1925: A car dealer covers himself in stamps worth $718 in a bid to be sent airmail from San Francisco to New York; the U.S. Post Office refuses to accept him.
1940: U.S. Army Air Corps announces plans for the construction of the world’s most powerful wind tunnel at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.
1949: A survey conducted by a firm of New York aviation consultants shows that for the first time in history air travel volume is greater than first class rail travel. Revenue passengers-miles for domestic airlines totals 603 million compared to 582 million for Pullman trains.
1950: BEA commences the first regular passenger service to be flown by helicopter, between Liverpool and Cardiff.
1951: BEA commences helicopter services between London and Birmingham.
1953: The USAF Thunderbirds are activated as the 3600th Air Demonstration Team at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
1960: Trans-Canada Air Lines begins transatlantic jet service with Douglas DC-8 aircraft on the route Montreal (Canada)--London (UK).
1961: United Air Lines absorbs Capital Airlines to become the largest airline in the West, with a fleet of 267 aircraft.
1981: First flight of the Shorts 360.
1983: Singapore Airlines announces it has bought six Boeing 747s and four Boeing 757s, making it the first Asian airline to buy the 757.
1992: The United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command is disestablished.
1999: American Airlines Flight 1420, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, overran the runway while landing during a storm at Little Rock, Arkansas; the aircraft's captain and 10 of the passengers were killed.
2002: First flight of the Aero L159B.
2004: America West Airlines starts service between Phoenix and Anchorage.
2009: Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330-203 (registration F-GZCP) from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people onboard lost contact with air traffic control while over the Atlantic Ocean, 300 km (186 miles) north-east of the Brazilian city of Natal. In the days following the crash only portions of the plane and 51 bodies were found. All passengers and crew members were killed in the crash, the cause of which is still under investigation, but a possible pitot tube failure has been speculated.
2009: Flydubai commences operations.
2012: Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental enters service with Lufthansa.
