Australian Aviation was founded by in 1977 by Jim Thorn as Australian Aviation & Defence Review.

It was founded as an annual, becoming a quarterly publication in 1979, bi-monthly in 1985 and monthly from May 1990.

[2][3] In April 2005, it was sold to employees Gerard Frawley, Andrew Mclaughlin and Lee Anne Simm.

[4][5][6] In 2018, the publication was acquired by Aviator Media.

[7] It was subsequently purchased by Momentum Media in 2020.