1880 to 1898

Otto Lilienthal, Germany, begins to test cambered wing surfaces and measures their lifting capability.

Louis Moulliard, France, writes another milestone in aeronautics, Empire of the Air, in which he proposes fixed-wing gliders with cambered wings, like birds. He also proposes that aviators practice in gliders to gain the skill needed to pilot an aircraft in the air.  Up until that time, everyone in the infant field of aviation presumed you could navigate the sky with no more skill than a chauffer.   It split the field into two camps, each with a different approach to making a practical aircraft. The chauffeurs focus on engineering, making a powered flying machine. The pilots practice with gliders to gain skill before attempting powered flight.

John J. Montgomery of California builds a monoplane glider  and makes the first gliding flight in America. The glider crashes and is destroyed at the end of its maiden flight, and Montgomery barely escapes with his life.

Charles Parsons, England, inventor of the turbine motor, tests a small 1/4 horsepower steam turbine engine in a model airplane, propelling it for approximately 300 feet.  Although Parsons experiments had little effect on the development of aviation, some consider this to be the first jet aircraft.

Alexander F. Mozhaiski, Russia, builds a steam-powered monoplane and tests it at Krasnoye Selo, near St. Petersburg. It takes off on a jump ramp and flies for approximately 100 feet before crashing. This is the second power-assisted take-off in history.

Horatio F. Phillips, England, experiments with cambered wings in a wind tunnel and lays down the scientific foundation for modern airfoil design. He is the first to discover that when the wind blows across a curved surface, it creates a low pressure area on top of the surface and high pressure beneath it. This, in turn, generates lift.

Augustus Herring, New York, builds and tests a glider. It fails to fly.

Octave Chanute, Illinois, presents two papers on the progress of aeronautical experiments to date.

Lawrence Hargrave, Australia, builds the first rotary airplane engine. It runs on compressed air and Hargrave uses it to power his model aircraft.

March 1 — Orville Wright begins to publish The West Side News. Wilbur contributes humorous essays, news, and editorials. Paul Laurence Dunbar contributes poems and essays.

Clement Ader, France, builds a steam-powered, propeller-driven bat-wing airplane, the Eole. It rises about 8 inches in the air and flies 165 feet. It is the first manned aircraft to take off from level ground.

Otto Lilienthal begins to test winged gliders, made from cloth stretched over willow frameworks.

October — Octave Chanute begins to publish articles on aviation in the Railroad and Engineering Journal. They will later be collected in a single work.

One of Langley's unsuccessful aerodromes with biplane wings fore and aft.

Hiram Maxim, England, builds an enormous biplane and   tests it on a special track designed to capture the aircraft after it rises a few inches off the ground and prevent it from flying free. The the aircraft breaks loose, then is destroyed in the ensuing crash.

Wilbur and Orville Wright purchase "safety bicycles" and open a sales and repair shop. They give a bicycle to their friend, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

While Maxim's airplane may not have been successful, his engines were technological marvels. Each engine was light enough the Maxim could lift them.

Hiram Maxim predicts that even "under the most unfavorable circumstances, aerial navigation will be an accomplished fact inside of ten years."

Lawrence Hargrave, Australia, invents the box kite. Because it is remarkably stable and generates large amounts of lift, it creates a sensation in aeronautical circles. It's general form influences all early airplane designers.

Otto Lilienthal is regularly making glides of over 1000 feet. He begins to outfit his gliders with a "rebound bow" at the front to absorb the shock of a rough landing. It saves his life on at least one occasion.

July 31 — Hiram Maxim makes a short hop in his huge biplane, but the machine is wrecked.

To facilitate his gliding experiments, Lilenthal built a hill to launch from. He named this "Flight Mountain."

Percy Pilcher, Scotland, builds a glider, the Bat. Visits Otto Lilienthal and asks for advice. Makes suggested improvement and flies the Bat. Builds  two more gliders, the Beetle and the Gull, making improvements on each one.

William Paul Butusov, Russian immigrant, builds a bird-like crafts for Chanute, the Albatross.

Pilcher's first three gliders, from the top: the Bat, the Beetle, and the Gull.

The Albatross required a special launching ramp to get it airborn.

Percy Pilcher builds a much-improved glider, the Hawk, and glides up to 750 feet. He plans a powered version

November 28 — Samuel Langley tests another steam powered Aerodrome No. 6. It flies for almost a mile.

The unmanned Langley Aerodromes No. 5 and 6 had a 14-foot wingspan. Up till that time, they were the largest powered airplanes ever flown.

The Chanute multi-wing Katydid was gentle and stable in the air, but it's performance was disappointing.

The Chanute-Herring biplane was a much better flyer -- better even than the Lilienthal model Chanute's band tested.

The most likely cause of Lilienthal's fatal crash was a stall -- a gust of wind angled the airplane up and Lielnthal could not bring the nose down before he lost flying speed.

September — August Herring tests a biplane glider with a tail of his own design at the Indiana dunes.

October 12 — Clement Ader, France tests an improved version of his plane, called the Avion III, but it fails to get off the ground.

Samuel Langley, Virginia, secures $50,000 funding from the War Department to build a man-carrying version of his Aerodrome by 1899.

October 11 — August Herring flies for about 50 feet in a biplane glider powered by a compressed air engine at St. Joseph, Michigan. Later, he flies 73 feet.