1709: Bartolomeu de Gusmao invented a hot air balloon as it ascends to the sky, astonishing the Portuguese court.

1784: Jean-Pierre Blanchard fitted a hand-powered propeller to a balloon, the first aircraft to have any form of propulsion. And a year later, he crossed the English Channel in a balloon fitted with wings and tail like a bird for propulsion and steering.

1903: The Wright Bros. Orville & Wilbur, first launched a successful flight and landing of the Wright Flyer AKA KittyHawk.

1915: The Eindecker series by Fokker, made their first successful dogfight during World War 1 with a synchronized machine gun.

1929: The Opel RAK.1 became the world's first public manned aircraft powered by a rocket engine. Leading the way for future aircraft powered by either a rocket or jet engines.

1939-45: During World War 2, aircraft has evolved from monoplanes and biplanes to a more aerodynamic, advanced design of the monoplanes with a fully enclosed canopy. Examples include the Supermarine Spitfire, The Mustang series, including the P-51, Avro Lancaster, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Nakajima B5N, Mitsubishi A6M "Zero," Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Grumman F6F Hellcat, Vought F4U Corsair and lastly the Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed the Schwalbe (Sparrow in German), or Sturmvogel (Storm Bird also in German), the world's first operational jet powered aircraft.

1946: Just one year after World War 2's ending, Bell built and launched the X-1, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier, thus becoming first to achieve both Supersonic and Transonic flight and the first to be part of the X-Plane series, officially coming to being in 1944 by NACA (Now NASA).

1952-5: Bell launched the X-2, first in a drop glide, then powered flight and the first to go beyond Mach 3

1959: North American launched the X-15, the first aircraft to achieve Hypersonic Flight, even into suborbital flight, achieving an astonishing Mach 6.7.

1968-9: Tupolev built and flown their Tu-144, the world's first supersonic aircraft for commercial transportation, followed by Aerospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation's Concorde, during The Cold War.

2000: The Lockheed Martin X-35 won over the X-32 for the Joint Striker Fighter Program. Years later, it is succeeded as the F-35 Lightning II, currently, the most advanced and easy-to-use aircraft on earth. Features include advanced radar systems, self-aware problem-solving and a helmet that allows pilots to a 360 view outside, even within the canopy.

2029: An international research team has been assembled to continue development of aircraft for both civilian and military applications. Testing, prototyping and comparing experimental aircraft based not on design, but on technicality.

Some aircrafts like the Crow, Raven and Stellar's Jay, utilize an integrated almost 360 view in their canopies, allowing the pilots to look around, without the need of a helmet. Whist other aircraft like the Assassin Fly, Dragonfly and Mosquito II lacks mechanical controls and instead uses both eye movement and voice commands.

Inspired by the two cancelled aircrafts, The Republic XF-103 and Avro 730, both featuring fully enclosed canopies, with periscopes, future aircraft would be fully enclosed but use cameras around the aircraft to give a full, 360 view for pilots outside the aircraft, with or without a helmet.

One prototype, however, is considered to be both amazing and terrifying in both it's concept and design. An aircraft that uses brainwave activities of the pilots. It's called The Spitefire II. It is so, because the pilot needs to be calm and focused the whole way through, not getting stressed or angry at all. If one pilot doesn't stay focused, then the plane would lose control. The design is also both tailless and has no rudders, which, while not really important for UAVs/UCAVs, are crucial in any manned aircraft. While some still pursue the idea of aircraft using a brain-computer-interface, the sane and rational discard this idea and focus mainly on both cameras built into the aircraft's hull to give a 360 view for pilots without helmets and both eye movement & voice control, with or without a helmet.

Aside from the Assassin Fly, Dragonfly and Mosquito II (which are built for military use) both the Stalk-eyed fly and Butterfly are prototypes for civilian use that rely on both eye movement and voice control. And aside from Raven, Crow and Stellar's Jay (which are for civilian purposes utilizing cameras to give pilots a 360 view), the Eagle, Vulture and Condor are for military purposes.

We can only hope that aircraft technology can evolve with or without mechanical controls, co-existing with aircraft that are fully enclosed with cameras around to pilots excellent viewing outside, ditching glass canopies we've been used to since before and during World War 2, and aircraft with eye moment & voice command requirements, and never with brain-computer-interfacing.