The following timeline of British military aviation covers the military aviation activities of the British Armed Forces from its origins in the 19th century to the present day:
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment, and sport. Additionally, some helicopters, such as the MBB Bo 105, are capable of limited aerobatic manoeuvres. An example of a fully aerobatic helicopter, capable of performing loops and rolls, is the Westland Lynx.
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force.
Samuel Franklin Cowdery was a Wild West showman and early pioneer of manned flight.
A flight is a small military unit within the larger structure of an air force, naval air service, or army air corps; and is usually subordinate to a larger squadron. A military aircraft flight is typically composed of four aircraft, though two to six aircraft may also form an aircraft flight; along with their aircrews and ground staff. In some very specific examples, typically involving historic aircraft, a flight may contain as many as twelve aircraft, as is the case with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) of the British Royal Air Force (RAF). In most usages, two or more flights make up a squadron. Foreign languages equivalents include escadrille (French), escuadrilla (Spanish), esquadrilha (Portuguese), zveno (Russian), and Schwarm (German).
The Army Air Corps (AAC) is the aviation arm of the British Army, first formed in 1942 during the Second World War by grouping the various airborne units of the British Army. Today, there are eight regiments of the AAC, as well as two independent flights and two independent squadrons deployed in support of British Army operations around the world. Regiments and flights are located in the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Canada. Some AAC squadrons provide the air assault elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade, through Joint Helicopter Command.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1920:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1922:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1912:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1915:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1916:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1918:
The Air Department of the British Admiralty was established prior to World War I by Winston Churchill to administer the Royal Naval Air Service.
Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases.
This is a list of aviation-related events during the 19th century :
Major-General Sir John Edward Capper was a senior officer of the British Army during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who served on the North-West Frontier of British India, in South Africa and during the First World War, where he was instrumental in the development of the tank. He was the older brother of Major-General Thompson Capper, who was killed in action at the Battle of Loos in late 1915.
The School of Ballooning was a training and test centre for British Army experiments with balloons and airships. It was established at Chatham in Kent in 1888. The School moved to Stanhope Lines, Aldershot in 1890 when a balloon section and depot were formed as permanent units of the Royal Engineers establishment. The School was sometimes known as the Balloon Factory.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles James Burke was an officer in the Royal Irish Regiment and the Royal Flying Corps and a military aviation pioneer. He was both the first commander of No. 2 Squadron and later the Second Wing.