Dreamers Who Made a Difference

1903
Orville and Wilbur Wright complete the first powered, controlled flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1907
Paul Cornu, a French inventor, makes the first helicopter flight, hovering 1 foot above the ground for 20 seconds.

1908
Madame Therese Peltier is the first woman to fly solo in an airplane.

1911
Harriet Quimby becomes the first American woman to receive a Fédération Aéronautic Internationale (FAI) pilot’s license.

1916
William Boeing incorporates Pacific Aero Products Company, later known as Boeing Airplane Company.

1918
The U.S. Post Office begins airmail service from the Polo Grounds in Washington, D.C.

1919
The first sustained international commercial passenger air service is started between Paris and Brussels.

1920
Donald Douglas and financier David R. Davis form Davis Douglas Company.

1921
Bessie Coleman becomes the first African- American woman to receive a Fédération Aéronautic Internationale (FAI) pilot’s license.

1924
Two Douglas World Cruisers from the U.S. Army Air Service complete the first aroundthe- world flight.

1926
Robert Goddard launches the world’s first liquid propellant rocket.

1927
Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo transatlantic nonstop flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, a modified Ryan M-2 monoplane.

1929
Lt. James H. Doolittle becomes the first pilot to fly completely guided by instruments and radio from takeoff to landing.

1930
Amy Johnson is the first woman to fly solo between England and Australia.

1933
Wiley Post makes the first solo around-the-world flight in Winnie Mae, his Lockheed Vega.

1934
North American Aviation, Inc., is reorganized under the leadership of Dutch Kindelberger.

1935
Douglas Aircraft Company introduces the DC-3, the first successful passenger airliner; Boeing introduces the B-17 Flying Fortress four-engine bomber.

1939
James McDonnell incorporates McDonnell Aircraft Corp.

1940
The Boeing Stratoliner, the first airliner with a pressurized cabin, makes its first flight.

1941
Igor I. Sikorsky sets a national helicopter record by hovering for 1 hour 5 minutes.

1942
Five aviation cadets earn their wings at Tuskegee Army Air Field and become the nation’s first black military pilots. Among these graduates is Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., later the first African-American brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force.

1943
Boeing begins production of the B-29 Superfortress bomber.

1947
Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in a Bell X-1 test aircraft launched from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29.

1953
Jacqueline Cochran is the first woman to pilot an aircraft supersonically in a North American F-86 Sabre Jet.

1954
Boeing introduces the 707, the first successful passenger jet.

1957
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first Earth-orbiting satellite.

1958
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is established under the leadership of retired Air Force General Elwood R. Quesada.

1961
Maj. Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union becomes the first human being to travel in space, completing one full orbit of Earth aboard Vostok 1.

1962
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth.

1963
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.

1967
North American X-15 jet-powered experimental aircraft sets speed record of more than 4,534 miles per hour.

1967
McDonnell and Douglas merge into McDonnell Douglas Corp.

1968
Astronauts aboard Apollo 8 become the first human beings to orbit the Moon.

1969
Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong is the first person to set foot on the Moon.

1971
The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1, the world’s first space station.

1973
United States launches Skylab, the first U.S. space station.

1977
North American Rockwell space shuttle completes its first landing.

1978
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet makes its first flight; the Double Eagle II completes the first successful hot-air balloon flight across the Atlantic.

1981
Space Shuttle Columbia makes the first shuttle test flight.

1983
Sally Ride becomes the first U.S. woman in space; Guion Bluford becomes the first African-American in space.

1986
Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan make the first nonstop flight around the world without refueling in their specially designed aircraft, Voyager.

1990
Space Shuttle Discovery deploys the Hubble Space Telescope.

1994
The 777, the first airplane to be designed entirely on a computer, makes its first flight.

1995
The Global Positioning System becomes fully operational.

1996
Boeing acquires the defense and space units of Rockwell International (the former North American Aviation).

1997
Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merge.

1999
Eileen Collins, on Space Shuttle Columbia, becomes the first woman commander on a U.S. space mission.

2002
Boeing announces plans to develop the 7E7 Dreamliner.

Orville and Wilbur Wright

The Wright brothers were self-taught engineers. They made their first successful airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. Orville piloted the Wright Flyer, which the brothers built in their bicycle shop. The first flight was 120 feet in length and lasted 12 seconds.

Boeing, Douglas, Kindelberger, and McDonnell

Bill Boeing, a lumberman, founded Boeing in 1916. Aerospace engineer Donald Douglas started The Douglas Company in 1920. James “Dutch” Kindelberger, an engineer and pilot, became the first president of North American Aviation in 1934. James McDonnell was an aeronautical engineer and pilot and founded McDonnell Aircraft Corp. in 1939. These four companies today make up The Boeing Company. They played a part in many of the greatest achievements in aviation.

Wang Zhu

Wang Zhu was the first chief engineer hired by Boeing in 1916. Wang was born in Beijing. He studied aeronautical engineering at Armstrong Technical College in London and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. He designed the Boeing Model C seaplane, the company’s first successful airplane.

Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh made the first nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris in May 1927. His flight, in a modified Ryan M-2 monoplane called “Spirit of St. Louis,” took 33 hours and 29 minutes. Lindbergh was the first aviator to capture the public’s attention.

Amelia Earhart

In May 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She flew a Lockheed Vega from Newfoundland to Ireland she went on to set several flight records. Earhart and her navigator disappeared in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world.

Elwood “Pete” Quesada

In 1929 Pete Quesada was part of the three-man crew that first used airto- air refueling. During World War II, Lt. Gen. Quesada pioneered the tactical use of air power and was the first commander of the Tactical Air Command. In 1958 he became the first administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Chuck Yeager

In 1947 Capt. Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier. He flew a Bell X-1 test aircraft launched from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29. The former fighter pilot also set a world speed record of 1,650 miles per hour (Mach 2.44, or nearly two and a half times the speed of sound) in 1953.

Neil Armstrong

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong became the first person to land a craft on the surface of the Moon. Armstrong was an aerospace engineer and pilot. He flew 78 combat missions in Korea with the U.S. Navy and was a test pilot.

Sally Ride

On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to orbit Earth when she flew aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. Dr. Ride, who was an astrophysicist, flew on another shuttle mission in 1984. She later became a professor of physics.

Guion Bluford

Guion Bluford became the first African-American in space on August 30, 1983, aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. This shuttle mission was the first to take off and land at night. Dr. Bluford was an aerospace engineer and fighter pilot. He flew 144 combat missions as a pilot in Vietnam.