Important Dates In Aviation History.

1500 The Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci made drawings of flying machines with flapping wings.

1783 Two Frenchmen - Jean F. Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes - made the first free lighter-than-air ascent. They made the ascent in a hot-air balloon.

1804 Sir George Cayley of Great Britain flew the first successful model glider.

1843 William S. Henson, a British inventor, patented plans for a steam-driven airplane that had many of the basic parts of a modern plane.

1848 John Stingfellow of Great Britain built a small model based on Henson's plane. It was launched but remained in the air only briefly.

1891 Otto Lilienthal, a German, became the first person to successfully pilot gliders in flight.

1896 Samuel P. Langley of the United States flew a steam-powered model plane.

1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright of the United States made the first engine-powered, heavier-than-air flights, near Kitty Hawk, N.C. Their first flight went 120 feet (37 meters) and lasted only about 12 seconds.

1906 Trajan Vuia, a Romanian inventor, built the first full-sized monoplane, but it could not fly.

1908 Henri Farman of France made the first official circular flight of 1 kilometer. He also flew 16 ž miles (27.0 kilometers) in the first cross-country flight.

1908 Glenn H. Curtiss made the first official public flight of more than 1 kilometer in the United States.

1909 Louis Bleriot of France became the first person to fly across the English Channel.

1910 Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin of Germany organized the first commercial airline. It used airships and carried 35,000 passengers its first three years.

1911 Calbraith P. Rodgers made the first transcontinental flight across the United States. He flew from Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., to Long Beach, Calif., in a series of short flights that took 84 days.

1913 Igor I. Sikorsky, a Russian inventor, built and flew the first four-engine plane.

1914 The first regularly scheduled airline service in the United states began when Tony Jannus piloted a flying boat between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida.

1915 The first flight of an all-metal, cantilever-wing plane, the Junkers J-1, took place in German.

1919 Two British fliers, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown, made the first nonstop transatlantic flight. They flew 1,950 miles from St. John's Nfld., to Clifden, Ireland.

1919 Aircraft Transport and Travel, Ltd., flew the first regular international airmail between London and Paris.

1924 Two U.S. Army planes made the first round-the-world flight. They took nearly six months to complete the 26,345-mile journey.

1924 The first all-metal, trimotor transport, the Junkers G-23, was test-flown in German.

1926 Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett of the United States made the first airplane flight over the North Pole.

1926 Private airlines took over carrying airmail from the U.S. Post Office Department. 1927 Charles A. Linbergh, a U.S. pilot, made the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight. He flew 3.610 miles from Garden City, N.Y., to Paris in 33 ˝ hours.

1927 The Lockheed Vega, a single-engine transport, flew for the first time. It became one of the most popular transport planes of the 1920's and early 1930's.

1927 American Railway Express began air-express service.

1928 Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew made the first flight across the Pacific. They flew from Oakland, Calif., to Brisbane, Australia, with stops at Honolulu, Hawaii, and Suva, Fiji. 1929 Richard E. Byrd of the United States and his crew made the first flight over the South Pole.

1930 Trans World Airlines started the first transcontinental airline service. The trip took 36 hours with an overnight stop in Kansas City.

1931 Two U.S. pilots, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, made the first nonstop airplane flight across the Pacific. They flew from Tokyo to Wenatchee, Washington.

1932 Amelia Earhart of the United States was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone. She flew from Harbour Grace, Nfld., to Londonderry, Ireland, in 15 hours 18 minutes.

1933 Wiley Post, a U.S. pilot, made the first solo round-the-world flight, covering 23,452 miles in 3 days 22 hours 1 minute.

1936 Douglas DC-3 transport planes entered airline service in the United States. They became the most widely used airliners in history.

1936 United Airlines established the first kitchens for serving meals in flight.

1936 Pan American World Airways inaugurated the first transpacific passenger service.

1938 The U.S. Congress established the Civil Aeronautics Board to regulate airline fares, routes, and schedules.

1939 The first successful flight of a jet-engine airplane took place in Germany.

1939 Pan American World Airways established the first regular transatlantic passenger service from New York City to Southampton, England.

1942 The Bell Aircraft Company built the first jet airplane in the United States. It was flown by Robert M. Stanley at Muroc Dry Lake, Calif.

1946 Airlines established flights for around-the-world passenger service. 1947 Charles Yeager, a U.S. Air Force captain, made the first supersonic flight, in a Bell X-1 rocket plane.

1952 De Havilland Comets, the world's first large commercial jetliners, began service.

1953 British Overseas Airways began the first regularly scheduled service with jet airliners.

1953 The first turboprop transport, the Vickers Viscount, began regular airline service.

1953 The North American F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter made the first level supersonic flight by a jet plane.

1953 TWA began the first nonstop, transcontinental passenger service from Los Angeles to New York City.

1954 Scandinavian Airlines began regular transarctic passenger service from Los Angeles to Europe.

1958 The Boeing 707 began the first U.S. jet transport service between the United States and Europe.

1958 British Overseas Airways began the first jet airliner service between the United States and Europe.

1958 National Airlines began the first U.S. jet airliner service.

1959 American Airlines began the first transcontinental jet airliner service.

1967 United Airlines put into service the first airliners capable of carrying over 200 passengers.

1968 Russian pilots test-flew the world's first supersonic transport plane, the Tu-144.

1968 The first direct airline service opened between the United States and the Soviet Union.

1970 The first jumbo jet, the Boeing 747, entered airline service.

1970 The first giant Boeing 747 went into operation for Pan American World Airways. It carried 362 passengers.

1976 Air France and British Airways put the first supersonic airliners into passenger service.

1978 The U.S. Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act.

1984 Brooke Knapp, a U.S. pilot, flew around the world in a record time of 45 hours 32 minutes 53 seconds.

1984 The Civil Aeronautics Board was dissolved.

1986 Richard Rutan and Jeana Yeager, two U.S. pilots, made the first nonstop flight around the world without refueling. The flight began and ended at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.