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A schematic of the V-2 rocket, the first ballistic missile, the first man-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight, and the progenitor of all modern rockets. Developed by Wernher von Braun on behalf of Nazi Germany, and based on work by Robert H. Goddard, over 3,000 V-2s were launched during World War II against Allied targets, resulting in the death of an estimated 7,250 military personnel and civilians. An estimated 20,000 inmates at Mittelbau-Dora died constructing V-2s, making the V-2 perhaps the only weapon system to have more deaths caused by its production than its deployment.

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The following are images from various aviation-related articles on Wikipedia.

Concorde, G-BOAB, in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and final flight in 2000 (from History of aviation)
Woodcut print of a kite from John Bate's 1635 book The Mysteryes of Nature and Art (from History of aviation)
The Wright Flyer: the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft (from History of aviation)
French reconnaissance balloon L'Intrépide of 1796, the oldest existing flying device, in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna (from History of aviation)
First female combat pilot, Sabiha Gökçen, reviews her Breguet 19 (from History of aviation)
"Governable parachute" design of 1852 (from History of aviation)
Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)
1843 artist's impression of John Stringfellow's plane Ariel flying over the Nile (from History of aviation)
Nieuport IV, operated by most of the world's air forces before WW1 for reconnaissance and bombing, including during the Italian-Turkish war (from History of aviation)
Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
One of Leonardo's sketches (from History of aviation)
German Taube monoplane, illustration from 1917 (from History of aviation)
Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (from History of aviation)
First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac River, 7 October 1903 (from History of aviation)
The Aeroplane of Victor Tatin, 1879. (from History of aviation)
D.H. Comet, the world's first jet airliner. As in this picture, it also saw RAF service (from History of aviation)
Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
The 14-bis, or Oiseau de proie (from History of aviation)
Me 262, world first operational jet fighter (from History of aviation)
The economy class cabin of an Airbus A350 (from Wide-body aircraft)
Apollo 11 lifts off on its mission to land a man on the Moon (from History of aviation)
Qantas De Havilland biplane, c. 1930 (from History of aviation)
1928 issue of Popular Aviation (now Flying magazine), which became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100,000. (from History of aviation)
The Biot-Massia glider, restored and on display in the Musee de l'Air (from History of aviation)
Clément Ader Avion III (1897 photograph) (from History of aviation)
"Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, showing Hounslow, near London, as the hub (from History of aviation)
Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
La France flying in 1885 (from History of aviation)
Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868 (from History of aviation)
Santos-Dumont's "Number 6" rounding the Eiffel Tower in the process of winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize, October 1901 (from History of aviation)

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The Reverend John Flynn (25 November 1880 – 5 May 1951) was an Australian Presbyterian minister and aviator who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world's first air ambulance.

Throughout his ministerial training, Flynn had worked in various then-remote areas through Victoria and South Australia. As well as tending to matters spiritual, Flynn quickly established the need for medical care for residents of the vast Australian outback, and established a number of bush hospitals. By 1917, Flynn was already considering the possibility of new technology, such as radio and the aeroplane, to assist in providing a more useful acute medical service, and then received a letter from an Australian pilot serving in World War I, Clifford Peel, who had heard of Flynn's speculations and outlined the capabilities and costs of then-available planes. Flynn turned his considerable fund-raising talents to the task of establishing a flying medical service.

The first flight of the Aerial Medical Service was in 1928 from Cloncurry. In 1934 the Australian Aerial Medical Service was formed, and gradually established a network of bases nationwide. Flynn remained the public face of the organisation (through name changes to its present form) and helped raise the funds that kept the service operating.

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AN-225 with the Soviet Space Shuttle, Buran.

The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift transport aircraft built by Antonov, and was the world's largest powered aircraft before its destruction in February 2022. Mriya (Мрія) means "dream" (inspiration) in Ukrainian.

With a maximum gross weight of 640,000 kg (1,400,000 lb), the An-225 was the world's heaviest aircraft. Although its wingspan is less than that of the Hughes H-4 "Spruce Goose", the latter never went beyond a single short low-altitude test flight, making the An-225 the largest aircraft in the world to take off more than once. Both the An-124 and An-225 are larger than the C-5 Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the U.S. inventory. The An-225 was also larger than the Airbus A380.

Span: 88.40 m (291 ft 2 in)
Length: 75.30 m n(246 ft 11 in)
Height: 18.1 m (59.3 ft)
Engines: 6× ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans, 229 kN (51,600 lbf) each
Cruising Speed: 750 km/h (400 knots, 465 mph)
First Flight: December 21, 1988

Today in Aviation

October 5

1991 – An Indonesian military transport crashes after takeoff from Jakarta killing 137.

1991 – Vladimir A. Yakimov attempts a vertical landing on the stern flight deck of the Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (ex-Baku) in Yakovlev Yak-141 (Yak-41M), 48-3, callsign "77", but during heavy touchdown the undercarriage ruptures a fuel tank, causing a serious fire. About 25 seconds later, Yakimov ejected successfully, and was rescued from the sea. The aircraft was later repaired and placed on display at the Yakovlev OKB Museum.

1984 – Launch: Space Shuttle Challenger STS-41-G at 11:03:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Earth Radiation Budget Satellite deployment; First flight of two women in space Ride and Sullivan; First spacewalk by US woman, Kathryn Sullivan; First Canadian in space Marc Garneau.

1980 – Lockheed U-2R, 68-10340, Article 062, last of twelve R-model airframes in initial order, allocated N820X, first flown 26 November 1968, delivered to 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing 19 December 1968. To 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing 1976. Crashes in Korea this date, pilot Capt. Cleve Wallace surviving.

1967 – First flight of the Shin Meiwa US-1A

1967 – NASA astronaut Clifton Williams, U.S. Marine Corps, suffers control failure in Northrop T-38A-65-NO Talon, 66-8354, N922NA, he was flying while en route from Cape Canaveral, Florida to Mobile, Alabama to see his father who was dying of cancer. Jet went into an uncontrollable aileron roll, Williams ejected but he was traveling too fast and was at too low an altitude, comes down near Tallahassee, Florida. Williams served on the backup crew for Gemini X and had been assigned to the back-up crew for what would be the Apollo 9 mission. This crew placement would have most likely led to an assignment as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 12. The Apollo 12 mission patch has four stars on it – one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission, and one for Williams.

1966 – Ryan XV-5A Vertifan, 62-4506, crashes at Edwards AFB, California, killing Air Force test pilot Maj. David Tittle. During hover, the aircraft began uncontrolled roll to left, pilot ejected at 50 feet (15.24 m), but chute failed to deploy.

1964 – RCAF provided air transportation and honour guards during the visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Canada.

1951 – First flight of the Convair CV-340

1945 – National Airlines Flight 16, a Lockheed L-18 Lodestar, overshoots the runway at Lakeland, Florida, killing 2 of 15 on board.

1944 – Oberstleutnant Helmut Lent, night fighter ace (110 victories), and the first of only two night fighters to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten), crashes in a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen, 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Paderborn. On the landing approach one of the engines cuts out and the plane collides with power lines. All four members of the crew are mortally injured. Three men die shortly after the crash and Lent succumbs to his injuries two days later on 7 October 1944. Lent is posthumously promoted to Oberst.

1944 – The Germans scuttle the incomplete Italian aircraft carrier Sparviero to block access to the harbor at Genoa.

1944 – Five Pilots from the No.401 Squadron, RCAF, destroyed a German Me-262, becoming the first jet-propelled aircraft shot down by the Royal Air Force or the Royal Canadian Air Force.

1943 – (5-6) The Fast Carrier Task Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, strikes Wake Island with the largest force of American fast carriers – Three fleet carriers and three light carriers – Ever organized at the time. Their aircraft make six strikes totalling 738 sorties, destroying 22 of the 34 Japanese aircraft on the island in exchange for the loss of 12 American aircraft lost in combat and 14 to other causes. For the first time, a U.S. Navy submarine is assigned to support the raid by performing “lifeguard” duties for aviators forced down at sea during the strike; USS Skate (SS-305) rescues four fliers. Submarine “lifeguarding” will become a standard feature of American carrier raids beyond the range of Allied search-and-rescue aircraft.

1938 – Blohm & Voss BV 141 V3 asymmetric reconnaissance design, WNr 141-00-0359, D-OLGA, plagued with hydraulic problems, makes forced landing in ploughed field with mainwheel undercarriage legs only partly extended, suffers extensive damage to starboard wing.

1935 – Italian aircraft conduct a destructive and bloody bombing of Adowa, Ethiopia, after Ethiopian forces had withdrawn from it. The village had been the site of a disastrous defeat of Italian troops by Ethiopian forces in the Battle of Adowa in 1896.

1930 – British rigid airship R101, G-FAAW, completed in 1929 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. After initial flights and two enlargements to the lifting volume, it crashed this date, in Beauvais, France, during its maiden overseas voyage, killing 48. Amongst airship accidents of the 1930s, the loss of life surpassed the LZ 129 Hindenburg, disaster of 1937, and was second only to that of the USS Akron ZRS-4, crash of 1933. The demise of R101 effectively ended British employment of rigid airships; the girders of the comparatively successful R100 were destroyed by steamroller, and sold for scrap.

1929 – The Boeing Model 40 B-4 makes its first flight. It is the first plane in the Model 40 series to use the two-way radio, designed by Thorpe Hiscock, William Boeing’s brother-in-law.

1922 – Lillian Gatlin became the first woman passenger to make a transcontinental flight in a Post Office DH-4, from San Francisco, California to Mineola, New York. The flight made stops in Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Rock Springs, Wyoming; Cheyenne, Wyoming; North Platte, Nebraska; Omaha, Nebraska; Iowa City, Iowa; Chicago, Illinois; and Cleveland, Ohio, and took a total flying time of 27 hours, 11 min to cover 2,680 miles.

1918 – French famous pilot Lt Roland Garros is shot down and killed in combat.

1914 – First aerial combat kill in history recorded when a Voisin pusher of Escadrille VB24, French Air Service, flown by Sgt. Joseph Frantz and Cpl. Quénault, downed a German two-seater Aviatik B.II, flown by Feldwebel Willhelm Schlichting with Oberleutnant Fritz von Zangen as observer, over Jonchery, Reims, using what is believed to have been a [[Hotchkiss machine gun].

1908 – The Zeppelin-airship LZ IV destroyed by fire at Echterdingen.

1907 – British Army Dirigible No 1, Nulli Secundus, the UK‘s first powered airship, flies from the School of Ballooning, Farnborough, Hampshire, to London in 3 hours 25 min.

1905 – Wilbur Wright makes a flight of 24.2 miles (38.9 km) in Flyer III (right). The flight lasts for almost 39:23 min at Huffman Prairie in Ohio.

1751 – Italian Andrea Grimaldi, exhibits a flying carriage – The machine, which remains untested, has a complex structure and a wingspan of 22 feet.