World Firsts

First airplane (first heavier than air, fixed wing, propulsion driven vehicle)

Wright Flyer

First operational jet fighter in the world

Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe

First western operational jet fighter

Gloster Meteor

First Soviet/Russian operational jet fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 and Yakovlev Yak-15

First operational supersonic fighter in the world

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19

First operational American supersonic fighter

North American F-100 Super Sabre

First operational Mach 3 capable Soviet jet

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

First operational Mach 3 capable American jet

Lockheed SR-71

First Mach 3 capable jet bomber

North American XB-70 Valkarie

First operational stealth aircraft

Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk

First operational jet airliner

Tupolev Tu-104 (based on the Tu-16 Badger Soviet Bomber)

First western jet airliner

de Havilland Comet

First American jet airliner

Boeing B707

First fly-by-wire airliner

Airbus A320 family

First Russian fly-by-wire airliner

Ilyushin Il-96




First American fly-by-wire airlines

Boeing B777

First supersonic jet airliner

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde

First Russian supersonic airliner

Tupolev Tu-144

First jumbo jet

Boeing B747