Timeline of military aviation

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  • 2nd or 3rd century AD - A hot air balloon, the Kongming lantern, is invented in China and used for military communication.
  • 1794 - French Aerostatic Corps use a tethered balloon at the Battle of Fleurus as a vantage point.
  • 1861 - Union Army Balloon Corps is established during the American Civil War.
  • 1878 - The British Army Balloon Equipment Store is established at Woolwich by the Royal Engineers.
  • 1885 - Balloons are deployed by the British Army to Bechuanaland and Suakin.
  • 1888 - The British Army School of Ballooning is established.
  • 1907 - British Colonel John Capper flies the military airship Nulli Secundus from Farnborough to St Paul's Cathedral in London and back again.
  • 1909 - Military Aviation is born with the US Army's purchase of Signal Corps Aeroplane No. 1.
  • 1910 - The Aviation Militaire of the French Army is formed.
  • 1911 - The Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers is formed, the first British heavier-than-air unit.
  • 1912 - The Royal Flying Corps is formed.
  • 1914 - The Royal Naval Air Service is formed by splitting airship squadrons away from the Royal Flying Corps.
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