Timeline of aviation

<timeline>ImageSize = width:500 height:1100PlotArea = left:50 right:0 bottom:10 top:10DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:1875 till:2010TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1880ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:5 start:1880

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 Color:yellow mark:(line,blue) align:left fontsize:M  shift:(15,-3) # shift text to right side of bar

 # there is no automatic collision detection, fontsize:XS  # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap shift:(25,-10) 

 at:1884 text: 1st fully controllable free flight at:1890 text: Ader Éole at:1900 text: 1st Zeppelin from:1901 till:1906 shift:100 text: 1st airplanes at:1903 text: Wright Flyer from:1914 till:1917 shift:250 text: World War I at:1919 text: 1st nonstop Atlantic crossing at:1919 shift:200 text: First airline is founded at:1927 text: 1st solo nonstop Atlantic crossing at:1937 text: Hindenburg disaster from:1939 till:1945 shift:250 text: World War II from:1940 till:1941 shift:240 text: The Blitz from:1940 till:1941 shift:130 text: Battle of Britain at:1940 text: Battle of Taranto at:1944 text: V-2 rocket at:1947 text: Sound barrier broken at:1952 text: 1st commercial jet airliner at:1957 shift:15,-6 text: Sputnik (1st artificial satellite) from:1957 till:1975 shift:150 text: Space Race at:1958 shift:15,0 text: Boeing 707 at:1961 text: 1st manned space mission at:1969 text: Apollo 11 (moon landing) at:1976 text: Concorde at:1979 text: 1st human-powered crossing of English Channel at:1986 text: 1st nonstop global circumnavigation at:2005 text: Largest commercial airliner at:1988 text: World's heaviest aircraft

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