History of Aviation

• 1903 First manned, powered airplane to be flown Orivile and Wilbur Wright Kitty Hawk, USA
• 1906 First European powered flight, biplane Alberto Santos-Dumont Paris, France
• 1909 First airplane flight across English Channel Louis Bleirot England
• 1910 First aircraft takeoff from a ship Eugene Ely U.S.S. Birmingham
• 1911 First seaplane flown Glenn Curtis San Diego, USA
• 1911 First transcontinental flight Calbraith Perry Rodgers N.Y. to CA.
• 1911 First airplane used in war Captain Piazza El Aziz- Tripoli,Libya
• 1912 First combat air recon mission Captain Piazza ?
• 1912 First fighter plane Geoffrey De Havilland England
• 1913 First multi-engined aircraft Igor Sikorsky USA
• 1915 First fighter with fixed forward gun Anthony Fokker Germany
• 1915 First cantiliver, low wing monoplane Hugo Junkers England
• 1918 U.S. AirMail Service begins USA N.Y. to Wash. DC
• 1919 First crossing of the Atlantic Lt. Cmdr. Albert Reed NY to Lisbon
• 1919 First non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Capt. J. Alcock/Lt. Brown Newfoundland-Ire.
• 1923 First autogyro (ancestor helicopter) flight Juan de la Cierva Spain
• 1924 First aerial circumvention of the globe U.S. Army Seattle, WA
• 1925 First American transport built in production Ford, Tri-motor USA
• 1927 First nonstop solo Atlantic crossing Charles Lindburgh N.Y. to Paris
• 1929 First all instrument flight Lt. James Doolittle USA
• 1929 First airborne exploration of Antarctica Bernt Balchen-Adm. Byrd Antarctica
• 1933 First solo flight around the globe Wiley Post USA
• 1933 First "modern" airliner, Boeing 247 Boeing Corp. USA
• 1935 First DC-3 built Douglas Aircraft USA
• 1937 Hindenburg explodes ending dirigible era Lakehurst, N.J.
• 1938 Supermarine Spitfire goes into production Supermarine Aircraft, Ltd. England
• 1939 Boeing B-17 goes into production Boeing Aircraft Seattle, WA.
• 1939 First regularly scheduled transatlantic service Pan Am. Airways USA
• 1939 First jet aircraft is flown, Heinkel HE 178 Heinkel Germany
• 1940 First pressurized airliner Boeing (307-B) Seattle, WA.
• 1942 First succesful helicopter flight Igor Sikorsky USA
• 1942 First operational jet, ME-262 Messerschmitt Germany
• 1942 Carrier based aircraft prove aircraft carrier U.S. Navy Midway Island
• 1944 First operational rocket powered aircraft (ME163) Messerschmit Germany
• 1947 First aircraft to exceed the speed of sound (X-1) Chuck Yeager Edwards AFB , CA.
• 1948 First Turboprop ariliner (Vickers Viscount) Vickers England
• 1952 First jet airliner service begins (Comet) De Havilland USA
• 1953 First Sustained Supersonice combat aircraft (F-100) North American USA
• 1953 CIA approves $22 million Aquatone project ( U-2 ) Lockheed USA
• 1954 First U.S. jet transport, 707 Boeing USA
• 1954 First VTOL aircraft XFY-1 Convair USA
• 1954 World's largest and heavist aircraft (TU-114) Tupolev USSR
• 1955 First flight of CL-282 (U-2) , N308X Tony Lavier Groom Lake, Nev.
• 1956 First operational flights of the U-2 begin CIA/SAC USA
• 1959 First hypersonic test aircraft (X-15, Mach 6.06) North American USA
• 1959 Approval building of A-12 (SR-71 ancestor) Lockheed-CIA USA
• Other Important Dates
• May Day, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was shot down overflying the Soviet Union while flying U-2 #56-6693 (CIA article 361, NASA aircraft 360).
• April 26, 1962, first flight of the A-12 (predecessor to the SR-71 ) a long range penetration reconaissance aircraft which flew at speeds greater than Mach 3.
• March 21, 1968, First operational flight of the SR-71. Over the next 22 years, SR-71 flew 3,551 operational missions, and 385 people (pilots and RSOs) have flown in her over Mach 3.
• March 6, 1990, Last operational flight of the SR-71* , sets four new speed records including transcontinental record of 2,112.52 mph (1:08.17 elapsed time), 2,404.05 statute mile course, from Edwards AFB, CA. to Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C. where the aircraft was later installed in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Ground Display outside Washington.
• June 26, 1990, rollout of the Northrup/McDonnell Douglas version of the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF), the YF-23A.
• August 27, 1990, first flight of the Northrup/McDonnel Douglas YF-23A.
• August 29, 1990, rollout of the Lockheed/General Dynamics version of the ATF, the YF-22A.
• July 17, 1989, B-2 Stealth bomber #21066 makes its maiden flight from the Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale (near Edwards AFB), CA.

Late in 1995, the USAF quietly released the information that a few SR-71 aircraft had been taken out of mothballs and placed back into operational service beginning on an unspecified date. Supposition is that the aircraft are needed to supplement overhead reconnaissance assets not purchased or delayed by the draw down of U.S. forces per the "peace bonus" afforded by the breakup of the former Soviet Union.

This also would tend to indicate that the much rumored "Aurora" spaceplane is only an author's imagination at work, or the spaceplane has been lost to unknown reasons. In any case, it does not seem reasonable to operate both platforms.

In 1986, there was a budget item known as the CSIRS (Covert Surviellance/Intelligence Reconaissance System) that was accidentally released off the "black" budget request before Congress. Whether this was actually a request to support the F-117A, a UAV, or the "Aurora" craft will remain to be seen.