View source for Timeline of aviation

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
This is a '''timeline of [[aviation]]''' history, and a list of more detailed aviation timelines. The texts in the diagram are clickable links to articles.

==Timeline==
<div class="floatright"><timeline>
ImageSize  = width:500 height:2000
PlotArea   = left:50 right:0 bottom:10 top:10
DateFormat = yyyy
Period     = from:1799 till:2011
TimeAxis   = orientation:vertical order:reverse
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1880
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:5 start:1880

PlotData=
  Color:red mark:(line,blue) align:left fontsize:S 
  shift:(15,-3) # shift text to right side of bar

  # there is no automatic collision detection, fontsize:XS 
  # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap shift:(25,-10)

  at:1799 text: [[Sir George Cayley|physics of flight (Cayley)]]
  at:1804 text: [[Sir George Cayley|successful model hangglider flight (Cayley)]]
  at:1848 text: [[John Stringfellow|steam powered model glider]]
  at:1853 text: [[Sir George Cayley|towed, controlled, manned, glider flight (Cayley)]]
  from:1884 till:1886 text: [[John J. Montgomery|successful glider flights (Montgomery)]] 
  at:1884 text: [[Airship|1st fully controllable, lighter than air, free flight]]
  at:1889 shift:(170) text: [[Hiram Stevens Maxim|A large vehicle lifts itself under power.]]
  at:1890 text: [[Ader Éole]] lifts from ground.
  from:1891 till:1896 text: [[Otto Lilienthal|controlled hangglider flights (Lilienthal)]]
  at:1900 text: [[Zeppelin|1st Zeppelin]]
  from:1901 till:1906 shift:(250) text: [[First flying machine|1st airplanes]]
  at:1903 text: [[Wright Flyer|Wright Flyer 1, 260 m, controlled, witnessed, photographed]]
  at:1905 text: [[Wright_Flyer_III|Wright Flyer 3 controlled, safe landings, 38km]]
  at:1906 text: [[14-bis]]
  at:1908 text: [[Short Brothers|First aircraft manufacturer]]
  at:1909 text: [[Santos-Dumont_Demoiselle]]
  shift:(170) at:1909 text: [[Louis_Blériot|First crossing of the English channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft]]
  at:1910 text: [[Coanda-1910|World's first jet-propelled aircraft]]
  from:1914 till:1917 shift:(250) text: [[Aviation in World War I|World War I]]
  at:1919 text: [[Curtiss NC-4|1st Atlantic crossing]]
  at:1919 shift:(130) text: [[Alcock and Brown|1st nonstop Atlantic crossing]]
  at:1919 shift:(300) text: [[Chalk's Ocean Airways|First airline is founded]]
  at:1923 shift:(180) text: [[Fokker F.IV|First non-stop transcontinental flight]]
  at:1924 text: [[First aerial circumnavigation]]
  at:1927 text: [[Charles Lindbergh|1st solo nonstop Atlantic crossing]]
  at:1937 text: [[Hindenburg disaster]]
  at:1939 text: [[He 178]]
  from:1939 till:1945 shift:(250) text: [[World War II]]
  from:1940 till:1941 shift:(240) text: [[The Blitz]]
  from:1940 till:1941 shift:(130) text: [[Battle of Britain]]
  at:1940 text: [[Battle of Taranto]]
  at:1944 text: [[V-2 rocket]]
  at:1947 text: [[Sound barrier|Sound barrier broken]]
  at:1952 text: [[De Havilland Comet|1st commercial jet airliner]]
  from:1957 till:1975 shift:(150) text: [[Space Race]]
  at:1957 shift:(150) text: [[Sputnik 1|Sputnik (1st artificial satellite)]]
  at:1958 text: [[Boeing 707]]
  at:1961 text: [[Vostok 1|1st manned space mission]]
  at:1969 shift:(15,0) text: [[Apollo 11|Apollo 11 (moon landing)]]
  at:1970 shift:(15,-9) text: [[SR-71 Blackbird|SR-71 Fastest and highest flying aircraft]]
  at:1976 text: [[Concorde|Concorde makes first commercial flight]]
  at:1979 text: [[Gossamer Albatross|1st human-powered crossing of English Channel]]
 at:1981 text: [[Space Shuttle|1st reusable spacecraft]]
  at:1986 text: [[Scaled Composites Voyager|1st nonstop unrefueled global circumnavigation]]
  at:1988 text: [[Antonov An-225 Mriya|World's heaviest aircraft]]
  at:2004 shift:(15,0) text: [[Space Ship One|Space Ship One becomes first privately built space vehicle]]
  at:2005 shift:(15,-6) text: [[Airbus A380|Largest commercial airliner]]
 at:2011 text: [[Space Shuttle| retirement of the space shuttle]]
  at:2010 shift:(15,-6) text: [[Solar Impulse|First 24-hour flight using only solar panels and electric power]]

</timeline>
</div>

*[[Timeline of aviation before the 18th century]]
*[[Timeline of aviation – 18th century]]
*[[Timeline of aviation – 19th century]]
*[[Timeline of aviation – 20th century]]

===By decade===

*'''1900s:''' [[1900 in aviation|1900]]  – [[1901 in aviation|1901]] – [[1902 in aviation|1902]] – [[1903 in aviation|1903]] – [[1904 in aviation|1904]] – [[1905 in aviation|1905]] – [[1906 in aviation|1906]] – [[1907 in aviation|1907]] – [[1908 in aviation|1908]] – [[1909 in aviation|1909]]
*'''1910s:''' [[1910 in aviation|1910]] – [[1911 in aviation|1911]] – [[1912 in aviation|1912]] – [[1913 in aviation|1913]] – [[1914 in aviation|1914]] – [[1915 in aviation|1915]] – [[1916 in aviation|1916]] – [[1917 in aviation|1917]] – [[1918 in aviation|1918]] – [[1919 in aviation|1919]]
*'''1920s:''' [[1920 in aviation|1920]] – [[1921 in aviation|1921]] – [[1922 in aviation|1922]] – [[1923 in aviation|1923]] – [[1924 in aviation|1924]] – [[1925 in aviation|1925]] – [[1926 in aviation|1926]] – [[1927 in aviation|1927]] – [[1928 in aviation|1928]] – [[1929 in aviation|1929]]
*'''1930s:''' [[1930 in aviation|1930]] – [[1931 in aviation|1931]] – [[1932 in aviation|1932]] – [[1933 in aviation|1933]] – [[1934 in aviation|1934]] – [[1935 in aviation|1935]] – [[1936 in aviation|1936]] – [[1937 in aviation|1937]] – [[1938 in aviation|1938]] – [[1939 in aviation|1939]]
*'''1940s:''' [[1940 in aviation|1940]] – [[1941 in aviation|1941]] – [[1942 in aviation|1942]] – [[1943 in aviation|1943]] – [[1944 in aviation|1944]] – [[1945 in aviation|1945]] – [[1946 in aviation|1946]] – [[1947 in aviation|1947]] – [[1948 in aviation|1948]] – [[1949 in aviation|1949]]
*'''1950s:''' [[1950 in aviation|1950]] – [[1951 in aviation|1951]] – [[1952 in aviation|1952]] – [[1953 in aviation|1953]] – [[1954 in aviation|1954]] – [[1955 in aviation|1955]] – [[1956 in aviation|1956]] – [[1957 in aviation|1957]] – [[1958 in aviation|1958]] – [[1959 in aviation|1959]]
*'''1960s:''' [[1960 in aviation|1960]] – [[1961 in aviation|1961]] – [[1962 in aviation|1962]] – [[1963 in aviation|1963]] – [[1964 in aviation|1964]] – [[1965 in aviation|1965]] – [[1966 in aviation|1966]] – [[1967 in aviation|1967]] – [[1968 in aviation|1968]] – [[1969 in aviation|1969]]
*'''1970s:''' [[1970 in aviation|1970]] – [[1971 in aviation|1971]] – [[1972 in aviation|1972]] – [[1973 in aviation|1973]] – [[1974 in aviation|1974]] – [[1975 in aviation|1975]] – [[1976 in aviation|1976]] – [[1977 in aviation|1977]] – [[1978 in aviation|1978]] – [[1979 in aviation|1979]]
*'''1980s:''' [[1980 in aviation|1980]] – [[1981 in aviation|1981]] – [[1982 in aviation|1982]] – [[1983 in aviation|1983]] – [[1984 in aviation|1984]] – [[1985 in aviation|1985]] – [[1986 in aviation|1986]] – [[1987 in aviation|1987]] – [[1988 in aviation|1988]] – [[1989 in aviation|1989]]
*'''1990s:''' [[1990 in aviation|1990]] – [[1991 in aviation|1991]] – [[1992 in aviation|1992]] – [[1993 in aviation|1993]] – [[1994 in aviation|1994]] – [[1995 in aviation|1995]] – [[1996 in aviation|1996]] – [[1997 in aviation|1997]] – [[1998 in aviation|1998]] – [[1999 in aviation|1999]]
*'''2000s:''' [[2000 in aviation|2000]] – [[2001 in aviation|2001]] – [[2002 in aviation|2002]] – [[2003 in aviation|2003]] – [[2004 in aviation|2004]] – [[2005 in aviation|2005]] – [[2006 in aviation|2006]] – [[2007 in aviation|2007]] – [[2008 in aviation|2008]] – [[2009 in aviation|2009]]
*'''2010s:''' [[2010 in aviation|2010]] – [[2011 in aviation|2011]] – [[2012 in aviation|2012]] – [[2013 in aviation|2013]] – [[2014 in aviation|2014]] – [[2015 in aviation|2015]] – [[2016 in aviation|2016]] – [[2017 in aviation|2017]] – [[2018 in aviation|2018]] – [[2019 in aviation|2019]]
*'''2020s:''' [[2020 in aviation|2020]] – [[2021 in aviation|2021]] – [[2022 in aviation|2022]] – [[2023 in aviation|2023]] – [[2024 in aviation|2024]] – [[2025 in aviation|2025]]

{{Clear}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Aviation}}
*[[Aircraft records]]
*[[Aviation accidents and incidents]]
*[[Aviation archaeology]]
*[[Early flying machines]]
*[[History of aviation]]
*[[List of firsts in aviation]]
*[[Timeline_of_Air_Cargo|Timeline of air cargo and airmail]]
*[[Timeline of spaceflight]]
*[[Timeline of transportation technology]]
{{Aviation timelines navbox}}
{{Aviation lists}}
{{Lists of years}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline Of Aviation}}
[[Category:Aviation timelines| ]]
[[Category:Graphical timelines|Aviation]]
[[Category:Lists of years by topic|Aviation]]