The crossword solution for the term EARLY NAME IN AVIATION is ORVILLE, which is a seven-letter word. Orville Wright was an American inventor, aviation pioneer, and one of the two brothers who are credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight in 1903. He and his brother Wilbur were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.