Timeline of military aviation

1794 – French Aerostatic Corps use a tethered balloon at the Battle of Fleurus as a vantage point.
1849 – In 1849, Austrian forces besieging Venice launched some 200 incendiary balloons, each carrying a 24- to 30-pound bomb that was to be dropped from the balloon with a time fuse over the besieged city. The balloons were launched from land and from the Austrian navy ship SMS Vulcano that acted as a balloon carrier.^[1]^[2]
1861 – The Union Army Balloon Corps is established during the American Civil War.
1878 – The British Army Balloon Equipment Store is established at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich by the Royal Engineers.
1885 – Balloons are deployed by the British Army to Bechuanaland and Suakin.
1888 – The British Army School of Ballooning is established.
1907 – The first military air organization, the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, is formed 1 August
1907 – British Colonel John Capper flies the military airship Nulli Secundus from Farnborough to Crystal Palace in London.^[3]
1909 – Heavier-than-air military aviation is born with the US Army's purchase of Signal Corps Aeroplane No. 1.
1910 – The first experimental take-off of a heavier-than-air craft from the deck of a US Navy vessel, the cruiser USS Birmingham
1910 – First bombing attack against a surface ship: Didier Masson and Captain Joaquín Bauche Alcalde, flying for Mexican Revolutionist Venustiano Carranza, dropped dynamite bombs on Federalist gunboats at Guaymas, Mexico, on 10 May 1913.
1910 – The Aviation Militaire of the French Army is formed 22 October.
1911 – The Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers is formed, the first British heavier-than-air unit.
1911 – Heavier-than-air aircraft are used in war for the first time during the Italo-Turkish War.^[4]
1912 - The Royal Flying Corps is formed. A few months later the Dominion of Australia also formed the Australian Flying Corps.
1914 - The Royal Naval Air Service is formed by splitting airship squadrons away from the Royal Flying Corps.
1914 – In August, Russian Staff-Captain Pyotr Nesterov becomes the first pilot to ram his plane into an enemy spotter aircraft.
1914 – 6 September, the first aircraft raid was launched by the Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya on Qingdao.
1914 – In October, a plane^[who?] is shot down by another aircraft^[who?] with a handgun over Rheims, France.
1914 – The first conventional air-to-air kill occurs on 5 October when a gunner on a French Voisin machine-guns a German Aviatik reconnaissance aircraft in World War I.^[5]
1918 - The Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air force is formed.
1918 - HMS Argus (I49) became "the world's first carrier capable of launching and landing naval aircraft".^[6]
1940 - The Battle of Britain, the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, was fought.
1958 - The first ever air-to-air kill with a missile, when a Chinese Nationalist North American F-86 Sabre kills a Chinese PLAAF Mikoyan-Guryevich MiG-15 during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis^[7]
1980 - The only confirmed air-to-air helicopter battles occur during the Iran–Iraq War.

References

^ Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, Justin D. Murphy, page 9-10
^ Mikesh, Robert C. "Japan's World War II balloon bomb attacks on North America." (1973).
^ Colonel Templer and the birth of aviation at Farnborough, RAeS, May 2007
^ Gerard J. De Groot (2005). The bomb: a life. Harvard University Press. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-0-674-01724-5. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
^ Christopher Chant (2002). A century of triumph: the history of aviation. Simon and Schuster. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7432-3479-5.
^ Geoffrey Till, "Adopting the Aircraft Carrier: The British, Japanese, and American Case Studies" in Murray, Williamson; Millet, Allan R, eds. (1996). Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 194. ISBN 0-521-63760-0.
^ David R. Mets (December 2008). Airpower and Technology: Smart and Unmanned Weapons. ABC-CLIO. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-275-99314-6. Retrieved 6 April 2011.

[Murphy-1] Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact, Justin D. Murphy, page 9-10

[Mikesh-2] Mikesh, Robert C. "Japan's World War II balloon bomb attacks on North America." (1973).

[3] Colonel Templer and the birth of aviation at Farnborough, RAeS, May 2007

[Groot2005-4] Gerard J. De Groot (2005). The bomb: a life. Harvard University Press. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-0-674-01724-5. Retrieved 25 April 2011.

[Chant2002-5] Christopher Chant (2002). A century of triumph: the history of aviation. Simon and Schuster. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7432-3479-5.

[6] Geoffrey Till, "Adopting the Aircraft Carrier: The British, Japanese, and American Case Studies" in Murray, Williamson; Millet, Allan R, eds. (1996). Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 194. ISBN 0-521-63760-0.

[Mets2008-7] David R. Mets (December 2008). Airpower and Technology: Smart and Unmanned Weapons. ABC-CLIO. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-275-99314-6. Retrieved 6 April 2011.

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v t e Timelines in aviation
Topics	Jet power Military aviation British Royal Air Force Hellenic Air Force Rocket and missile technology Women
Centuries	Pre-18th century 18th century 19th century 20th century
20th century years	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century years	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
See also: Timeline of spaceflight, Category:Spaceflight timelines

See also

References