Engineers and inventors who built, flew or designed aircraft, balloons, airships, helicopters and gliders, from the first powered flights to wartime and commercial aircraft design. A person belongs here when the cited article describes work on aircraft or flight. It excludes people known mainly for rockets and spaceflight, who sit in the rocket and spaceflight group. The group is one of the groupings of engineers under this engineering field in the Technology Atlas, and each member keeps its own entry with its own cited sources and its own place in the field.
Browse By
Aviation Pioneers
Filter Results26 entries
Sources
Anton Flettner
Has Member: Anton Flettner, LeadQuote, Has Member: Anton Flettner, Lead
a German-American aviation engineer and inventor
Wright brothers (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Wilbur Wright, Introduction
The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871, January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867, May 30, 1912), were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane.
Has Member: Orville Wright, Lead paragraph
were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful airplane
View the SourceFrank Whittle (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Frank Whittle, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Frank Whittle, Introduction
At first he was turned down by the RAF but, determined to join the force, he overcame his physical limitations and was accepted and sent to No. 2 School of Technical Training to join No 1 Squadron of Cranwell Aircraft Apprentices.
Hans von Ohain (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Hans von Ohain, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Hans von Ohain, Introduction
Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (14 December 1911-13 March 1998) was a German-American physicist, engineer, and the designer of the first aircraft to use a turbojet engine.
Kelly Johnson (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Member: Kelly Johnson, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Kelly Johnson, Introduction
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson (February 27, 1910, December 21, 1990) was an American aeronautical and systems engineer.
Elsie MacGill (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Member: Elsie MacGill, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Elsie MacGill, Introduction
She was chief aeronautical engineer at Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F) in Fort William, Ontario during the Second World War.
Wikipedia: Charles Stark Draper
Has Member: Charles Stark Draper, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Charles Stark Draper, Introduction
Beginning in the 1940s, Draper developed inertial guidance systems for aircraft.
Igor Sikorsky (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Igor Sikorsky, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Igor Sikorsky, Introduction
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (25 May 1889-26 October 1972) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
Juan de la Cierva (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Juan de la Cierva, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Juan de la Cierva, Introduction
Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva ([ˈxwan de la ˈθjeɾβaj koðoɾˈni.u]; 21 September 1895-9 December 1936), was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and a self-taught aeronautical engineer.
Theodore von Kármán (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Theodore von Karman, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Theodore von Karman, Introduction
Theodore von Kármán (Hungarian: (szőllőskislaki) Kármán Tódor [(søːløːʃkiʃlɒki) ˈkaːrmaːn ˈtoːdor], May 11, 1881, May 6, 1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics.
Ferdinand von Zeppelin (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Ferdinand von Zeppelin, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Introduction
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (German: Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin; 8 July 1838-8 March 1917) was a German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships.
Alberto Santos-Dumont (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Alberto Santos-Dumont, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Alberto Santos-Dumont, Introduction
Alberto Santos-Dumont (self-stylised as Alberto Santos=Dumont; 20 July 1873-23 July 1932) was a Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft.
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, Introduction
Shivkar Bāpuji Talpade () was an Indian instructor with an interest in Sanskrit and aviation.
Alexander Mozhaysky (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Alexander Mozhaysky, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Alexander Mozhaysky, Introduction
Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaysky (also transliterated as Mozhayski, Mozhayskii and Mozhayskiy; Russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Можа́йский) (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1825-1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1890) was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy, an aviation pioneer, and a researcher and designer of heavier-than-air craft.
Lyman Gilmore (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Lyman Gilmore, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Lyman Gilmore, Introduction
Lyman Wiswell Gilmore Jr. (June 11, 1874, February 18, 1951) was an American aviation pioneer.
Willy Messerschmitt (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Willy Messerschmitt, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Willy Messerschmitt, Introduction
Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (German pronunciation: [ˈmɛsɐʃmɪt]; 26 June 1898-17 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer who designed a number of prominent aircraft for the Luftwaffe and civil aviation.
Ernst Heinkel (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Ernst Heinkel, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Ernst Heinkel, Introduction
Ernst Heinkel (24 January 1888-30 January 1958) was a German aircraft designer, manufacturer, Wehrwirtschaftsführer in Nazi Germany, and member of the Nazi Party.
André-Jacques Garnerin (Wikipedia)
Has Member: André-Jacques Garnerin, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: André-Jacques Garnerin, Introduction
André-Jacques Garnerin (French: [ɑ̃dʁeʒak ɡaʁn(ə)ʁɛ̃]; 31 January 1769-18 August 1823) was a French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute.
Francis Herbert Wenham (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Francis Herbert Wenham, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Francis Herbert Wenham, Introduction
Francis Herbert Wenham (1824, Kensington, 1908) was a British marine engineer, inventor, and pioneering aeronautical scientist.
Wikipedia: Matthew Piers Watt Boulton
Has Member: Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, Introduction
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton (22 September 1820-30 June 1894), also published under the pseudonym M. P. W. Bolton, was a British classicist, elected member of the UK's Metaphysical Society, an amateur scientist and an inventor, best known for his invention of the aileron, a primary aeronautical flight control device.
Auguste Piccard (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Auguste Piccard, IntroductionQuote, Has Member: Auguste Piccard, Introduction
Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884-24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere and became the first person to enter the stratosphere.
Louis-Sébastien Lenormand (Wikipedia)
Has Member: Louis-Sébastien Lenormand, Lead paragraphQuote, Has Member: Louis-Sébastien Lenormand, Lead paragraph
the first man in history to use a parachute
George Cayley (Grace's Guide)
Has Member: George Cayley, BiographyQuote, Has Member: George Cayley, Biography
He is mainly remembered for his flying machines
Henri Coanda (Grace's Guide)
Has Member: Henri Coandă, BiographyQuote, Has Member: Henri Coandă, Biography
In 1910, using the workshop of Gianni Caproni, he designed, built and piloted the first 'thermojet' powered aircraft, known as the Coandă-1910
Barnes Wallis (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Member: Barnes Wallis, Article bodyQuote, Has Member: Barnes Wallis, Article body
Wallis left J. Samuel White's in 1913 when an opportunity arose for him as an aircraft designer, at first working on airships and later aeroplanes.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.