Tag Archives: first-pilot

1877 Nicolaus Otto , Francis Crossley, and William Crossley are granted a patent for the first internal-combustion engine to burn gasoline in a piston chamber. (US No. 194,047) View the patent online . 1911 Captain Carlo Piazza of the Italian military flies a Blériot XI monoplane on an hour-long reconnaissance mission of Turkish troop positions, becoming the first pilot to use an airplane for military purposes. Just more nine days later, Italian forces will carry out history’s first