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List of firsts in aviation

{{Short description|None}}

{{use mdy dates|date=August 2019}}

File:1783 balloonj.jpg hot air balloon that made the first confirmed flight by man in 1783]]

This is a list of firsts in aviation. For a comprehensive list of women's records, see Women in aviation.

First person to fly

The first flight (including gliding) by a person is unknown. A number have been suggested:

File:Elmer flying monk.jpg holding his wings (early 11th century)]]

  • In 559 A.D., several prisoners of Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, including Yuan Huangtou of Ye, were said to have been forced to launch themselves with a kite from a tower, as an experiment. Only Yuan Huangtou survived, only to be executed later.{{Cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PehoSnJfstUC&pg=PA285 |title=The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4 |last2=Ronan |first2=Colin A. |date=1978 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-33873-8 |pages=285 |language=en}}

  • In the 9th century, the Andalusian Abbas ibn Firnas attempted a short gliding flight with wings covered with feathers from the Tower of Cordoba but was injured while landing.{{cite journal|last=White|first=Lynn|title=Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition|journal=Technology and Culture|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|volume=2|number=2|date=Spring 1961|pages=97–111|doi=10.2307/3101411|jstor=3101411}} [100f.]

  • In the early 11th century, Eilmer of Malmesbury, an English Benedictine monk, attempted a gliding flight using wings. He is recorded as travelling a modest distance before breaking his legs on landing.William of Malmesbury – ed. and trans. R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom (1998–99). Gesta regum Anglorum / The history of the English kings. Oxford Medieval Texts.

  • In 1390 according to some Chinese accounts Wan Hu experimented with a flying chair powered by 47 rockets. The chair supposedly flew briefly, then exploded, killing its creator.

  • In c. 1509, the Italian alchemist and abbot of Tongland, John Damian, is said to have made an attempt at human-powered flight off the walls of Stirling Castle in the Kingdom of Scotland, if a satirical account in two poems by the poet William Dunbar is based on facts.{{cite book |author=Bawcutt, Priscilla Bawcutt |title=The Poems of William Dunbar: Volume 2, Notes and Commentary |publisher=Association for Scottish Literary Studies |location=Glasgow |year=1998 |pages=295–296}}

  • Between 1630 and 1632, Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi is said to have glided over the Bosphorus strait from the Galata Tower to the Üsküdar district in Istanbul.{{cite web|url=http://www.cmistanbulbogazici.com/who-is-hezarfen-ahmet-celebi/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121173615/http://www.cmistanbulbogazici.com/who-is-hezarfen-ahmet-celebi/|archive-date=2016-01-21|title=Who is Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi?|access-date=2016-01-21}}{{cite web|url=http://www.privatetour.net/hezarfen-ahmet-celebi-the-first-man-to-fly|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121173616/http://www.privatetour.net/hezarfen-ahmet-celebi-the-first-man-to-fly|archive-date=2016-01-21|title=The First Man to Fly|access-date=2016-01-21 }}

  • In 1633 his brother Lagari Hasan Çelebi may have survived a flight on a 7-winged rocket powered by gunpowder from Sarayburnu, the point below Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.Winter, Frank H. (1992). "Who First Flew in a Rocket?", Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 45 (July 1992), p. 275-80{{citation|title=Flying's strangest moments: extraordinary but true stories from over one thousand years of aviation history|first=John|last=Harding|publisher=Robson Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-1-86105-934-5|page=5}}

None of these historical accounts are adequately supported by corroborating evidence nor have any been widely accepted. The first confirmed human flight was accomplished by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier in a tethered Montgolfier balloon in 1783.

Lighter than air ([[aerostat]]s)

  • First animals to fly in a balloon: a sheep called Montauciel, along with a duck and a rooster were sent on a balloon flight by the Montgolfier brothers on September 19, 1783{{cite book |author=Gillispie, CC |title=The Montgolfier brothers and the invention of aviation 1783–1784 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-08321-6 |year=1983}}{{cite journal |author1=Beischer, DE |author2=Fregly, AR |title=Animals and man in space. A chronology and annotated bibliography through the year 1960. |journal=US Naval School of Aviation Medicine |volume=ONR TR ACR-64 |issue=AD0272581 |year=1962 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9288 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121204154830/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9288 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 4, 2012 |page = 11|quote = On Sept. 19, 1785 a balloon launched a sheep, a cock, and a duck to an altitude of 1500 ft and returned them to earth unharmed from the world's first successful air-passenger flight.|access-date=2011-06-14}}

  • First manned flight: Étienne Montgolfier went aloft in a tethered Montgolfier hot air balloon on October 15, 1783.{{cite book|last=Ryan|first=Craig|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QS38bu9iTwC&pg=PA37|title=The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space|publisher=Naval Institute Press|page=37|isbn=978-1-59114-748-0}}

  • First manned free flight in an untethered balloon: Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes flew in a Montgolfier hot air balloon from the Château de la Muette to the Butte-aux-Cailles, Paris, on November 21, 1783.{{cite book|last=Brady|first=Tim|year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ccymjJZxLcC&pg=PA310|title=The American Aviation Experience: A History|publisher=SIU Press|page=310|isbn=978-0-8093-2371-5}}{{cite book|last=Oborne|first=Michael W.|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pjSBROnWSywC&pg=PA86|title=A History of the Château de la Muette|publisher=OECD Publishing|pages=86–7|isbn=978-92-64-16161-0}}

  • First manned gas balloon flight: Professor Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert flew from Paris to Nesles-la-Vallée in a hydrogen-filled balloon on December 1, 1783.{{cite web|url=http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm|title=CIA Balloon and Airship Hall of Fame 2000 Inductees|publisher=The International Air Sports Federation|date=September 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040702221040/http://www.fai.org/ballooning/newsletter/pr00-02.htm|archive-date=July 2, 2004}}

  • First women to fly: The Marchioness and Countess of Montalembert, the Countess of Podenas and Miss de Lagarde ascended in a tethered balloon over Paris, on May 20, 1784.{{Cite book |last=Walsh |first=William S. |url=http://archive.org/details/ahandybookcurio00walsgoog |title=A handy book of curious information, comprising strange happenings in the life of men and animals, odd statistics, extraordinary phenomena, and out of the way facts concerning the wonderlands of the earth |date=1970 |publisher=Detroit, Gale Research Co. |others=New York Public Library}}

  • First woman in free flight in an untethered balloon: Élisabeth Thible flew over Lyon singing arias on June 4, 1784, in order to entertain Gustav III of Sweden.{{cite book|last=Hallion|first=Richard P.|year=2003|url=https://archive.org/details/takingflightinve0000hall|url-access=registration|title=Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age, from Antiquity through the First World War|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/takingflightinve0000hall/page/58 58]|isbn=978-0-19-516035-2}}

  • First flight across the English Channel: was made by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries in a balloon on January 7, 1785.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1885/07/10/archives/bostons-first-aeronaut-dr-jeffriess-ventureacross-the-english.html |title=Boston's first aeronaut |work=The New York Times |date=July 10, 1885}}

  • First aviation disaster: Occurred in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, when a hot air balloon caused a fire that burned down about 100 houses on May 10, 1785.{{cite web|last=Byrne |first=Michael |url=http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/72/1/The-Tullamore-Balloon-Fire---First-Air-Disaster-in-History/Page1.html|title=The Tullamore Balloon Fire – First Air Disaster in History |publisher=Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society website |date=January 9, 2007 |access-date=January 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326081536/https://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/72/1/The-Tullamore-Balloon-Fire---First-Air-Disaster-in-History/Page1.html|archive-date=March 26, 2012}}

  • First jump from a balloon with a parachute: Jean-Pierre Blanchard used a parachute in 1793 to escape his hot air balloon when it ruptured.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

  • First successful jump from a balloon with a parachute: Andre Jacques Garnerin in Paris in 1797.Davy 1937, p.46

  • First balloon ascent on horseback. Pierre Testu-Brissy ascended from Belleville Park in Paris.[http://www.ballooninghistory.com/whoswho/who%27swho-t.html Ballooning History, Who's Who.]

  • First woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute: Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse jumped from an altitude of {{cvt|900|m|ft|order=flip}} on October 12, 1799.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}}

  • First woman to pilot her own balloon: Sophie Blanchard flew solo from the garden of the Cloister of the Jacobins in Toulouse on August 18, 1805.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}}

  • First woman to be killed in an aviation accident: Sophie Blanchard was killed when her hydrogen balloon ignited on July 6, 1819.{{cite web|url=http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/07/sophie-blanchard-first-woman-balloon-pilot/ |title=Sophie Blanchard – First Woman Balloon Pilot |publisher=Historic Wings |date=July 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302045810/http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/07/sophie-blanchard-first-woman-balloon-pilot/ |archive-date=March 2, 2014 |url-status=live }}

File:First Zeppelin ascent.jpg, first rigid airship to fly, 1900]]

  • First successful steerable powered balloon: The Giffard dirigible was developed and flown by Henri Giffard, from the Paris Hippodrome to Trappes on September 24, 1852.{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/I009/10237471.aspx |title=The Giffard Airship, 1852 |date=January 2, 2007 |publisher=The Science Museum, London |access-date=January 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526055807/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/I009/10237471.aspx |archive-date=May 26, 2013 }}

  • First balloon mail service: passed vital information over Prussian lines during the 1870–71 Siege of Paris.Loving, Matthew (2011). Bullets and Balloons: French Airmail during the Siege of Paris. Franconian Press.

  • First flight in an airship powered by an internal combustion engine: was made by Alberto Santos Dumont in 1898.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t3ZYAAAAIBAJ&pg=1126%2C2777181 |title=Was Brazilian first to fly? |work=The Leader-Post |date=November 12, 1986}}

  • First woman to pilot a powered aircraft: Rose Isabel Spencer, in Stanley Spencer's Airship Number 1, at Crystal Palace, London on July 14, 1902.Motoring Illustrated, August 2, 1902, pp 215–216{{cite web|title=A Lady navigates an airship|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=MT19020911.2.39|magazine=Manawatu Times|volume=XXVII|issue=7526|date=11 September 1902|page=3}}

  • First trans-Atlantic rigid airship flight: was made by the R34 from RAF East Fortune to Mineola, New York from July 2 to July 6, 1919.{{cite web |url=http://www.airshipsonline.com/airships/r34/R34-Altanticflight.html |title=The Airship Heritage Trust – R34 – The Record Breaker – Atlantic Crossing |author=|website=airshipsonline.com |publisher=The Airship Heritage Trust |access-date=June 21, 2017 }}[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919%20-%200906.html The Transatlantic Voyage of R.34] Flight 10 July 1919, pp. 906–10 This flight carried the first trans-Atlantic stowaways: William Ballantyne and his tabby cat, Wopsie.{{cite web|url=https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/business/bristol-engineering-company-raf-chief-1738028|title=Bristol children invited to invent aircraft for cat|first=Hannah|last=Baker|date=July 2, 2018|website=bristolpost}} Wopsie and two homing pigeons were the first animals to cross the Atlantic in an aircraft,{{cite web|url=https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2084/did-others-fly-across-the-atlantic-before-lindbergh/|title=Did others fly across the Atlantic before Lindbergh?|date=March 25, 2003|website=The Straight Dope}} with Wopsie being the first quadruped known to have flown across a major body of water.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

  • First helium-filled rigid airship to fly: was the USS Shenandoah on August 20, 1923, although it did not make a powered flight until September 24, 1923.{{Cite DANFS|title=Shenandoah II (ZR-1)|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/shenandoah-ii.html}}

File:Breitling Orbiter 3 aloft.jpg in which the first non-stop balloon circumnavigation was achieved in 1999]]

  • First people to reach the stratosphere: were Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer, who ascended to the height of {{cvt|51000|ft|m|-2}} in a hydrogen balloon on May 27, 1931.{{cite book |last=Ryan |first=Craig |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QS38bu9iTwC&pg=PA40 |title=The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space |publisher=Naval Institute Press |pages=40–44 |isbn=978-1-59114-748-0}}

  • First non-stop balloon crossing of North America: Maxie and Kris Anderson in the helium-filled Kitty Hawk, on May 12, 1980.{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Balloonists Cross the Continent|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/05/13/balloonists-cross-the-continent/49c81791-1424-480f-a8af-ca8cbee96286/|date=13 May 1980|last=Harden|first=Blaine|access-date=24 May 2019}}

  • First balloon flight on another planet: was conducted by the Soviet Vega 1 Balloon in the skies above Venus between June 11, 1985 and June 13, 1985.{{cite web |last1=Gallantine |first1=Jay |title=The First Flight On Another World Wasn't on Mars. It Was on Venus, 36 Years Ago |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/ireali-first-flight-another-world-180977540/ |website=AirSpaceMag |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=15 December 2021}} This was the first flight of any man-made object in another planet's atmosphere.

  • First non-stop balloon circumnavigation of the Earth: was made by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones who flew from Château d'Oex, Switzerland, to Egypt, on Breitling Orbiter 3, between March 1 and March 21, 1999, in 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes.{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Glen |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nwMzAAAAIBAJ&pg=6551%2C6104094 |title=Historic balloon on show |work=The Free Lance-Star |date=September 24, 1999}}

  • First solo non-stop balloon flight around the Earth: Steve Fossett, in the Spirit of Freedom, circumnavigated the globe between June 19 and July 3, 2002.{{cite news |last=Tinkler |first=Emma |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lh8LAAAAIBAJ&pg=6817%2C874749 |title=Fossett lands after first around-the-world solo balloon quest |work=The Daily Courier |location=Yavapai County, Arizona |date=July 7, 2002}}

Heavier than air (aerodynes)

=[[Aviation in the pioneer era|Pioneer era]] 1853–1914=

File:Otto Lilienthal gliding experiment ppmsca.02546.jpg in mid-flight, c. 1895]]

  • First manned glider flight: was made by an unidentified boy in an uncontrolled glider launched by George Cayley in 1853.{{cite book|last=Wragg|first=David|title=Flight before Flying|publisher=Osprey|year=1974|isbn=978-0-85045-165-8}}{{cite book|last1=Fairlie|first1=Gerard|last2=Cayley|first2=Elizabeth|title=The Life of a Genius|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=1965|asin=B0000CMTCD}}

  • First confirmed manned powered flight: was made by Clément Ader in an uncontrolled monoplane of his own design, in 1890.

  • First controlled manned glider flight: was made by Otto Lilienthal in a glider of his own design, in 1891.{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=John D.|year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OeCJFJY3ZYC&pg=PA155 |title=A History of Aerodynamics: And Its Impact on Flying Machines |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-66955-9|page=155}}

File:Wright First Flight 1903Dec17 (full restore 115).jpg' Wright Flyer making the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered airplane in 1903. Orville piloting while Wilbur observes]]

  • First controlled, sustained flight in a powered airplane: was made by Orville Wright in the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, covering {{cvt|120|ft|m|order=flip}}.{{cite journal |last=Gray |first=Carrol F. |url=http://www.thewrightbrothers.org/fivefirstflights.html |title=The First Five Flights |journal=WW1 Aero – the Journal of the Early Aeroplane |issue=117 |date=August 2002 |pages=26–39}}

  • First circular flight by a powered airplane: was made by Wilbur Wright who flew {{cvt|4080|ft|m|order=flip}} in about a minute and a half on September 20, 1904.{{cite book |last=Howard |first=Fred |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKaqfYxlsW8C&pg=PA161 |title=Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |page=161 |isbn=978-0-486-40297-0}}

  • First flight of an aircraft with pneumatic tires: was Traian Vuia's March 18, 1906 flight with his Vuia 1, travelling at a height of about {{convert|1|m|ft|frac=3|abbr= on|order=flip}} for about {{convert|12|m|ft|abbr= on}}.{{cite book|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romanian_Aeronautical_Constructions_1905-1974.pdf|title=Romanian Aeronautical Constructions 1905-1974|year=1974|author=Ion Gudju |author2=Gheroghe Iacobescu |author3=Ovidiu Ionescu |page=68-71}}

  • First heavier-than-air unaided takeoff and flight of more than {{cvt|25|m|ft}} in Europe: was made by Alberto Santos-Dumont, flew a distance of {{cvt|60|m|ft}} in his 14-bis to win the Archdeacon Prize on October 23, 1906.{{cite web |url=http://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Wright_Story/Showing_the_World/Prize_Patrol/Prize_Patrol.htm |title=The Prize Patrol |publisher=Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company |access-date=January 21, 2013}}

  • First flight certified by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI): was made by Alberto Santos Dumont, when he flew his 14-bis, without liftoff aid, over a distance of {{cvt|220|m}} in the presence of official observers from the newly founded FAI on November 12, 1906.{{cite web|url=http://www.fai.org/news/31942-FAI-News-17-06 |title=A Century of Sporting Achievements |publisher=Fédération Aéronautique Internationale |date=November 15, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518083127/http://www.fai.org/news/31942-FAI-News-17-06 |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |url-status=live }}

  • First airplane passenger: was Léon Delagrange, with pilot Henri Farman, on March 29, 1908.{{cite book|last=Vivian|first=E. Charles|title=A History of Aeronautics|year=2004|publisher=Kessinger Pub.|location=[S.l.]|isbn=978-1-4191-0156-4|pages=134–135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7huSV1ijZeAC&pg=PA134}}

  • First use of the modern aircraft flight control system: was in the Blériot VIII, which took to the air with Robert Esnault-Pelterie's control layout, using a joystick for pitch and roll control, and a foot-bar for lateral control, in April 1908.{{cite book |title=Blériot XI: The Story of a Classic Aircraft|last=Crouch|first=Tom|year=1982|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |page=22 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090725/world/english-channel-armada-to-mark-centenary-of-louis-bleriot-flight.266688|title=English Channel Armada to Mark Centenary of Louis Blériot Flight|author=AFP|newspaper=Times of Malta|date=25 July 2009|access-date=14 September 2015}}

  • First person to die in a crash of a powered airplane: was Thomas Etholen Selfridge, a passenger on an aircraft flown by Orville Wright which crashed on September 17, 1908.{{cite news|title=Fatal Fall Of Wright Airship |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/09/18/archives/fatal-fall-of-wright-airship-lieut-selfridge-killed-and-orville.html|work=New York Times |date=September 18, 1908 |access-date=2010-10-17 }} Wright was badly injured, and was hospitalised for seven weeks.

  • First return flight between two towns: was made by Louis Blériot, who flew from Toury to Artenay, and back on October 30, 1908, for a total distance of {{cvt|12|nmi|mi km}}.Gunston, 1992, p.58

  • First official pilot's licence: was licence number 1, which was issued to Louis Blériot by the Aéro Club de France on January 7, 1909.Gunston, 1992, p.66

File:Bleriot in flying machine, in mid-channel LCCN2014684089 (cropped).jpg crossing the English Channel, 1909]]

  • First aircraft to fly with a rotary engine: was a Farman III biplane, in April 1909.{{cite web|title=Gnome Omega No. 1 Rotary Engine| url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/gnome-omega-no-1-rotary-engine | access-date= 24 February 2021 | author=Smithsonian Institution | year= 2018| work=National Air and Space Museum | publisher=Smithsonian Institution | location= Washington, DC| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710071227/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/gnome-omega-no-1-rotary-engine | archive-date = July 10, 2018}}

  • First ditching of an airplane: was made by Hubert Latham, while attempting to complete the first powered flight across the English Channel in an Antoinette IV monoplane, but experienced an engine failure on July 19, 1909.{{cite news |last=Pattison |first=Jo |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8285000/8285305.stm |title=First to fly across the Channel |publisher=BBC News – Kent |date=October 1, 2009 |access-date=January 21, 2013}}

  • First airplane flight across the English Channel: was completed by Louis Blériot in a Blériot XI on July 25, 1909,{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/07/26/101891525.pdf |title=Blériot Tells of his Flight |work=The New York Times |date=July 26, 1909 |access-date=January 21, 2013}} to win a £1,000 Daily Mail prize.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%200387.html |title=The New 'Daily Mail' Prizes |magazine=Flight |volume=5 |issue=223 |date=April 5, 1913 |page=393}}

  • First animal to fly on an airplane: happened when John Moore-Brabazon, in the Short Biplane No. 2 (not a Voisin as sometimes reported) took a pig later named Icarus II aloft on November 4, 1909, as a joke to prove the adage that pigs could fly.{{cite book|last=Arnold-Baker|first=Charles|title=The Companion to British History|publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=1996|isbn=0-415185831}}{{cite magazine|date=November 13, 1909|title=Aviation notes of the week - Mr. Moore-Brabazon Flies Across Country

|magazine=Flight |volume=1 |number=46 |page=731 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1909/1909%20-%200729.html|access-date=11 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161217033223/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1909/1909%20-%200729.html |archive-date= 17 December 2016}}

  • First flight in Latin America: Dimitri Sensaud de Lavaud, flies a São Paulo Airplane constructed with help of his assistant Lourenço Pellegatti, he flew a distance of {{cvt|105|m|ft}} in Osasco-Brazil, on January 7, 1910.{{cite book |last1=Alexandria |first1=Suzana |last2=Nogueira |first2=Salvador |date=2010 |title=1910 O Primeiro Voo do Brasil |location=Brazil |publisher=Aleph |isbn=978-85-7657-095-0}}
  • First flight in complete darkness: Henry Farman, flies a Farman biplane without the benefit of moonlight, on March 1, 1910.Gunston, 1992, p.80

  • First woman to earn a pilot license: was Raymonde de Laroche, on March 8, 1910.Air Trails, July 1953. "The Brave Baroness – First Licensed Ladybird" by Harry Harper.{{cite web |title=First 10 women in the world to earn a pilot license|url=http://www.centennialofwomenpilots.com|publisher=Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide |access-date=December 5, 2015}}

  • First flight in Asia: was made by Giacomo D'Angelis, in a biplane built by D'Angelis entirely from his own designs, experimenting with a small horse-power engine, on March 29, 1910 in Chennai, India (formerly known as Madras).

  • First documented and witnessed seaplane flight under power from water's surface: was made by Henri Fabre, in the Fabre Hydravion Le Canard (the duck), on March 28, 1910.{{cite book |last=Thurston |first=David E. |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7HTPRym0iYIC&pg=PA67 |title=The World's Most Significant and Magnificent Aircraft: Evolution of the Modern Airplane |publisher=SAE |page=67 |isbn=978-0-7680-0537-0}}

  • First Chief of State to fly on an airplane: was Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, as a passenger in a Farman III biplane flown by Jules de Laminne during a visit in Belgium on July 15, 1910.{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/07/16/102043617.pdf |title=King up in aeroplane |work=The New York Times |date=July 16, 1910}}

  • First airborne radio communications: were made by Frederick Walker Baldwin and Douglas McCurdy with a morse radio message from a Curtiss biplane while in flight, which was received by a nearby ground station on August 27, 1910.Gunston, 1992, p.81 They were also responsible for the first radio message received by an aircraft in flight, on March 6, 1911.{{cite web|last=Haddon|first=Gerald|title=J.A.D. McCurdy: the father of Canadian military aviation|url=http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-our-people.page?doc=j-a-d-mccurdy-the-father-of-canadian-military-aviation/jtk98485|date=29 March 2019|access-date=5 November 2019}}

File:First airplane takeoff from a warship.jpg making the first shipboard takeoff from the USS Birmingham in 1910]]

  • First mid-air collision between two airplanes: happened when an Antoinette IV, flown by René Thomas, rammed Bertram Dickson's Farman III biplane on October 1, 1910."Aeroplanes in Collision". New York Times. October 2, 1910. p.11.{{cite book |last=Driver |first=Hugh |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbrA5NJp2JMC&pg=PA110 |title=The Birth of Military Aviation: Britain, 1903–1914 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |page=110 |isbn=978-0-86193-234-4}}
  • First flight by a former US president: was made by Theodore Roosevelt in Wright brothers-designed aircraft from Kinloch Airfield, St. Louis, Missouri, on October 11, 1910.{{cite web |date=November 3, 2016 |title=Theodore Roosevelt – First Presidential Flight, 1910 |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/si-93-9672jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524142502/https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/si-93-9672jpg |archive-date=May 24, 2021 |access-date=June 17, 2022 |website=National Air and Space Museum}}

  • First shipboard take-off and landing by an airplane: was made by Eugene Burton Ely, in a Curtiss Model D pusher, from a temporary platform aboard light cruiser USS Birmingham on November 14, 1910.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1910s/ev-1910/ely-birm.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021206155632/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1910s/ev-1910/ely-birm.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 6, 2002 |title=Eugene Ely's Flight from USS Birmingham, 14 November 1910 |publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command |access-date=January 21, 2013}} Ely was also the first to land an airplane on a ship, touching down on a temporary platform aboard armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania on January 11, 1911.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1910s/ev-1911/ely-pa.htm |title=Eugene Ely's Flight to USS Pennsylvania, 18 January 1911 |publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command |access-date=January 21, 2013 |archive-date=April 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412192818/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1910s/ev-1911/ely-pa.htm }}

  • The first non-stop flight from London to Paris: Pierre Prier flew a Blériot XI on April 12, 1911 from London to Paris in 3 hours and 56 minutes."London To Paris By Aeroplane." Times [London, England] 13 April 1911: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.

  • First woman to die in a crash of a powered airplane: was Denise Moore, who fell from a Farman III, on July 21, 1911.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9t0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA2-PA350 |title=Month of achievement in aviation |magazine=Popular Mechanics| date=August 1911 |page=350|publisher=Hearst Magazines }}

  • First known spin recovery: was made by F. P. Raynham in an Avro Type D biplane on September 21, 1911.{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=A.J.|title=Avro Aircraft since 1908|publisher=Putnam Publishing|location=London|year=1965 |lccn=65-17460|page=30}}

File:Vin Fiz first American transcontinental flight advertisement poster.jpg's Vin Fiz Flyer transcontinental flight route, 1911]]

  • First ordnance dropped from an airplane: Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti dropped grenades from his Etrich Taube airplane on Ottoman troops in Libya on November 1, 1911.{{cite book |last=Hippler|first=Thomas|date=2013|title=Bombing the People|pages=1–2|publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fag0AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|access-date=2017-08-17|isbn=978-1-107-03794-6}}

  • First transcontinental flight across North America: Calbraith Perry Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz Wright Model EX biplane through a seventy-plus-stop trek across the United States from Sheepshead Bay, New York to Long Beach, California from September 17 to December 10, 1911.{{cite magazine|last=Strother |first=French|date=January 1912 |title=Flying Across The Continent: C. P. Rodgers And The First Aerial Trans-Continental Trip |magazine=The World's Work: A History of Our Time|volume=XXIII |pages=339–345|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv--PfedzLAC&pg=PA339|access-date=2009-07-10}}

  • First parachute jump from an airplane: was made by Grant Morton from a Wright Model B over Venice, California, in 1911.{{cite book |last=Bates |first=Jim |year=1990 |title=Parachuting: From Student to Skydiver |publisher=Tab Books|url=https://archive.org/details/parachutingfroms00bate|url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/parachutingfroms00bate/page/42 42]|isbn=978-0-8306-3406-4}}{{cite book |last=Poynter |first=Dan |year=1984 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKTuTXrXQu0C&pg=PA160 |title=The Parachute Manual: A Technical Treatise on Aerodynamic Decelerators |publisher=Para Publishing |page=160|isbn=978-0-915516-35-3}} However credit is generally given to Albert Berry, who jumped from a Benoist biplane over Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, on March 1, 1912.{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=Robert K. |last2=Greenwood |first2=John T. |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fi3Q-YvWB9kC&pg=PA1934 |title=Airborne Forces at War: From Parachute Test Platoon to the 21st Century |publisher=Naval Institute Press |page=1 |isbn=978-1-59114-028-3}}

  • First night mission: was made by Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti during the campaign against the Ottoman Empire on March 4, 1912.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13294524 | title=Libya 1911: How an Italian pilot began the air war era | work=BBC News Website | date=May 10, 2011 | access-date=May 10, 2011}}

  • First woman to fly across the English Channel: was Harriet Quimby, who flew from Dover to Hardelot-Plage on April 16, 1912.{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/04/17/100530585.pdf |title=Miss Quimby flies English Channel |work=The New York Times |date=April 17, 1912}}

  • First airplane flight across the Irish Sea: was made by Denys Corbett Wilson took 100 minutes to fly a Blériot XI from Goodwick in Wales to Enniscorthy in Ireland, on April 22, 1912.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.politics.ie/forum/history/186941-day-irish-history-1912-1st-flight-across-irish-sea.html|title=This day in Irish History 1912: The 1st Flight across the Irish Sea|magazine=Politics.ie|date=April 22, 2012|access-date=September 18, 2015|archive-date=April 28, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428140845/http://www.politics.ie/forum/history/186941-day-irish-history-1912-1st-flight-across-irish-sea.html|url-status=dead}}

  • First take-off by an airplane from a moving ship: Commander Charles R. Samson took off from a platform aboard the battleship HMS Hibernia in a Short Improved S.27 No. 38, on May 9, 1912.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1912/1912%20-%200442.html |title=The Naval Review and the Aviators |magazine=Flight |volume=IV |issue=20 |date=May 18, 1912 |page=442}}

  • First flight of an all-metal aircraft: The Reissner Canard, designed by Professor Hans Reissner (with engineering help from Hugo Junkers), whose structure and skin were both all metal, was first flown on May 23, 1912 by Robert Gsell.{{cite book|last1=Ballhaus|first1=W.F. Jr. |last2=Hussaini|first2=M.Y.|title=Advances in Fluid Dynamics |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2012|pages=108–109|isbn=978-1-4612-3684-9}}{{cite web|last=Zoeller|first=Horst|title=Reissner Ente|url=http://hugojunkers.bplaced.net/reissner-cunard.html|work=hugojunkers.bplaced.net|date=19 September 2019|access-date=1 November 2019}}

  • First national identification markings used on aircraft: was in France following instructions from the Inspection Permante de l'Aeronautique to paint roundels with an outer diameter of {{cvt|1|m|ft}} in red, with a white ring of {{cvt|70|cm|in}} and an inner blue dot of {{cvt|40|cm|in}} on July 26, 1912.{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Bruce|title=WWI British Aeroplane Colours and Markings|publisher=Albatros Publications|location=Herttfordshire, UK|year=1996|isbn=978-0-948414-65-7|page=24}} Proportions and diameter would later be adjusted. Both Germany and the UK issued orders for national markings only when they mobilized in 1914, for the First World War.

  • First observed spin recovery: was made by Wilfred Parke in an Avro Type G on August 25, 1912.{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=A.J.|title=Avro Aircraft since 1908|publisher=Putnam Publishing|location=London|year=1965 |lccn=65-17460|page=50}}

  • First aircraft to be captured: was that of Captain Moizo of the Italian Servizio Aeronautico, on September 10, 1912 during the Italo-Turkish War, but sources disagree on whether he was shot down, or had mechanical problems.{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Patrick|title=Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|year=2011|isbn=978-1-59691-579-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/robertsonsbookof00robe}}{{cite book|last=Crabtree|first=James D.|title=On air defense|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cJAwkoYgghQC&q=%22shot+down+by+ground+fire+as+the+turks%22&pg=PA9|page=9|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|isbn=0-275-94792-0}}

File:Sikorsky Russky Vityaz (Le Grand).jpg, after two of the engines had been moved out on the wings, 1910]]

  • First non-stop transcontinental flight: Robert G. Fowler and Ray Duhem flew from the Pacific to the Atlantic along the route of the Panama Canal in a single-engine hydroplane in one hour and 45 minutes, on April 27, 1913.{{cite web|url=https://pcmc.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/collections/making-waves-with-the-first-ocean-to-ocean-flight-over-panama/|title=Panama Canal Museum Collection: Making Waves with the First Ocean to Ocean Flight over Panama|publisher=Panama Canal Museum Collection|date=3 April 2024|access-date=23 January 2025}}

  • First use of a flight data recorder: Invented by George M. Dyott and used in the 1913 Dyott monoplane. It used three pointers to record movements of the control surfaces on a strip of paper run between two rollers.{{cite web|last=Van Hare|first=Thomas|title=Dyott's Flight Data Recorder|url=http://fly.historicwings.com/2013/04/dyotts-flight-data-recorder/|work=fly.historicwings.com|date=28 April 2013|access-date=1 November 2019}}

  • First bombing attack against a surface ship: Didier Masson and Captain Joaquín Bauche Alcalde dropped dynamite bombs on Federalist gunboats at Guaymas, Mexico, on May 10, 1913 while flying for Mexican Revolutionist Venustiano Carranza.{{cite book |last=Hagedorn |first=Dan |year=2008 |title=Conquistadors of the Sky: A History of Aviation in Latin America |publisher=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum |page=[https://archive.org/details/conquistadorsofs0000hage/page/76 76] |isbn=978-0-8130-3249-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/conquistadorsofs0000hage/page/76 }}

  • First propaganda leaflet flight: Didier Masson distributed propaganda leaflets from the air for the Mexican Revolutionist Venustiano Carranza, post May 10, 1913.

File:Pyotr Nesterov and the Nieuport IV.G he looped.jpg with the Nieuport IV.G he looped in 1913]]

  • First loop: Pyotr Nesterov looped a Nieuport IV, on September 9, 1913.{{cite web |last=Diamond |first=Karen |url=http://airsports.fai.org/apr2000/apr200001.html |title=Classic memories from the world of aerobatics |publisher=Air Sports International |date=April 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010424031702/http://airsports.fai.org/apr2000/apr200001.html |archive-date=April 24, 2001}}

  • First flight across the Mediterranean: Roland Garros flew a Morane-Saulnier G from the South of France to Tunisia, on September 23, 1913.{{cite news |url=http://dalje.com/en-world/roland-garros-flies-over-mediterranean-sea/185141 |title=Roland Garros Flies Over Mediterranean Sea |publisher=Dalje |date=September 23, 2008 |access-date=January 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020070605/http://dalje.com/en-world/roland-garros-flies-over-mediterranean-sea/185141 |archive-date=October 20, 2012 }}

  • First aircraft to exceed {{cvt|100|mph|kn km/h}} in level flight: Maurice Prévost flew a Deperdussin Monocoque in the 1913 Gordon Bennett Trophy race averaging over 100 mph during a lap on September 28, 1913.{{cite magazine|title=The Gordon Bennett Race|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1913/1913%20-%201078.html|magazine=Flight International|date=4 October 1913}}

  • First dogfight: Dean Ivan Lamb flying a Curtiss pusher and Phil Rader in a Christofferson biplane traded pistol shots while airborne, over Naco during the Mexican revolution, November or December 1913.{{cite web|url=http://www.pacaf.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100104-042.pdf |title=This Week in USAF and PACAF History – 24–30 November 2008 |publisher=Pacific Air Forces |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312201732/http://www.pacaf.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100104-042.pdf |archive-date=12 March 2013 }}

  • First scheduled commercial airplane flight:Tony Jannus flew a Benoist XIV biplane flying-boat of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line from St. Petersburg to Tampa in 23 minutes on January 1, 1914 with a paying passenger. This service ran until May 5, 1914.{{cite magazine|last=Glines |first=C. V.|url=http://www.historynet.com/st-petersburgtampa-airboat-line-worlds-first-scheduled-airline-using-winged-aircraft.htm/ |title=St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line: World's First Scheduled Airline Using Winged Aircraft |magazine=Aviation History|date=May 1997}}

  • First piloted flight indoors: Lincoln Beachey flew inside the Palace of Machinery intended for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, in San Francisco, California on either February 16 or 17, 1914.{{cite magazine|magazine=(New York) Evening Post|volume= LXXXVII|issue=41|date=18 February 1914| title=NA| page=4}}

  • First flight across the North Sea: On July 30, 1914, Tryggve Gran flew the {{cvt|280|nmi|mi km}} from Cruden Bay in Scotland to Jæren in Norway in 4 hours and 10 minutes.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1914/1914%20-%200837.html |title=Lieut. Gran's Flight To Norway |issue=293 |volume=VI |page=837 |magazine=Flight |date=7 August 1914}}

=Practical flight 1914–1938=

File:100 years of the RAF MOD 45163717.jpg landing a Sopwith Pup on {{HMS|Furious|47|6}} in 1917]]

  • First aircraft downed by ground fire: On August 20, 1914 during the Battle of Cer, an Austro-Hungarian Lohner B.I of Fliegerkompagnie 13 was damaged by Royal Serbian Army small arms fire near Lešnica. The pilot escaped and the Serbs failed to repair his aircraft.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

  • First aircraft intentionally downed by another aircraft: Pyotr Nesterov rammed an Austrian Albatros B.II of FLIK 11 with his Morane-Saulnier G on September 7, 1914 following previous attempts using a grappling hook. Both aircraft were destroyed and all were killed.Jon Guttman, et al. Pusher Aces of World War 1. London: Osprey Pub Co, 2009. {{ISBN|978-1846034176}} p.9

  • First aircraft to shoot down another aircraft: A French Voisin III, piloted by Sergeant Joseph Frantz, and Corporal Louis Quénault as passenger, engaged a German Aviatik B.II near Rheims on October 5, 1914. After expending his machine-gun ammunition, Quénault shot the German pilot (Wilhelm Schlichting) with his rifle, causing the Aviatik to crash.{{cite book |last=Guttman |first=John |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=is-ij4XZRTIC&pg=PA9 |title=Pusher Aces of World War I |publisher=Osprey Publishing |page=9 |isbn=978-1-84603-417-6}}

  • First female military pilot: Eugenie Mikhailovna Shakhovskaya was a reconnaissance pilot in the Imperial Russian Air Service, having been ordered to active service on November 19, 1914.{{cite book |last=Robson |first=Pamela |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOPj5ufH7vcC&pg=PT183 |title=Wild Women: History's Female Rebels, Radicals and Revolutionaries |publisher=Pier 9 |isbn=978-1-74196-632-9}}

  • First aircraft operated from a submarine: was a Friedrichshafen FF.29 floatplane flown by Friedrich von Arnauld de la Perière from the U-boat SM U-12 (Germany) on January 6, 1915, when the aircraft was unlashed from the U-boat, which submerged out from under it.{{cite book|last=Layman|first=R. D.|title=Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, MD|year=1989|isbn=978-0-87021-210-9|pages=29–30}}

  • First aerial victory for a fighter aircraft armed with a fixed forward-firing machine gun: Roland Garros, while with Escadrille 23 of the Aéronautique Militaire worked with Raymond Saulnier on a synchronized machine gun, however when that failed, they attached steel wedges to the propeller blades, and he proceeded to down three German aircraft in March 1915 before his engine failed behind enemy lines.{{cite book|last=Bruce|first=J.M.|title=Morane Saulnier Type L|series=Windsock Datafile 16|location=Herts, UK|publisher=Albatros Publications|year=1989|isbn=0-948414-20-0|page=3}}

File:Fokker M5K-MG E5-15.jpg' Fokker M.5K/MG used on July 1, 1915]]

  • First airship downed by another aircraft: On June 8, 1915 an Italian marine airship M.2 Città di Ferrara was shot down by a flare by the Austro-Hungarian L 48 seaplane piloted by Gustav Klasing.{{cite book |last1=Petrescu |first1=Victoria Relly |title=The Aviation History |date=2013 |isbn=9783848266395 |page=64 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=id9kQCuqepQC&dq=ferrara+first+airship&pg=PA64}}

  • First aerial victory for a fighter aircraft armed with a forward-firing synchronized machine gun: Leutnant Kurt Wintgens of Feldflieger Abteilung 6b of the German Army's Fliegertruppe air arm, flying a Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker, downed a French Morane-Saulnier L near Lunéville, France, on July 1, 1915.{{cite book |last=vanWyngarden |first=Greg|title=Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #73: Early German Aces of World War 1|year=2006 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Botley, Oxford UK & New York City, USA |isbn=978-1-84176-997-4 |pages=11 & 12}}Sands, Jeffrey, "The Forgotten Ace, Ltn. Kurt Wintgens and his War Letters", Cross & Cockade USA, Summer 1985.

  • First female combat fighter pilot: Marie Marvingt flew combat missions for France in 1915.{{cite news|title=1915 – First woman pilot in combat missions as a bomber pilot – Marie Marvingt (France) |url=http://www.centennialofwomenpilots.com/content/1915-first-woman-pilot-combat-missions-bomber-pilot-marie-marvingt-france |publisher=Centennial of Women Pilots |access-date=10 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111004457/http://www.centennialofwomenpilots.com/content/1915-first-woman-pilot-combat-missions-bomber-pilot-marie-marvingt-france |archive-date=11 January 2015 }}Historic Wings – Online Magazine; Article on Hélène Dutrieu Coupe Femina and Marie Marvingt:, Published on December 21, 2012: http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/12/helene-dutrieux-and-the-coupe-femina Retrieved 10 January 2015.

  • First sinking of a ship with an aerial torpedo: Charles Edmonds in a Short 184 torpedoed and sank an abandoned Turkish supply ship in the Sea of Marmara on August 12, 1915.{{cite book |last=Nicolaou |first=Stéphane |year=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hs4Ni-w7RO0C&pg=PA54 |title=Flying Boats & Seaplanes: A History from 1905 |publisher=Bay View Books Ltd |page=54 |isbn=978-1-901432-20-6}}{{cite book |title=Guinness Book of Air Facts and Feats |edition=3rd |year=1977 }}

  • First downing of a military aircraft with artillery fire: Serbian Army private Radoje Ljutovac hit an Austro-Hungarian aircraft on September 30, 1915 during a bombing raid on Kragujevac.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.rs/vesti/3842-prvi-ratni-avion-oboren-u-istoriji-pao-na-kragujevac.html | title=How was the first military airplane shot down|magazine=National Geographic| access-date=5 August 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pecat.co.rs/2014/09/radoje-raka-ljutovac-prvi-u-svetu-oborio-avion-topom/| title=Radoje Raka Ljutovac – first person in the world to shoot down an airplane with a cannon| date=September 30, 2014|publisher=Pečat| access-date=5 August 2015}}

  • First combat search and rescue by airplane: Richard Bell Davies landed his Nieuport 10 to rescue another pilot who had been shot down in Bulgaria on November 19, 1915.{{cite book |last1=Galdorisi |first1=George |last2=Phillips |first2=Thomas |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNSQm05eFy4C&pg=PA5 |title=Leave No Man Behind: The Saga of Combat Search and Rescue |publisher=Zenith Imprint |pages=5–6 |isbn=978-0-7603-2392-2}}

  • First medical evacuation (medevac) by air: Louis Paulhan evacuated the seriously ill Milan Stefanik from the Serbian front in 1915.L'homme-vent, special issue of L'Ami de Pézenas, 2010, ISSN 1240-0084.

File:Felixstowe Porte Baby and Bristol Scout.jpg with Bristol Scout composite before flight, 1916]]

  • First black military pilot: Ahmet Ali Çelikten a.k.a. Arap Ahmet Ali was the first black military pilot, served in Ottoman Aviation Squadrons from 1914 or 1915.{{cite web|language=tr|url=http://www.dzkk.tsk.tr/turkce/birliktanitimi/DzHavaUsKLigi/dzhvuskomweb.htm|title=Türk Deniz Havacılık Tarihi|access-date=August 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805072114/http://www.dzkk.tsk.tr/turkce/birliktanitimi/DzHavaUsKLigi/dzhvuskomweb.htm|archive-date=August 5, 2010}}{{cite book|last=Kurter|first=Ajun|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ej8wAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Ahmet+Ali%22|title=Türk Hava Kuvvetleri Tarihi (History of Turkish Air Force, Volume 5)|year=2009|volume=5|page=299|language=tr|publisher=Air Force Command}}[http://www.posta.com.tr/pazarpostasi/HaberDetay/Dunyanin_ilk_siyahi_pilotu__Arap_Ahmet.htm?ArticleID=65707&PageIndex=4 Dünyanın ilk siyahi pilotu: ARAP AHMET −4 "Pilotlarla Dolu Bir Aile"], Posta, March 20, 2011. {{in lang|tr}}

  • First flight of a parasite or composite airplane: A Felixstowe Porte Baby carried aloft and then launched a Bristol Scout while in flight on May 17, 1916.{{cite magazine|last=Bruce|first=J.M.|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1955/1955%20-%201723.html|title=The Felixstowe Flying-Boats: Historic Military Aircraft No. 11 Part 1|magazine=Flight|date=2 December 1955|page=845}}

  • First air-to-air rocket attack to down an aircraft: Eight aces including Nungesser downed six observation balloons on May 22, 1916 while flying Nieuport 16s armed with Le Prieur rockets, blinding the German Army for a French counter-attack on Fort Douaumont.{{cite book|last=Guttman|first=Jon|title=Balloon-busting aces of World War 1|url=https://archive.org/details/balloonbustingac01gutt|url-access=limited|series=Osprey aircraft of the aces 66|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford, UK|year=2005|isbn=978-1-84176-877-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/balloonbustingac01gutt/page/n13 12]}}

  • First air-to-ground rocket attack: A roving Nieuport 16 equipped with Le Prieur rockets found a large ammunition dump, on June 29, 1916 and blew it up.{{cite web|last=Albin|first=Denis|url=http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escadrille/escadrille062-02.htm|access-date=12 June 2019|title=Escadrille MF 62 – N 62 – SPA 62}}

  • First submarine sunk by aircraft: HMS B10 was sunk by Lohner L aircraft of the Kaiserliche und Königliche Seeflugwesen (Austrian Naval Air Service) while tied up at Venice on August 9, 1916.{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Paul J.|title=British Submarines of World War One|year=1990|publisher=Arms and Armour Press|location=London|isbn=978-1-85409-010-2|page=8}}

  • First flight across the Carpathians: was made by Lieutenant Ioan Peneș, who flew a Farman MF.7 of the Romanian Air Corps from Băicoi to Săcele on September 1, 1916.{{cite book|title=Aeronautica română în Războiul de Întregire națională 1916-1919|first1=Valeriu |last1=Avram |first2=Alexandru |last2=Armă|language=ro|publisher=Editura Vremea|date=2018 |isbn=978-973-645-853-8|page=9}}{{cite magazine|url=https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/reviste/Plaiuri-Sacelene/Plaiuri-Sacelene-an-XXIX_nr-90_2012.pdf|title=Locotenentul aviator Ioan Peneș, pe drumul aerian indicat de Aurel Vlaicu pentru eliberarea Transilvaniei|first=Ioan |last=Vlad|magazine=Plaiuri Săcelene|language=ro|number=90|date=2016|issn=1223-9151|page=7}}{{cite magazine|url=http://philatelica.ro/philatelica21-12.pdf|title=Clubul filatelic municipal Ploiești|magazine=Philatelica|language=ro|first=Aurel|last=Diaconu|issn=2065-6009|date=2012|volume=4 |issue=21|page=47}}

  • First submarine sunk while underway by aircraft: French submarine Foucault was bombed by two Austro-Hungarian Lohner L seaplanes while off Cattaro on September 15, 1916, which resulted in Foucault being forced to surface and her crew to abandon ship.{{cite book|last=Price|title=Aircraft versus Submarine|year=1973|isbn=1-84415-091-7|pages=13–14}}

  • First authenticated membership in the "Mile-high club": by pilot/engineer Lawrence Sperry and pilot/socialite Dorothy Rice Sims in her Curtiss Model F flying boat, which was equipped with an autopilot near New York on November 21, 1916, however Sperry bumped the autopilot, and a botched landing resulted in both of them being discovered unclothed.{{cite web|author=staff writer|title=Someone Had to Be First...|url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/MileHigh-Sperry-Peirce.htm|date=22 November 2016|access-date=14 February 2021}}{{cite book|author=John Baxter|title=Carnal Knowledge: Baxter's Concise Encyclopedia of Modern Sex|url=https://archive.org/details/carnalknowledgeb00baxt/page/5|url-access=registration|access-date=24 December 2011|date=10 February 2009|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-087434-6|pages=5–6}}

  • First unmanned (drone) aircraft to respond to control from the ground (RPV):The Aerial Target on 21 March 1917 {{cite web | url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-brief-history-of-drones | title= A Brief History of Drones | publisher=Imperial War Museums | access-date=16 May 2021 }}
  • First landing by an airplane on a moving ship: Squadron Commander Edwin Dunning landed a Sopwith Pup on {{HMS|Furious|47|6}} on August 2, 1917.{{cite book |last1=Bishop |first1=Chris |last2=Chant |first2=Chris |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PY8CvlKC7kgC&pg=PA106 |title=Aircraft Carriers: The World's Greatest Naval Vessels and Their Aircraft |publisher=Zenith Imprint |page=106 |isbn=978-0-7603-2005-1}}

  • First unmanned drone boats controlled from aircraft. Trials by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force at Dover :The Distantly Controlled Boats over 3 days 28 - 31 May 1918 {{cite web | url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=ADM+1-8539-253 | title=Capabilities of distantly controlled boats. Reports of trials at Dover 28 - 31 May 1918}}
  • First flight by an all-metal aircraft with a stressed skin monocoque primary structure: by the Zeppelin-Lindau (Dornier) D.I cantilever biplane on June 4, 1918. It would also be the first such aircraft to enter production.{{cite book|last1=Grosz|first1=Peter |title=Dornier D.I Windsock Mini datafile # 12|publisher=Albatros Publications |location=Hertfordshire, UK|year=1998|isbn=978-0-948414-92-3}}{{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Peter |last2=Thetford|first2=Owen|title=German Aircraft of the First World War|url=https://archive.org/details/germanaircraftfi00thet|url-access=limited|edition=second|publisher=Putnam |location=London |year=1970|page=[https://archive.org/details/germanaircraftfi00thet/page/n310 580]|isbn=978-0-370-00103-6 }}

  • First flight by an airplane across the Andes: Luis Candelaria flew from Zapala, Argentina, to Cunco, Chile, in a Morane-Saulnier Type L parasol monoplane on April 13, 1918, reaching an altitude of {{cvt|4000|m|ft|order=flip}}.{{cite news |url=http://www.lanacion.com.ar/93428-a-80-anos-del-primer-cruce-aereo-de-los-andes |title=A 80 años del primer cruce aéreo de los Andes |author=Luis Casabal |publisher=Diario La Nación |date=13 April 1998 |language=es |access-date=26 April 2015 |archive-date=March 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308223402/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/93428-a-80-anos-del-primer-cruce-aereo-de-los-andes |url-status=dead }}

  • First attack by aircraft launched from an aircraft carrier: Sopwith Camels flown from {{HMS|Furious|47|6}} for the Tondern raid on July 19, 1918 destroyed Zeppelins L 54 and L 60.{{cite magazine |last=Layman|first=R. L.|title=Furious and the Tondern Raid|magazine=Warship International|volume=X|issue=4|year=1973|pages=374–385}}

  • First flight across the Andes above highest peaks: Teniente Dagoberto Godoy crossed from Chile to Argentina in a Bristol M.1C, on December 12, 1918, reaching an altitude of {{cvt|6300|m|ft|order=flip}}, without oxygen.

File:Alcockandbrown takeoff1919 cut.jpg beginning their non-stop transatlantic flight in their Vickers Vimy, 1919]]

  • First flight across the Andes by a woman: Adrienne Bolland flew a Caudron G.3 from Mendoza, Argentina, to Santiago on April 1, 1921.{{cite news|last=Branchu|first=Marc|title=Rebel on high|url=http://corporate.airfrance.com/airfrancelasaga/news/rebel-on-high/|publisher=Air France|year=2012|access-date=April 19, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116162531/http://corporate.airfrance.com/airfrancelasaga/news/rebel-on-high/|archive-date=2013-01-16}}

  • First flight by an aircraft with a pressurized cabin for high altitude flight: by a modified Engineering Division USD-9A A.S.40118 on June 8, 1921 by Art Smith.{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=A. J.|title=De Havilland Aircraft since 1909|publisher=Putnam|year=1978|isbn=978-0-87021-896-5|pages=108–109}}

  • First African–American or Native American or Black person to obtain an international pilot's license: Bessie Coleman on June 15, 1921 on a Nieuport 82.{{cite web|title=U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission|url=http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Coleman/EX11.htm|publisher=United States Government|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120102122750/http://centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Coleman/EX11.htm|archive-date=January 2, 2012}}{{Cite book|title=Realizing the Dream of Flight: Biographical Essays in Honor of the Centennial of Flight, 1903–2003|last=Bix|first=Amy Sue|author-link=Amy Bix|date=2005|publisher=NASA|editor-last=Dawson|editor-first=Virginia Parker|pages=ix, 5|language=en-US|chapter=Bessie Coleman: Race and Gender Realities Behind Aviation Dreams|oclc=60826554|editor-last2=Bowles|editor-first2=Mark D.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpIpJI7nYV4C&q=%2226+January%22+%22male+or+female%22&pg=PA5}}

  • First capital ship sunk by aircraft: Under orders from Brigadier General William L. Mitchell, one Handley-Page O/400 and six Martin NBS-1 bombers led by Capt. Walter R. Lawson bombed the captured ex-German World War I battleship, {{SMS|Ostfriesland||2}} during a series of airpower tests, sinking it on July 21, 1921."Winged Defense," William Mitchell, Originally published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1925. ({{ISBN|0-486-45318-9}}) Reissued by Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 2006.

  • First crop duster: John Macready successfully flew a Curtiss Jenny that had been specially modified in a joint U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Army Signal Corps project from McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio to spray crops with lead arsenate to control a caterpillar infestation on August 3, 1921.{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Mary Ann|title=McCook Field 1917–1927|publisher=Landfall Press|location=Dayton, OH|year=2002 |isbn=0-913428-84-1|pages=190–191}}{{Cite journal|last=Houser|first=J.S.|title = The Airplane in Catalpa Sphinx Control|journal=Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station Monthly Bulletin|issue=7|pages=126–136|year=1922|url=https://archive.org/stream/pamphletsonfores04ohiorich#page/126/mode/1up}}

File:Fairey F III-D nº 17 Santa Cruz.JPG.D that completed the first crossing of the South Atlantic in 1922]]

  • First aerial refueling: Done by Wesley "Wes" May, Frank Hawks and Earl Daugherty with a Lincoln Standard biplane and a Curtiss Jenny in 1921.{{cite web|author=Flight Stories |url=http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/11/first-aerial-refueling/ |title=First Aerial Refueling ‹ HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers |publisher=Fly.historicwings.com |access-date=2022-03-20}}

  • First flight to sustain a speed over {{cvt|200|mph|kn km/h}}: Joseph Sadi-Lecointe flew a Nieuport-Delage Sesquiplan racer over a distance of {{cvt|100|km|nmi mi}} at an average speed in excess of 200 mph on September 30, 1922.{{cite magazine|date=5 October 1922|title=The Race for the Coupe Deutsch Trophy|magazine=Flight|volume=XIV|issue=40|page=573|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1922/1922%20-%200573.html}}

  • First aerial crossing of the South Atlantic (with aircraft replacement): Artur de Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho flew from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in a total of three Fairey III.D floatplanes between March 30 and June 17, 1922.{{cite book|last=Dierikx|first=Marc|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MSpUUB054BcC&pg=PA7 |title=Clipping the Clouds: How Air Travel Changed the World|publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=7 |isbn=978-0-313-05945-2}} The first to use astronomical navigation (and to rely solely on it during the crossing), with an artificial horizon for aeronautical use.{{cite web |url=http://enu.kz/repository/2010/AIAA-2010-156.pdf |title=Gago Coutinho and the Aircraft Navigation |first1=F. M. S. P. |last1=Neves |first2=J. M. M. |last2=Barata |first3=A. R. R. |last3=Silva |publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics |date=2010 |access-date=2015-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208070554/http://enu.kz/repository/2010/AIAA-2010-156.pdf |archive-date=2015-12-08 }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AsFdUxOwu8C&pg=PA533 |title=Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia|first1=Robert |last1=Bud|first2=Deborah Jean|last2=Warner|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1998|page=533|isbn=978-0-8153-1561-2 }}

  • First autogyro/autogiro flight: Alejandro Gomez Spencer made the first successful Autogyro flight in the Cierva C.4 on January 9, 1923 (O.C.), previous designs having failed to achieve flight.{{cite web|last=Charnov|first=Bruce H|url=http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/ORSP_Charnov_Fall02.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183856/http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/ORSP_Charnov_Fall02.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2016|title=Cierva, Pitcairn and the Legacy of Rotary-Wing Flight|publisher=Hofstra University|date=3 March 2016|access-date=22 November 2011}}

  • First non-stop transcontinental flight across North America: Lt. John A. Macready and Lt. Oakley G. Kelly flew from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York to Rockwell Field, San Diego, California in a Fokker T-2 in 26 hours and 51 minutes, on May 2-3, 1923.{{cite web|url=https://nationalaviation.org/macready-john/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926232749/http://www.nationalaviation.org/macready-john/|archive-date=26 September 2011|title=John MacReady: Record Setter|publisher=National Aviation Hall of Fame|date=26 September 2011|access-date=3 January 2025}}

  • First aerial refueling with a fuel line: A DH-4B biplane of the United States Army Air Service successfully refuelled another DH.4B, piloted by Lowell Smith, in mid-air on June 27, 1923.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/197397/de-havilland-dh-4/|title=First air-to-air refuelling|publisher=National Museum of the US Air Force|access-date=October 16, 2016}}

  • First flight from Portugal to China: Using two different aircraft, Sarmento de Beires and Brito Pais flew {{cvt|16380|km|nmi mi}} in 115 hours 45 minutes of flying time[http://www.emfa.pt/www/po/musar/conteudos/galeria/pioneiros/pdf/portugal-macau-1924_2392.pdf Força Aérea Portuguesa: De Lisboa a Macau]{{cite web|url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/antonio-jacinto-da-silva-brito-pais/|title=7 April 1924|last=Swopes|first=Brian R|access-date=10 May 2019}} from Vila Nova de Milfontes, Alentejo to Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, between April 7 and June 20, 1924,{{cite web|url=http://www.clublusitano.com/from-portugal-to-macau/|title=From Portugal to Macau|last=d'Assumpção|first=H A|access-date=10 May 2019|date=2018-04-17|archive-date=May 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509173019/http://www.clublusitano.com/from-portugal-to-macau/|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|last1=Taylor|first1=John W R|last2=Munson|first2=Kenneth|title=History of Aviation|publisher=Crown Publishers|year=1972|isbn=978-0-7064-0241-4}}{{page needed|date=May 2019}}

File:Douglas World Cruise - 8091773554 (cropped).jpg Douglas World Cruisers on their world circumnavigation flight in 1924]]

  • First aerial circumnavigation: Pilots Lowell H. Smith, Erik H. Nelson and John Harding Jr., in a pair of Douglas World Cruisers of the United States Army Air Service completed an aerial east–west circumnavigation of the world starting and ending in Seattle Washington, between April 6 and September 28, 1924.{{Cite book|title=Around the world in 175 days|last=Glines|first=Charles|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|year=2001|isbn=978-1-56098-967-7|url=https://archive.org/details/aroundworldin17500carr}}Unless specified, most circumnavigation flights were not done along the greatest distance, at the equator, but merely crossed all lines of longitude – often at high latitudes, and as far north as possible.

  • First Amsterdam to Tokyo flight: Pedro Leandro Zanni and mechanic Felipe Beltrame, flew {{cvt|9187|nmi|mi km}}, with a change of aircraft in Hanoi, from July 26 to October 11, 1924, with a flight time of 119 hours 50 minutes.{{cite web|url=http://arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.com/2013/01/visitors-argentine-connection.html|title=Visitors: the Argentine Connection|access-date=9 May 2019|date=2013-01-03}}{{cite web|url=https://gwulo.com/atom/33214|website=Gwulo: old Hong Kong|title=World Flier Zannii arrives in Hong Kong-22 Sept. 1924|access-date=9 May 2019}}
  • First nighttime aerial photograph by Lieutenant George W. Goddard of the United States Army Air Service on the night of November 20, 1925 using a flash bomb and aerial reconnaissance camera while flying over the Eastman Kodak building in Rochester, N Y.{{Cite book |last=Goddard |first=George |title=Overview: A Lifelong Adventure in Aerial Photography |publisher=Doubleday & Company |year=1969 |location=New York |pages=147–150}}{{Cite news |date=November 22, 1925 |title=Aerial Pictures Taken by Army at Night In Successful Experiments Over Rochester |page=66 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/11/22/archives/aerial-pictures-taken-by-army-at-night-in-successful-experiments.html |access-date=June 27, 2022}}

File:Franz Schell Album Image (34195654111).jpg and his monoplane the Spirit of St. Louis that made the non-stop flight from New York to Paris on May 21, 1927]]

  • First flight of a flying wing airplane: was made by the Chyeranovskii BICh-3 in 1926.{{cite book|last=Andersson|first=Lennart|title=Soviet Aircraft and Aviation 1917–1941|publisher=Putnam|location=London, UK|year=1997|isbn=978-0-85177-859-4|page=331}}

  • First successful flight of a glider tow plane: was made with a Raab-Katzenstein RK.6 Kranich flown by Kurt Katzenstein, towing a Raab-Katzenstein RK 7 Schmetterling glider flown by Antonius Raab on April 13, 1927.{{cite book|last=Nowarra|first=Heinz J.|title=German Gliders in WWII – DFS 230 DFS 331 Go 242 Go 345 Ka 430 Me 321 Ju 322|series=Schiffer Military History Volume 48|publisher=Schiffer|location=West Chester, PA|year=1997|isbn=978-0-88740-358-3|page=4}}{{cite web|editor=Jean-Marie M. and Claude L.|title=Raab-Katzenstein RK-7 Schmetterling|url=https://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/dbj2mcl/planeurs-machines/planeur-fiche_0int.php?code=2322|date=4 December 2015|language=french|access-date=26 February 2021}}

  • First solo non-stop New York to Paris (city to city) transatlantic flight: Charles Lindbergh, flying the Spirit of St. Louis, made the 33-hour journey from New York to Paris on May 20–21, 1927, winning the Orteig Prize.{{cite web|url=http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/paris.asp|title=Lindbergh Flies the Atlantic, 1927|publisher=Charles Lindbergh – An American Aviator |access-date=January 21, 2013}}

  • First outside loop: Jimmy Doolittle, in a Curtiss P-1B Hawk on May 25, 1927.{{cite book|last=Groom|first=Winston |title=The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight|publisher=National Geographic|location=Washington, DC|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4262-1156-0|chapter=3|page=75}}

  • First flight from U.S. mainland to Hawaii: U.S. Army lieutenants Albert Francis Hegenberger and Lester J. Maitland flew from California to Hawaii in the Bird of Paradise, a C-2 transport, on June 28–29, 1927.{{cite book|last=Maurer|first=Maurer|title=Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919–1939|year=1987|location=Maxwell AFB|publisher=United States Air Force Historical Research Center|pages=256–260}}

  • First female airline pilot: Marga von Etzdorf was hired by Lufthansa in 1927.{{cite web|url=http://centennialofwomenpilots.com/marga-von-etzdorf-germany/|title=Marga von Etzdorf – Germany|publisher=Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide|access-date=December 5, 2015|date=2015-07-25 }}

  • First long distance mass formation flight: Italo Balbo led 60 Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying boats from May 25 to June 2, 1928 from Tuscany over the Balearic Islands, along Spanish and French coasts, and finally returning to Italy.{{cite book|last=Esposito|first=Fernando|title=Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity |publisher=Springer |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-137-36299-5 |page=326}}

  • First transpacific flight (US to Australia): Charles Kingsford Smith and crew, in the Southern Cross, flew from Oakland, California, to Brisbane, Australia via Hawaii and Fiji, between May 31 and June 9, 1928.{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Bruce|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/16/1071336964936.html?from=storyrhs|title=Magnificent machines, home-grown legends|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=December 17, 2003|access-date=January 21, 2013}}

  • First rocket-powered aircraft to fly: was the Lippisch Ente flown by Fritz Stamer on June 11, 1928, using solid fuel rockets.{{cite book|last1=Ford|first1=Roger|title=Germany's Secret Weapons of World War II|date=2013|publisher=Amber Books|location=London, UK|isbn=978-1-909160-56-9|page=224}}

  • First woman to fly across the Atlantic (as passenger): Amelia Earhart was flown by Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon, in a Fokker F.VII, from Trepassey, Newfoundland, to Burry Port, Wales, on June 17, 1928.{{cite book|last=Bryan|first=C.D.B.|title=The National Air and Space Museum|year=1979|publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc.|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8109-0666-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/internationalair00brya/page/132 132]|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalair00brya|url-access=registration}}

{{cite book|last=Meyer|first=Robert B.|title=First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928.|series=Smithsonian Annals of Flight Volume 1 Number 2|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|location=Washington, DC|year=1964|page=2|doi=10.5479/si.AnnalsFlight.2|hdl=10088/18672|url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/18672|access-date=25 February 2021}}

  • First deployment of a whole-aircraft parachute recovery system: was made by Roscoe Turner flying a Thunderbird W-14 biplane on April 14, 1929.{{cite book|last=Glines|first=Carroll V.|title=Roscoe Turner: Aviation's Master Showman|series=Smithsonian History of Aviation Series|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press|location=Washington, DC|year=1999|isbn=978-1-56098-798-7|page=108}}

  • First ship-launched flight to deliver transatlantic mail: Jobst von Studnitz flew a Heinkel HE 12 with 11,000 pieces of mail from the {{SS|Bremen|1928|6}} while still at sea, to New York City several hours before the ship docked, on July 26, 1929.{{cite web|url=https://www.cruiselinehistory.com/the-s-s-bremen-last-voyage-of-a-luxury-liner/|title=The S.S. Bremen: Last Voyage of a great Luxury Liner|first=Michael L.|last=Grace}}

  • First aircraft to be flown only on instruments (blind flying): was by Jimmy Doolittle in a Consolidated NY-2 on September 24, 1929.{{cite book|last=Groom|first=Winston |title=The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight|publisher=National Geographic|location=Washington, DC|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4262-1156-0|chapter=3|page=57}}

  • First flight over the South Pole: in the "Floyd Bennett", a Ford 4-AT-B trimotor flown by Bernt Balchen with Harold June as co-pilot and Richard E. Byrd navigating, arriving shortly after midnight on November 29, 1929.{{cite web|title=Richard E. Byrd 1888–1957|url=http://www.south-pole.com/p0000107.htm|work=www.south-pole.com|access-date=5 November 2019}}{{Cite book|last=Rodger|first=Eugene|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7gJdr_E4DQC|title=Beyond the Barrier: The Story of Byrd's First Expedition to Antarctia|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=1990|isbn=978-1-61251-188-7|location=Annapolis, Maryland|pages=173–191}}

File:Amelia Earhart at Derry.jpg with the Lockheed Vega 5B she crossed the Atlantic in May 1932]]

  • First aircraft to fly with a de-icing system: was a National Air Transport Boeing Model 40 modified by William C. Geer with an expanding rubber boot mounted on a strut, which was flown by Wesley L. Smith in late March 1930 for the first of three test flights than continued into April.{{cite report|last1=Geer|first1=William C.|last2=Scott|first2=Merit|title=The prevention of the ice hazard on airplanes|series=Technical notes No. 345|publisher=National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics|location=Washington, DC|year=1930|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc53964/m2/1/high_res_d/19930081073.pdf}}{{cite book|last=Leary|first=William M.|title=We Freeze to Please – A History of NASA's Icing Research Tunnel and the Quest for Flight Safety|series=The NASA History Series|publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration – NASA History Office|location=Washington, DC|year=2002|page=10|url=https://history.nasa.gov/sp4226.pdf}}
  • First female pilot to fly solo from England to Australia: Amy Johnson in a de Havilland DH60 Gipsy Moth taking off from Croydon Airport 5th May, 1930 and landing in Darwin 24th May 1930 making 24 stops along the way.

  • First flight by an aircraft with variable-sweep wings: was by the tailless Westland-Hill Pterodactyl IV with Flight-Lieutenant Louis G. Paget at the controls in April or May 1931. The wing sweep could be adjusted by 4.75 degrees in flight to provide trim adjustment.{{Cite book|last1=Meekcoms|first1=K. J.|last2=Morgan|first2=E. B.|title=The British Aircraft Specification File|publisher=Air-Britain|location=Kent, UK|year=1994|isbn=978-0-85130-220-1|page=143}}

  • First non-stop flight across the Pacific: Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon flew 41 hours, 13 minutes in a heavily modified Bellanca CH-400 Skyrocket named Miss Veedol from Samushiro, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington, on October 4–5, 1931.{{cite book |last1=Heikell |first1=Edward |last2=Heikell |first2=Robert |year=2012 |title=One Chance for Glory: First Nonstop Flight Across the Pacific |publisher=CreateSpace |isbn=978-1-4680-0608-7}}

  • First female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean: Amelia Earhart, in a Lockheed Vega 5B, flew from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, to Culmore, Ireland, on May 20, 1932.{{cite book|last=Briand|first=Paul|title=Daughter of the Sky|year=1964|publisher=Duell, Sloan, Pearce|page=77}}

  • First successful helicopter with a single main lifting rotor: Alexei Cheremukhin and Boris Yuriev's TsAGI-1EA, which flew to a record altitude of {{cvt|605|m|ft|order=flip}} on August 14, 1932.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx565dqF-5M |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/rx565dqF-5M |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|title=video|website=YouTube |date=April 30, 2012 }}{{cbignore}}Savine, Alexandre. [http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/1-ea.html "TsAGI 1-EA."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126202112/http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/1-ea.html |date=January 26, 2009 }} ctrl-c.liu.se, March 24, 1997. Retrieved 12 December 2010.

  • First proven act of sabotage to a commercial aircraft in flight: The crash of a United Airlines Boeing 247 near Chesterton, Indiana, United States on October 10, 1933, killing all seven people aboard, was found to have been caused by a nitroglycerin-based bomb detonated during flight; eyewitnesses on the ground had seen the explosion.{{cite web|title=Accident details|url=http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1933/1933-19.htm|publisher=Plane Crash Info|access-date=April 19, 2021}} The perpetrator or perpetrators were never identified.{{cite news|last=Rogers|first=Phil|title=80 Years Later, Plane Bombing Remains A Mystery|url=https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/80-years-later-plane-bombing-remains-a-mystery/1964534/|newspaper=NBC News|date=October 7, 2013|access-date=April 19, 2021}}

  • First scheduled commercial trans-Pacific passenger service: A Pan-American Martin M-130 began a proving flight on November 22, 1935 that led to passengers being carried on a regularly scheduled service from San Francisco to Manila that began on October 21, 1936.{{cite book|last=Davies |first=R.E.G.|title=Pan Am: An Airline and Its Aircraft|publisher=Crown|year=1987|isbn=978-0-517-56639-8|pages=31 and 38}}

File:URSS ANT-25 N025 in flight.jpgRD which completed the first polar crossing in 1937]]

  • First flight by a delta wing aircraft: was made by the Moskalyev SAM-9 Strela, flown by A.N.Rybko in early 1937.{{cite book|last=Gunston|first=Bill|title=Aircraft of the Soviet Union – The Encyclopedia of Soviet Aircraft since 1917|publisher=Osprey|location=London, UK|year=1981|isbn=978-0-85045-445-1|page=205}}{{cite book|last=Andersson|first=Lennart|title=Soviet Aircraft and Aviation 1917-1941|publisher=Putnam|location=London, UK|year=1997|isbn=978-0-85177-859-4|page=300}}

  • First transatlantic commercial proving flights and quadruple crossing: An Imperial Airways Short Empire flying boat and a Pan-American Sikorsky S-42 flying boat both crossed the Atlantic on July 5, 1937, and then made the return flight. Both aircraft were operating at the extreme limits of their respective ranges, and so commercial service didn't start until a few years later.{{cite book|last=Norris|first=Geoffrey|title=The Short Empire Boats|series=Aircraft in Profile Number 84|publisher=Profile Publications|location=Surrey, UK|year=1966|page=10}}

  • First flight of a commercial aircraft with a pressurized cabin that would enter service: was made on December 31, 1938 by the Boeing 307 Stratoliner.Gunston, 1992, p.361

=Jet age, 1939–present=

File:Heinkel He 178 050602-F-1234P-002.jpg, the first turbojet-powered aircraft to fly]]

  • First flight by a liquid-fueled rocket-powered aircraft: was made by a Heinkel He 176 flown by Erich Warsitz on June 20, 1939.{{cite book |last=van Pelt |first=Michel |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4M9i-FXVKckC&pg=PA70 |title= Rocketing Into the Future: The History and Technology of Rocket Planes |publisher=Springer |page=70 |isbn=978-1-4614-3200-5}}

  • First scheduled commercial transatlantic passenger service: Pan American Boeing 314 Clipper Yankee Clipper flying boats made the first scheduled commercial flight between New York City and Marseille, France on June 28, 1939.{{cite book|last=Davies |first=R.E.G.|title=Pan Am: An Airline and Its Aircraft|publisher=Crown|year=1987|isbn=978-0-517-56639-8|page=42}}

  • First flight by a turbojet-powered aircraft: was made with a Heinkel He 178, flown by Erich Warsitz on August 27, 1939.{{cite book |last=Pavelec |first=Sterling Michael |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSLBdP22fq0C&pg=PA22 |title=The Jet Race and the Second World War |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=22 |isbn=978-0-275-99355-9}}

  • First Ramjet powered flight: was made by Petr Yermolayevich Loginov in a Polikarpov I-15bisDM modified with 2 DM-2 ramjets on January 25, 1940, with prior flights being made in December without the ramjets being powered.{{cite book|first1=Yefim|last1=Gordon|first2=Kieth|last2=Dexter|title=Polikarpov's Biplane Fighters|series=Red Star Volume 6|publisher=Midland Publishing|location=Hincklet, England|year=2002|isbn=978-1-85780-141-5|page=73}}{{cite magazine|first=A. Ya|last=Shcherbakov|title=Flight Tests of the Ramjet on Aircraft Designed by N. N. Polikarpov in 1939-1940 (translation in NACA N68-13572)|magazine=History of Aviation and Cosmonautics|volume=3 |date=November 1967 |language=Russian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tt9YAAAAYAAJ&q=Ye+Loginov+ramjet&pg=PA34|page=34}}

  • First operational use of a military assault glider: was by the Luftwaffe, which used DFS 230 gliders to take the Fort Eben-Emael, and to capture critical bridges over the Albert Canal on May 10, 1940.{{cite book|last=Nowarra|first=Heinz J.|title=German Gliders in WWII - DFS 230 DFS 331 Go 242 Go 345 Ka 430 Me 321 Ju 322|series=Schiffer Military History Volume 48|publisher=Schiffer|location=West Chester, PA|year=1997|isbn=978-0-88740-358-3|page=3}}

  • First flight of an aircraft powered by a motorjet/thermojet: was with a Caproni Campini N.1 flown by Mario de Bernardi on August 27, 1940Enzo Angelucci; Paolo Matricardi. Campini Caproni C.C.2 in Guida agli Aeroplani di tutto il Mondo. Mondadori Editore. Milano, 1979. Vol. 5, pp. 218–219.

  • First flight with an afterburner: was made by a Caproni Campini C.C.2 motorjet on 11 April 1941.{{Cite book|last=Buttler|first=Tony|title=Jet Prototypes of World War II: Gloster, Heinkel, and Caproni Campini's wartime jet programmes|date=19 September 2019|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=978-1-4728-3597-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2fueDwAAQBAJ&q=thermojet+campini&pg=PA11}}{{cite magazine|last=Alegi|first=Gregory|date=15 January 2014|title=Secondo's Slow Burner, Campini Caproni and the C.C.2|magazine=The Aviation Historian|issue=6|page=76|issn=2051-1930|location=UK}}

  • First capital ships sunk by aircraft while underway: were {{HMS|Repulse|1916|6}}, followed by {{HMS|Prince of Wales|53|6}}, by Japanese Mitsubishi G4Ms of the Kanoya, Genzan and Mihoro Air Groups on December 10, 1941.{{cite book|last1=Shores|first1=Christopher|last2=Cull|first2=Brian|last3=Izawa|first3=Yasuho|title=Bloody Shambles: The Drift to War to the Fall of Singapore|volume=I|year=1992|publisher=Grub Street|location=London|isbn=0-948817-50-X|pages=120–121}}

  • First use of an Airborne Early Warning radar system: Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic R1629 was modified with a rotating radar array to increase detection range, and to direct fighters to intercept Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor bombers being used in the anti-shipping role, with the first operational trials occurring in April 1942. Advances in radar technology quickly made it obsolete, but similar conversions were also made in 1944 to Wellington Mk.XIV bombers to direct the interceptions of Heinkel He 111s that were launching V-1 flying bombs (cruise missiles) under the name "Air Controlled Interception". Beaufighters were directed toward the Heinkels while Mosquitos were directed to the V-1s, if a launch occurred.{{cite book|last=Hodges|first=R.|editor=Burns, Russell|title=Radar Development to 1945|chapter=Air controlled interception|publisher=Inst of Engineering & Technology|year=1989|isbn=978-0-86341-139-7}}{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Robert|title=Britain's Greatest Aircraft|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|location=Barnsley, UK|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84415-383-1|page=217}}
  • First flight by a sitting US President: was made by Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the Boeing 314 Clipper on January 11, 1943. The seaplane flew from International Pan American Airport in Miami, bound for Trinidad, ultimately crossing the Atlantic for the Casablanca Conference.{{cite web |date=2014-08-18 |title=From the Archives: Air Force One and Presidential Air Travel |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/08/18/archives-air-force-one-and-presidential-air-travel |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=whitehouse.gov}}{{cite web |last= |first= |date=1945-04-12 |title=Log of the trip of the president to the Casablanca Conference 9-31 January, 1943 |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/l/log-of-the-the-trip-of-the-president-to-the-casablanca-conference-9-31-january-1943.html |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=NHHC}}

  • First purpose-built jet bomber to fly: was the Arado Ar 234 which made its first flight on July 30, 1943.{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=J. Richard|last2=Creek|first2=Eddie J.|title=Military Aircraft in Detail: Arado Ar 234A|publisher=Midland|location=Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK|year=2006|isbn=1-85780-225-X}}

  • First rocket-powered aircraft used in combat: Major Späte of the EK 16 service test unit flew a Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet interceptor against Allied aircraft on May 13, 1944.{{cite web |url=http://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/me163/units.htm |title=Me 163B Komet - Me 163 units - Erprobungskommando 16 (EK 16)|last1=de Bie |first1=Rob|website=robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/me163.htm |publisher=Rob de Bie |access-date=28 September 2013}}

  • First jet on jet aerial victory: was scored by Flying Officer Dean of the Royal Air Force in a Gloster Meteor Mk.I EE216 against a V-1 flying bomb on August 4, 1944.{{cite book|last=Butler|first=Tony|title=Gloster Meteor|series=Warpaint Series No. 22|publisher=Hall Park Books|location=Buckinghamshire, UK|year=1999|isbn=978-0-01-363036-4|issn=1363-0369|page=17}}

File:Gloster Trent-Meteor turboprop.jpg F.I powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent turboprops in 1945]]

  • First fully automatic blind landing was made with Boeing 247D DZ203 by Flight Lieutenant Frank Griffiths of the Royal Air Force on 16 January 1945, while subsequent tests confirmed it in inclement weather. Previous landing systems required the pilot to see for the final approach.{{cite book|first1=Stephen |last1=Burrows|first2=Michael |last2=Layton|title=Top Secret Worcestershire|publisher=Brewin Books|date=2020|isbn=978-1-85858-615-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWzNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP45|page=44}}

  • First aircraft to use a nuclear weapon: was USAAF Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" flown by Paul Tibbets and under the command of William Sterling Parsons which dropped Little Boy on the Japanese city of Hiroshima,{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Gordon|first2=Max|last2=Morgan-Witts|title=Ruin from the Air|publisher=Hamilton|location=London, England|year=1977|isbn=978-0-241-89726-3}}{{cite book|last=Rhodes|first=Richard|title=The Making of the Atomic Bomb|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|year=1986|isbn=978-0-684-81378-3|pages=705–711}} where it detonated at an approximate altitude of {{convert|1800|to|2000|ft|m|abbr=on}} and with a force of {{convert|16|±|2|ktonTNT|lk=in}}{{cite web|last=Malik|first=John|url=http://www.osti.gov/manhattan-project-history/publications/LANLHiroshimaNagasakiYields.pdf |title=The Yields of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Explosions|date=September 1985|publisher=Los Alamos National Laboratory|access-date=March 9, 2014}} on August 6, 1945.

  • First turboprop powered aircraft to fly: was a modified Gloster Meteor F.I powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent turbine engines driving propellers, on September 20, 1945.{{cite magazine|last=King|first=H. F.|title=Mars to Javelin, Gloster aircraft of forty years|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1955/1955%20-%200715.html|magazine=Flight|volume=67|number=2418|date=27 May 1955|page=727}}

File:Bell X-1 in flight.jpg, first aircraft confirmed to have exceeded Mach 1, flown by Chuck Yeager on October 14, 1947]]

  • First known wheel-well stowaway: An Indonesian orphan, Bas Wie, 12, hid in the wheel well of a Dutch Douglas DC-3 flying from Kupang to Darwin, Australia, on August 7, 1946. He survived the three-hour flight despite severe injuries, and later became an Australian citizen.{{cite web | url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-17/the-kupang-kid/6542742|title=The Kupang Kid: Orphaned boy who risked life to come to Australia as stowaway in 1946|author=Louise Maher|publisher=ABC Online| date=June 17, 2015| access-date =April 19, 2021}}

  • First documented supersonic flight: was by Chuck Yeager in a Bell X-1 on October 14, 1947.{{cite web |url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/yea0bio-1 |title=Chuck Yeager Biography |publisher=Academy of Achievement |access-date=January 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118011834/http://achievement.org/autodoc/page/yea0bio-1 |archive-date=January 18, 2013 }}

  • First flight by a jet transport: was by a Rolls-Royce Nene-powered Vickers VC.1 Viking on April 6, 1948.{{cite magazine|last=Bryce|first=Jock|title=First All-Jet Airliner|magazine=Flight International |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1969/1969%20-%202695.PDF|date=28 August 1969|page=323}}

  • First nonstop around-the-world flight: Starting on February 26, Capt. James Gallagher and his crew refuelled inflight four times in Boeing B-50A Superfortress Lucky Lady II while flying around the world, to return to where they started at Carswell AFB in Texas on March 2, 1949.[https://web.archive.org/web/20111127125341/http://www.afhso.af.mil/topics/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15233 "Factsheets: Lucky Ladies I, II and III"]. Air Force Historical Support Division. Retrieved 1 September 2015.

  • First criminal prosecution of an aircraft bombing: Albert Guay along with two accomplices was convicted of murder and hanged for the bombing of Canadian Pacific Air Lines Douglas DC-3 Flight 108 on September 9, 1949, which killed all 23 occupants.{{cite web|title=1951: Albert Guay|date=January 12, 2008 |url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/01/12/1951-albert-guay/|publisher=Executed Today|access-date=April 19, 2021}}

  • First jet on manned jet aerial victory: was thought to have been by Lt. Brown in a F-80 over a MiG-15 on November 8, 1950, however that MiG survived.{{cite book|last1=Tillman|first1=Barrett|last2=van der Lugt|first2=Henk|title=VF-11/111 'Sundowners' 1942-95|series=Aviation Elite Units 36|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford, UK|year=2010|isbn=978-1-84908-263-1|pages=61–63}} Instead the first victory was made in a Grumman F9F-2B Panther flown by Lt. Cdr. William T. Amen, commanding officer of VF-111, over Captain Mikhail Grachev in a MiG-15 from the 139th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment on November 9, 1950.

  • First propeller driven aircraft to exceed the speed of sound (in a dive): was a McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo (without assistance from the jet engines) flown by Capt. Fitzpatrick in late June, 1953.{{cite book|last=Dorr|first=Robert F|title=McDonnell F-88/F-101 Variant Briefing|series=Wings of Fame Volume 1|location=London, UK|publisher=Aerospace Publishing|year=1995|isbn=1-874023-68-9|page=171}}{{cite book|last=Easley|first=Ronald|title=The F-101 Voodoo: An Illustrated History of McDonnell's Heavyweight Fighter|publisher=Schiffer|year=2015|isbn=978-0-7643-4799-3}}
  • First aircraft to carry and deploy a thermonuclear weapon: was a Tupolev Tu-95 during the Soviet Union's RDS-6s test on August 12, 1953{{Cite book |last=Zaloga |first=Steve |title=The Kremlin's Nuclear Sword: The Rise and Fall of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces |date=17 February 2002 |page=29}}

  • First aircraft to exceed Mach 2: Scott Crossfield was first to fly at twice the speed of sound in a Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket on November 20, 1953.{{cite web|last=Creech|first=Gray|title=Mach 2 Milestone Anniversary|url=https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/improvingflight/mach2_anniversary.html|date=19 November 2003|access-date=11 August 2019}}

  • First aircraft to fly with an area rule design: was the Grumman F9F-9 TigerThe Grumman F9F-9 Tiger was redesignated after its first flight as F11F-1 Tiger flown by Corwin Meyer on July 30, 1954.{{cite book|last=Meyer|first=Corwin|title=Grumman F11F Tiger|series=Naval Fighters 40|publisher=Ginter Books|location=Simi Valley, California|year=1997|isbn=978-0-942612-40-0|pages=5–9}}

  • First supercruise sustained supersonic flight in horizontal flight without using afterburner: was made by a Nord Gerfaut I research aircraft on August 3, 1954.{{cite book|last=Gunston|first=Bill|title=The Development of Jet and Turbine Aero Engines|edition=4th|publisher=Haynes|year=2006|isbn=978-1-85260-618-3|page=160}}{{cite web|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200414.html|title=1956 - 0414 - Flight Archive|publisher=flightglobal.com|access-date=2015-09-04}}
  • First nuclear reactor operated on an aircraft: The Convair NB-36H tested an onboard reactor that was not connected to the engines, first flying on September 17, 1955{{cite book |author=Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Defense |url=http://www.fas.org/nuke/space/anp-gao1963.pdf |title=Report to the Congress of the United States – Review of manned aircraft nuclear propulsion program |date=February 1963 |publisher=The Comptroller General of the United States |page=141 |access-date=2012-01-24}}

  • First aircraft shot down with a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM): was a Taiwanese Martin RB-57D Canberra over China that was hit by three SA-2/V-750 missiles on October 7, 1959.{{cite book|author=Steven J. Zaloga|title=Red SAM: The SA-2 Guideline Anti-Aircraft Missile|year=2007|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-84603-062-8|page=8}}

  • First manned Jetpack flights: Engineer Wendell Moore made the first flight at Bell Laboratories in February 1961.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/15/jetpacks-jet-propulsion-flying-to-work |title=Jetpacks: why aren't we all flying to work?|website=The Guardian|date=May 15, 2018}}

  • First supersonic flight by an airliner: was made by William Magruder in a dive from altitude with a Douglas DC-8-43, briefly reaching a speed of Mach 1.012 at {{cvt|574|kn|mph km/h}} at {{cvt|41088|ft|m}} during a test flight on August 21, 1961.{{cite magazine|last=Hollway|first=Don|title=The First SST: The First Airliner to Break the Sound Barrier|url=https://www.historynet.com/the-first-sst-the-first-airliner-to-break-the-sound-barrier.htm|magazine=Aviation History|date=March 2022|access-date=31 January 2022|publisher=Historynet|location=Arlington, VA|volume=32|number=34|pages=60–65|issn=1076-8858}}

  • First solo circumnavigation by a woman: Jerrie Mock returned to Columbus, Ohio, on May 17, 1964, having flown around the world in her Cessna 180 Skywagon since leaving the same airport 29 days earlier in a race with Joan Merriam Smith, who had followed a different route.{{cite web|title=Celebrating Jerrie Mock, the First Woman to Fly Around the World|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/celebrating-jerrie-mock-first-woman-fly-around-world|publisher=National Air and Space Museum|date=March 11, 2014|access-date=November 22, 2021}}

  • First pole-to-pole circumnavigation: was completed by Captains Fred Austin and Harrison Finch in Boeing 707-349C "Pole Cat", in 57 hours, 27 minutes on 15 November 1965.{{cite magazine|editor=Edward D. Muhlfeld|title=North Pole...South Pole - Crossing aviation's almost forgotten frontier|magazine=Flying|publisher=Ziff-Davis|location=New York, NY|date=June 1966|pages=102–103}}

  • First manned flight by an electrically powered aeroplane: was made with a Brditschka MB-E1, a modified motor glider with an {{cvt|8-10|kW}} Bosch KM77 electric motor on October 23, 1973.{{cite book|editor= Taylor, John W. R.|title=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1974-75|publisher=Jane's Yearbooks|location=London|year=1974|isbn=0-354-00502-2}}

  • First scheduled supersonic passenger flights: were made with Concorde SSTs from London to Bahrain, and simultaneously from Paris to Rio de Janeiro on January 21, 1976.{{cite magazine|last=Patrick |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32 |title=90 Years of Flight |magazine=Popular Mechanics |date=December 1993 |volume=170 |issue=12 |page=32}}

  • First circumnavigation by helicopter: H. Ross Perot, Jr. and Jay Coburn in Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II Spirit of Texas, from September 1 to 30, 1982.{{cite web |title=Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II "Spirit of Texas |url=https://www.si.edu/object/nasm_A19840195000?destination=edan_searchtab%3Fedan_q%3Dspirit%2520of%2520texas&width=85%25&height=85%25&iframe=true |website=National Air and Space Museum |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=24 October 2019}}

  • First non-stop, un-refueled flight around the Earth: was made by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager in the Rutan Voyager over 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds, running from December 14 to 23, 1986.{{cite web|first=David H.|last=Onkst|url=http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/rutan/EX32.htm|title =Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, and the Flight of the Voyager|publisher=U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002144636/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/rutan/EX32.htm|archive-date = 2012-10-02 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=8391|title=Official FAI database|access-date=2021-03-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224115854/http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=8391|archive-date=2013-12-24}}

  • First all-female airliner crew: was the American Airlines Boeing 727 flown from Washington D.C. to Dallas, Texas captained by Beverley Bass on December 30, 1986.{{cite web|title=All-female flight crew is aviation first|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/12/30/All-female-flight-crew-is-aviation-first/2054536302800/|website=UPI Archives|publisher=United Press International|access-date=April 2, 2018|language=en|date=December 30, 1986}}

  • First helicopter to the North Pole: was a Bell Jetranger III flown by Dick Smith on April 28, 1987.{{cite news|newspaper=Canberra Times|date=30 April 1987|title=Smith's Copter over N Pole}}

File:Tupolev Design Bureau, CCCP-85035, Tupolev Tu-155 (36975276310).jpg, the first aircraft to fly solely on hydrogen]]

  • First flight by an aircraft fuelled only with hydrogen: was made by a Tupolev Tu-155 (a modified Tu-154 airliner) powered only by hydrogen on April 15, 1988.{{cite web |url=https://www.fzt.haw-hamburg.de/pers/Scholz/dglr/hh/text_2020_11_19_HydrogenAircraft.pdf |author= Dieter Scholz, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences |title= Design of Hydrogen Passenger Aircraft |date= 19 November 2020}} A NACA Martin B-57B flew on hydrogen in February 1957, but only for 20 minutes before reverting to jet fuel.{{cite news |url= https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/emerging-technologies/will-contrails-be-hydrogen-fuels-achilles-heel |title= Will Contrails Be Hydrogen Fuel's Achilles' Heel? |date= October 1, 2020 |author= Guy Norris |work= Aviation Week}}

  • First circumnavigation which landed at both poles: was made in a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter flown by Dick Smith, who carried out landings on both poles during 1988 and 1989.{{cite book |author=Robert Gott |chapter-url=http://www.dicksmithflyer.com.au/life_story.php |title=Makers & Shakers |chapter=10: Further adventures |publisher=Heinemann Library |year=1998 |chapter-format=pdf |pages=38–41|isbn=978-1-86391-878-7 |access-date=8 June 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/history/history.html|title=The Dome is Home--South Pole history 1975-90|access-date=10 August 2017|website=Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station}}

  • First east-west circumnavigation by helicopter: was completed in a Sikorsky S-76 by Dick Smith in 1995.{{cite book|last=Gott|first=Robert|title=Makers & Shakers, Heinemann Library|date=1998|page=46|isbn=1-86391-878-7}}

  • First to land a helicopter at both Poles: Quentin Smith & Steve Brooks landed a Robinson R44 at the North Pole in October 2002 and at the South Pole in January 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.earthrounders.com/old2005.php|title=Earthrounders Noticeboard|website=Earthrounders|access-date=5 May 2019}}

File:Globalflyer landing cropped.jpg that Steve Fossett piloted solo around the world non-stop in 2005]]

  • First solo non-stop fixed-wing aircraft flight around the Earth: was made in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, flown by Steve Fossett, from Salina, Kansas, from February 28 to March 3, 2005, in 67 hours.{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Fossett-just-makes-it/2005/03/05/1109958140283.html |title=Fossett just makes it |work=The Age |date=March 5, 2005 |access-date=January 21, 2013}}

  • First solo flight by an armless pilot: Just using her legs Jessica Cox earned her pilot's license on May 10, 2008, flying a Ercoupe from San Manuel Airport, Arizona.{{cite news|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/meet-worlds-first-armless-pilot-jessica-cox/story-e6frev00-1111118266349|title=Meet world's first armless pilot Jessica Cox |website=thetelegraph.com.au|date=9 December 2008|access-date=9 April 2011}}

  • First piloted overnight solar-powered flight in a fixed-wing aircraft: Made by André Borschberg on the Solar Impulse 1 between July 7–8, 2010.{{cite news| title=Solar Impulse completes record-breaking flight| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/solarpower/7878526/Solar-Impulse-completes-record-breaking-flight.html| work=The Daily Telegraph|date=8 July 2010|access-date=2 August 2016}}

  • First trans-Atlantic flight by autogyro: Norman Surplus flew solo from Belfast, Maine, to Larne, Northern Ireland in a Rotorsport UK MT-03 Autogyro "Roxy" between July 8, 2015 and August 11, 2015.{{cite news |title=First autogyro round-the-world trip completed by Larne pilot |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-48811534 |agency=BBC |date=29 June 2019}}{{cite news |title=Gyrocopter pilot Norman Surplus arrives back in Northern Ireland |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-33869591 |date=11 August 2015}}

  • First piloted non-stop solar-powered transatlantic flight: Bertrand Piccard flew from New York City to Seville in the Solar Impulse 2 between June 20–23, 2016.{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/23/solar-impulse-2-completes-first-ever-atlantic-crossing-by-solar-plane | title=Solar Impulse 2 completes first ever Atlantic crossing by solar plane| newspaper=The Guardian| date=2016-06-23| last1=Carrington| first1=Damian}}

  • First circumnavigation of the world by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power: Solar Impulse 2 between March 2015 and July 2016; Borschberg and Piccard alternated piloting stages of the journey.[https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36890563 "Solar Impulse completes historic round-the-world trip"], BBC News, 26 July 2016

  • First circumnavigation by helicopter passing antipodal points:Points on opposite sides of the globe Peter Wilson and Matthew Gallagher flew a Robinson R66 on August 7, 2017.{{cite web |title=First antipodal circumnavigation by helicopter |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/649295-first-antipodal-circumnavigation-by-helicopter |website=Guinness World Records |date=August 7, 2017 |access-date=22 February 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Hirchman |first1=David |title=Three journeys round |url=https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/july/18/three-journeys-round |website=AOPA |date=July 18, 2017 |access-date=22 February 2021}}

  • First electroaerodynamic thrust winged Ion-propelled aircraft test flight: MIT EAD Airframe Version 2 using ionic wind on November 21, 2018.{{cite web|url=https://news.mit.edu/2018/first-ionic-wind-plane-no-moving-parts-1121|title=MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts|date=November 21, 2018 }}

  • First female circumnavigation via both poles: Payload Specialist Jannicke Mikkelsen, and Flight Attendant Magdelena Starowicz, flew as part of the crew of a Gulfstream G650ER One More Orbit between July 9, 2019 and July 11, 2019.{{cite web|url = https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/travel/fastest-aerial-circumnavigation-of-the-earth-via-both-geographical-poles-one-more-orbit-219360|title = Fastest aerial circumnavigation of the Earth via both geographical poles: One More Orbit|date = September 18, 2019|access-date = September 1, 2021|archive-date = October 23, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211023171636/https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/travel/fastest-aerial-circumnavigation-of-the-earth-via-both-geographical-poles-one-more-orbit-219360|url-status = dead}}

  • First powered, controlled takeoff and landing on another planet or celestial body: was the NASA rotorcraft Ingenuity on Mars on April 19, 2021.{{Cite news|last=Chang|first=Kenneth|date=2021-04-19|title=NASA's Mars Helicopter Completes First Flight on Another Planet|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/science/nasa-mars-helicopter.html|access-date=2021-04-19|issn=0362-4331}}
  • First privately-funded and developed aircraft to break the sound barrier: Boom Supersonic's chief test pilot Tristan "Geppetto" Brandenburg flew the Boom XB-1 from Mojave Air & Space Port, reaching Mach 1.122 on January 28, 2025.{{Cite web |last=Berger |first=Eric |date=2025-01-28 |title=For the first time, a privately developed aircraft has flown faster than sound |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/for-the-first-time-a-privately-developed-aircraft-has-flown-faster-than-sound/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |author1=Brett Tingley |date=2025-01-28 |title=Boom Supersonic XB-1 jet breaks sound barrier on historic test flight (video) |url=https://www.space.com/space-exploration/tech/boom-supersonic-xb-1-jet-breaks-sound-barrier-on-historic-test-flight |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=Space.com |language=en}}

See also

Notes

{{NoteFoot}}

References

= Citations =

{{reflist}}

= Sources =

{{refbegin}}

  • Conquistadors of the Sky: A History of Aviation in Latin America. Dan Hagedorn. University Press of Florida, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0813032498}}.
  • Interpretive History of Flight. M.J.B. Davy. Science Museum, London, 1937.
  • Leave No Man Behind: The Saga of Combat Search and Rescue. George Galdorisi, Thomas Phillips. MBI Publishing Company, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0760323922}}.
  • {{cite book |editor-last=Gunston |editor-first = Bill |title = Chronicle of Aviation |url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781872031309 |url-access=registration |publisher=JL International Publishing |location=Liberty, MO |year=1992 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781872031309/page/80 80] |isbn=978-1-872031-30-9 }}

{{refend}}

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