Pre-war Zeppelin
over German City
|
|
1878
Military aviation in Britain begins with first Royal Engineers Balloon unit
1898
Ferdinand Zeppelin constructs his first airship
1903
First powered Flight achieved by Wright Brothers
1907
First British powered Army airship becomes operational
1912
May. Royal Flying Corps founded
1914
First World War begins. First Zeppelin raids
October First aircraft shot down by a machine gun
1915
First Gotha heavy bombers see service on Western and Eastern fronts, first synchronised machine gun system designed by A Fokker comes into service
25th July. L.C Hawker wins the first VC awarded for Air combat
1917
May. First Sopwith Camel fighters come into service on western front
June. Manfred Von Richthofen made commander of the Flying Circus
1918
April. British Royal Air force founded after merging RFC and Royal Naval Ari Service (RNAS)
21st April Manfred von Richthofen killed in action
December. RAF is now world’s largest air force with 22,000 aircraft and nearly 300,000 personnel.
1935
Robert Watson-Watt writes paper “The Detection of aircraft by radio methods” Radar invented. First Messerschmitt Bf 109 prototype flight
6th November First prototype Hawker Hurricane Flight
7th December First DC-3 Transport flight
1936
5th March first prototype Spitfire fighter flies
1937
July Messerschmitt Bf 109 sets new world speed record 379.39 mph
1939
September Radar stations along England’s South Coast operational
1940
12th August Battle of Britain begins
30-31st August climax of Battle of Britain
1941
Royal Navy begins using ASV-3 radar system to hunt German U boats
7th December Japanese forces attack Pearl Harbour
1942
June, Battle of Midway
18th July Messerschmitt 262 prototype jet fighter makes its first flight top speed of 540mph
21st September B-29 Stratofortress bomber makes it first flight
1944
June. Germany begins use of the V-1 Rockets; Gloster meteor Jet fighter enters British service
8th September First V-2 Rocket lands in Britain
12th November Tirpiz battleship is sunk by 12,000lb Tallboy bomb
1945
13th February Bombing of Dresden begins
6th August USAF drop atomic bomb on Hiroshima
9th August USAF drop atomic bomb on Nagasaki
1950
Korean War begins. Sees the last use of propeller driven fighters and beginning of Jet fighter age. MiG-15 enters service
1954
1st April last operational flight of a Spitfire Fighter
1955
MiG-19 enters service
1956
Mig-21 enters service
4th July First U-2 Spy plane flight over Moscow
1960
1st May U-2 plane shot down over USSR, pilot Gary Powers captured
1961
MiG-23 enters service
1962
Operation Ranch hand begins as USAF begin dropping incendiaries and defoliants, including Agent Orange, on Vietnamese jungle
1964
August US aircraft bomb North Vietnam
1965
Operation Rolling Thunder begins as US B-52 bombers begin heavy bombing of North Vietnam. It was the last for 3 years and result in 1 million tons of bombs being dropped
1967
MiG-25 Foxbat enters service
5th June, Arab-Israeli 6 day war begins with a pre-emptive air strike by Israeli Air Force
1970
Mil Mi-24 Hind gunship enters service
1976
28th July Lockheed SR-71 sets new world speed record at 2,193mph
February, A-10 Warthog enters service
1982
Falklands War, includes longest bombing raid in history, 10,000 miles carried out by RAF Vulcan bomber
1984-1988
1991