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  • Use this timeline to find out some highlights in the progression of flight in human history.

    1000 BCE – First kites

    Kites are invented in China.

    852 BCE – A king tries to fly

    The English King Bladud is apparently killed attempting to fly.

    1485–1500 – da Vinci designs planes

    Leonardo da Vinci designs flying machines.

    Rights: Public domain

    Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine

    Leonardo da Vinci made many drawings of wings and flying machines in the late 1400s. He kept them hidden, and they weren’t discovered until 400 years after his death.

    Sketch dated 1488.

    1709 – Model glider design

    Bartolomeu Laurenço de Gusmao designs a model glider.

    1783 – Hot air balloon flight

    The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was on 21 November 1783 in Paris, France in a balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers.

    1843 – Biplane design

    George Cayley’s biplane design is published.

    1895 – Biplane gliders

    Otto Lilienthal flies biplane gliders.

    1903 – First powered flight

    Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first recorded powered, sustained and controlled flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine.

    1904 – First powered flight in New Zealand

    Richard Pearse from New Zealand makes his first recorded powered flight of more than a few seconds, though witnesses contend his first flight may have been just before the Wright brothers.

    Rights: Public domain

    Richard Pearse’s monoplane

    Richard Pearse’s monoplane resembled a modern-day microlight. Witness accounts suggest he flew it before the Wright brothers flew theirs. This monoplane is a replica from the South Canterbury Museum in Timaru.

    There is evidence that Richard Pearse did not achieve controlled flight before the Wright brothers in 1903. See a report from the Timaru Post dated 17 November 1909.
    www.stuff.co.nz/national/6799761/Pearse-flew-long-after-Wrights

    1906 – First powered flight in Europe

    Alberto Santos-Dumont makes the first successful powered flight in Europe.

    1911 – New Zealander launches glider

    Kiwi aviator George Bolt’s flying career began in the South Island in 1911. Aged just 18, he launched a glider that he had designed and built himself from the Cashmere Hills above Christchurch. In 1911 Bolt took New Zealand’s first aerial photographs. In 1916 he began work as an apprentice mechanic at the Walsh brothers’ New Zealand Flying School in Auckland.

    1919 – First non-stop trans-Atlantic flight

    British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown make the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight – flying from Newfoundland to Ireland. They were presented with a prize of £10,000 and knighted a week later. It was also the first trans-Atlantic airmail flight.

    1921 – A pilot licence first

    Bessie Coleman became the first African-American to gain a pilot’s license.

    1927 – First solo trans-Atlantic flight

    Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight.

    1930 – Jet engine invented

    British inventor Frank Whittle invents the jet engine.

    1932 – First woman flies across Atlantic

    Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly a solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight.

    1932–1937 – Record-breaking flights

    New Zealander Jean Batten makes record-breaking flights around the world.

    Rights: Whites Aviation Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.

    Jean Batten

    Jean Batten was a New Zealand aviatrix. During the 1930s, she was well known for taking a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world.

    Portrait by Leo Lemuel White, 16 October 1936.

    1939 – First jet-propelled aircraft

    Germany’s Heinkel 178 is the first fully jet-propelled aircraft to fly.

    1940s – Aerial agriculture developed in New Zealand

    Seed sowing, top dressing and crop dusting are developed in New Zealand with ex-WW2 pilots and planes. Ossie James, in particular, is noted for his role in this.

    Rights: Top dressing - Aerial [Archives Reference: AAFZ 6329 W3302/7552/2/134 K5412] Archives New Zealand The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua

    Early aerial topdressing

    World War II Tiger Moths were among the first aircraft used for topdressing in New Zealand. Here, in 1953, a loader bucket releases fertiliser into the aircraft hopper.

    1947 – Aircraft exceeds speed of sound

    Charles Yeager pilots the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in level flight.

    1969 – First supersonic transport flight

    First flights of supersonic transport – Soviet TU-144 and Anglo-French Concorde.

    1970 – First Boeing 747 commercial flight

    Boeing 747 makes the first commercial flight.

    1976 – Concorde passengers

    Concorde begins its first passenger-carrying service.

    Rights: Public domain

    Concorde

    The turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet airliner operated until 2003. Concorde had a maximum speed more than twice the speed of sound.

    1979 – Longest human-powered flight

    Bryan Allen pedals the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel, breaking the distance record for human-powered flight.

    1986 – First non-stop flight around world

    Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager fly the US ultralight Voyager around the world in a 9-day non-stop flight from California to California.

    2005–2006 – First non-stop world solo flights

    Steve Fossett makes the first non-stop solo flight around the world (2005) and in 2006 lands in England after flying around the world once and crossing the Atlantic twice – a distance of 26,389.3 miles (42,469.46 kilometres).

    2009 – New glider record

    New Zealand pilot Terry Delore breaks the world gliding record by 100 kilometres, travelling a total of 2,400 kilometres within New Zealand.

    2011 – Martin jetpack

    In an unmanned test, the Martin jetpack reaches an altitude of 5,000 feet (1,524 metres). The jetpack, invented by New Zealander, Glenn Martin, is a small flying device for one person. It was named one of the world’s top 10 inventions in 2010.

    2011 – World’s first flying car

    The Transition® by Terrafugia is a roadable aircraft – an aeroplane that can take off and land at any airport and, with the push of a button, fold up its wings and drive down the road.

    Rights: Terrafugia

    Transition® hybrid vehicle

    The Transition® hybrid vehicle has been given the go-ahead for testing on US highways. When do you think you'll see 'flying cars' in your town?

    2016 – Solar flight around the world

    Solar Impulse 2 is the first plane powered by a renewable energy source to tour the globe. The Solar Impulse website has further information.

    2019 – Electric aircraft

    In December the world’s first fully-electric aircraft for commercial flight completed a test in Canada.

    2021 – New Zealand's first electric flight

    On 1 November 2021 Gary Freedman flew New Zealand's only electric plane, (just one of around 30 in the world), from Blenheim to Welllington, see this Kea Kids news story on Stuff.

    2023 December – New Zealand's first commercial electric plane

    Air New Zealand announces it has ordered one Alia aircraft, a small commercial electric plane. It is set to start flying cargo between Wellington and Marlborough in 2026.

    Find out more

    Read the article People in flight history for more detailed information about some of the people featured above.

      Published 9 September 2011, Updated 10 July 2024 Referencing Hub articles
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