardened ground targets, the first production Mitchell variant to carry this weapon.

Source: b-25history.org — B-25G

Operation Chastise: the Dambusters raid

Milestone — In the early hours of 17 May 1943, nineteen specially modified Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron RAF, led by Guy Gibson, attacked the Ruhr dams with Barnes Wallis's Upkeep bouncing bomb. The Möhne and Eder dams were breached; the raid cost eight aircraft and earned the squadron its nickname: the Dambusters.

Source: RAF Museum — 75th Anniversary of The Dambusters

Operation Tidal Wave: the low-level raid on Ploiești

Milestone — On 1 August 1943, 178 USAAF B-24 Liberators took off from Benghazi, Libya, to strike the Ploiești oil refineries in Romania at low level; the complex supplied roughly a third of the Axis war machine's fuel. The mission, codenamed Tidal Wave, cost 53 aircraft and more than 300 airmen killed or missing, and refinery output recovered within weeks. Five crew members received the Medal of Honor.

Source: The National WWII Museum — Over the Cauldron of Ploesti: The American Air War in Romania

Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission

Milestone — On 17 August 1943 the Eighth Air Force launched a double strike against the Schweinfurt ball-bearing works and the Regensburg fighter plant. Of the 230 B-17s that attacked Schweinfurt, roughly 300 Luftwaffe fighters shot down 36, without inflicting decisive damage on the factories — an early demonstration of the cost of deep raids into Germany without long-range fighter escort.

Source: The National WWII Museum — Schweinfurt–Regensburg Raid: August 17, 1943

"Black Thursday": second raid on Schweinfurt

Accident — On 14 October 1943 a renewed attack on Schweinfurt became known as "Black Thursday": of 291 attacking B-17s, 60 were shot down over Germany, 5 crashed on approach to Britain and 12 more were written off, a loss of 77 aircraft, with 122 more bombers damaged. The heaviest blow the Eighth Air Force had yet suffered forced a halt to unescorted deep-penetration raids until long-range fighters became available.

Source: The National WWII Museum — “Black Thursday” October 14, 1943: The Second Schweinfurt Bombing Raid

Operation Aphrodite: B-17s converted into flying bombs

Other — At least 25 war-weary B-17s were fitted with radio control and 20,000 lb of Torpex high explosive and designated BQ-7 "Aphrodite missiles", intended to strike bombing-resistant German bunkers such as U-boat pens and V-1 launch sites. A "mothership" aircraft radio-guided the unmanned drone to its target after the skeleton crew that got it airborne had bailed out.

Source: Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles (designation-systems.net) — Boeing BQ-7 Aphrodite

Big Week and the arrival of the P-51 as a long-range escort

Milestone — Between 20 and 25 February 1944 — with a renewed raid on Schweinfurt on the 24th as its centrepiece — "Big Week" turned Allied bombing against the German aircraft industry. Republic P-47s and, above all, the new North American P-51 Mustang, fitted with drop tanks that extended their range, could finally escort the B-17s all the way to the target and back, inflicting attrition the Luftwaffe could no longer replace.

Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine — Forceful «Argument» (Walter J. Boyne, 2008)

Mustangs escort bombers over Berlin

Milestone — From early 1944 the US Eighth Air Force's P-51s escorted heavy bombers on raids over Germany, including Berlin, helping to cripple the Luftwaffe's fighter arm. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, its commander, was quoted as saying: "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up."

Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine — Mustang! (Ed Rees, marzo de 1964)

Willow Run reaches one B-24 Liberator every 63 minutes

Institutional — In April 1944, Ford's Willow Run plant in Michigan reached its peak B-24 Liberator production rate: two nine-hour shifts, six days a week, turned out 453 aircraft in 468 hours — an average of one completed B-24 every 63 minutes, and up to 650 units a month at its height.

Source: ASSEMBLY Magazine — How Ford's Willow Run Assembly Plant Helped Win World War II

Sinking of the battleship Tirpitz

Milestone — On 12 November 1944, Lancasters of Nos. 617 and 9 Squadrons RAF sank the German battleship Tirpitz off Håkøya island near Tromsø, Norway, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs in Operation Catechism, removing Germany's greatest surface threat to the Arctic convoys.

Source: RAF Museum — Target the Tirpitz (Gary Haines, 2019)

The PB-1W brings airborne early warning radar to the US Navy

Other — After the war, the Naval Aircraft Modification Unit (NAMU) at Johnsville, Pennsylvania, converted a number of B-17s into PB-1Ws, sealing the bomb-bay doors and fitting an under-fuselage search radome along with extra drop tanks. Painted in the standard dark-blue scheme adopted in late 1944, the PB-1Ws served the US Navy as an airborne early warning platform until 1955, when they began to be replaced by the Lockheed WV-2.

Source: VW-1 Association — PB-1W aircraft

Operation Manna: food from the Lancasters

Milestone — Between 29 April and 7 May 1945, Bomber Command Lancasters dropped thousands of tonnes of food at low level over the still-occupied Netherlands under a truce agreed with German forces, relieving the Dutch «Hunger Winter» famine.

End of B-24 Liberator production

Milestone — On 28 June 1945, the last of 18,482 B-24 Liberators built rolled off Ford's Willow Run production line, ending series production of the bomber after the contract was cancelled in late May of that year.

Source: The Henry Ford — Tractor Towing Last B-24 Bomber Built at Willow Run Bomber Plant, June 1945

End of B-17 production

Milestone — The last B-17 — the 8,680th built under licence by Lockheed (Vega) — rolled off the line on 28 July 1945. Counting combined production by Boeing, Douglas and Vega, 12,731 airframes had been built since 1935.

First flight of the Douglas DC-6

First flight — The Douglas DC-6 flew for the first time on 1946-02-15.

Source: State Aviation Museum of Ukraine — 80 years of the DC-6 airliner

Retirement of the Short Empire

Milestone — The Short Empire was retired from service in 1947.

Service entry of the Douglas DC-6

Milestone — The Douglas DC-6 entered service in 1947.

Source: U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission — Air Transportation: United Airlines (Asif Siddiqi)

First flight of the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser

First flight — The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser flew for the first time on 1947-07-08.

Source: HistoryLink.org — Boeing 377 Stratocruiser makes maiden flight on July 8, 1947 (Essay 3563)

Yeager breaks the sound barrier (Bell X-1)

Milestone — In October 1947 test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first aviator confirmed to have exceeded the speed of sound in level flight. He did so aboard rocket-powered Bell X-1 number 46-062, nicknamed "Glamorous Glennis", built by Bell Aircraft for a joint NACA, Army Air Forces and USAF research project. The X-1 was the first of the American X-planes series of experimental research aircraft.

Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — Bell X-1

Mil Mi-1 first flight

First flight — In 1948 the Mil Mi-1 flew for the first time as the first Soviet production helicopter. It opened mass helicopter production in the USSR.

Source: Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego — WSK SM-1 (lic. Mi-1)

Service entry of the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser

Milestone — The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser entered service in 1949.

Source: SFO Museum — Mills Field: publicaciones etiquetadas #stratocruiser

Retirement of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190

Milestone — The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was retired from service in 1949.

De Havilland Comet first flight

First flight — On July 27, 1949 the de Havilland Comet took off from Hatfield as the first commercial jet airliner in history. Its maiden flight opened the jet transport era.

Source: ADS Group — De Havilland Comet: Britain powers commercial jet aviation

Major Sebille's action in the Korean War

Milestone — On 5 August 1950, Major Louis J. Sebille of the 67th Fighter-Bomber Squadron attacked a North Korean armored column with his F-51 during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter; heavily damaged and wounded, he deliberately crashed his aircraft into the convoy and was killed, later receiving the Medal of Honor posthumously.

Source: Military Times Hall of Valor — Louis Joseph Sebille, Medal of Honor citation

Retirement of the Junkers F 13

Milestone — The Junkers F 13 was retired from service in 1951.

First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

First flight — The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress flew for the first time on 1952-04-15.

Source: HistoryLink.org — Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress makes its first flight on April 15, 1952 (Essay 3565)

First flight of the Bristol Britannia

First flight — The Bristol Britannia flew for the first time on 1952-08-16.

Source: RAF Museum — Bristol Britannia 312

Service entry of the Douglas DC-7

Milestone — The Douglas DC-7 entered service in 1953.

Source: Pima Air & Space Museum — Douglas DC-7B

First flight of the Douglas DC-7

First flight — The Douglas DC-7 flew for the first time on 1953-05-18.

Source: Boeing Images — DC-7 in Flight (Douglas DC-7 historical caption)

First flight of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules

First flight — The Lockheed C-130 Hercules flew for the first time on 1954-08-23.

Source: Vintage Aviation News — Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the YC-130 Hercules

First flight of the Tupolev Tu-104

First flight — The Tupolev Tu-104 flew for the first time on 1955-06-17.

Source: Aerospaceweb.org — Tupolev Tu-104 (Camel) jetliner

First flight of the Handley Page Herald

First flight — The Handley Page Herald flew for the first time on 1955-08-25.

Source: Airways Magazine — First Flight: HPR.3 Herald

First flight of the Fokker F27 Friendship

First flight — The Fokker F27 Friendship flew for the first time on 1955-11-24.

Service entry of the Tupolev Tu-104

Milestone — The Tupolev Tu-104 entered service in 1956.

Source: MiGFlug Afterburner — Tupolev Tu-104: The Jetliner That Kept Killing Its Passengers

First flight of the Dassault Mirage III

First flight — The Dassault Mirage III flew for the first time on 1956-11-17.

Service entry of the Bristol Britannia

Milestone — The Bristol Britannia entered service in 1957.

Source: RAF Museum — Bristol Britannia 312