1909: If brief hops by Alliott Verdon Roe on June 8, 1908 are discounted, the first flight made by an Englishman in an English airplane takes place when Roe flies his Roe I triplane for the first time at Lea Marsches in Essex. He flies only 100 ft., but on July 23 he extends the distance to some 900 ft. off the ground.

1919: The British military airship R.34, operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), accomplishes the first two-way transatlantic air crossing. The outward journey is also the first air crossing of the Atlantic from east to west.

1943: First flight of the Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender.

1957: President Eisenhower becomes the first U.S. president to fly in a helicopter when he is flown from the White House to an unnamed military post in a USAF Bell UH-13J.