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100 YEARS OF FLIGHT FIRSTS AIR BALLONS & HELICOPTERS Two Dougals World Cruisers (out of an original four) complete around-the-world flight, Seattle to Seattle. It was also first transpacific flight; flying time 175 days. The German airship Graf Zeppelin flies around the world, with only three stops in route. American Wiley Post completes the first round- the-world solo flight, in a Lockheed Vega. AROUND THE WORLD Jacques Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier of France launched first balloon in June. First flight of the first successful helicopter, the U.S. Sikorsky V300. Space shuttle orbiter Columbia, the first reusable spacecraft, made an airplane-like landing after completing its first space mission. Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont makes the first officially recorded European flight, in Paris. First airmail route established in the United States. Charles A. Lindbergh made first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, New York to Paris in the Ryan monoplane Spirit of St. Louis; flying time 33 hours,30 minutes. Lieutenant James H. Doolittle, U.S. Army, made first flight using insturments only. First flight of the first successful helicopter, the U.S. Sikorsky V300. N E W S CROSSED BODIES OF WATER AIRPLANES & GLIDERS Concorde began first passenger-carrying supersonic service. First winged glider made by Sir George Cayley English aviation pioneer. Henri Giffard flew steam-driven airship over Paris John Stringfellow (English) contructed first successful power-driven model aiplane. Otto Lilienthal flies his manned glider in the first of a series of over 2,000 experimental glider flights. Galbraith P. Rogers flew across the United States, New York to California; flying time 49 days. W E S AROUND THE WORLD On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew a man powered aircraft for the first time. It wasn’t the first time man flew, and it certainly was not the last. Take off on a discovery of man’s attempts to fly. 1780 90 82 88 84 86 AIR BALLONS & HELICOPTERS 1900 20 80 40 60 1785 1783 1939 1965 1967 1998 7000 8000 1000 3000 2000 4000 5000 6000 SPEED (MPH) 40 40 20 20 60 60 80 80 1938 1959 1963 MPH MPH ALTITUDE (MILES) 1536 4534 1953 SPEED & ALTITUDE 1959 ,1967 7000 AIRPLANES & GLIDERS 50 60 70 80 90 80 10 1900 30 50 70 40 30 20 1800 90 20 60 10 1911 1923 1926 1937 1969 40 1852 1848 1891 1804 1988 1976 FIRSTS 1850 1860 1980 1940 1950 1960 1970 1840 1830 1820 1810 1800 1990 2000 1903 1906 1918 1927 1929 1932 1939 1953 1970 1981 1981 Space shuttle orbiter Columbia made an airplane-like landing after completing its first space mission. 1932 Amelia Earhart became first woman to fly Atlantic solo. 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh made first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, New York to Paris. 1903 Wright brothers made first sustained, controlled flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. CROSSED BODIES OF WATER SPEED & ALTITUDE Louis Bleriot, French airplane designer, crosses the English Channel in his 25-hp monoplane. 1900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1909 1912 1919 1922 1979 1981 ENGLISH CHANNEL PACIFIC ATLANTIC SOUTH ATLANTIC 1928 N 1920 30 80 50 70 90 60 40 2000 1997 1986 1949 1933 1929 1924 1903 Wright brothers made first sustained,controlled flights in powered heavier-than-aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 1906 1918 1927 1929 1929 Fritz Opel of Germany flew first rocket plane. 1932 1939 1953 American aviator Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to cross the sound barrier, piloting an F-86 Sabre Jet. Boeing 747’s made first commercial flights. 1970 1981 Italian Mario Pezzi sets a world altitude record of 17,083 m (56,046 ft) in a Caproni 161. 1938 1953 North American Aviation’s X-15A flies faster (7,297km/h; 4,534 mph) and higher (107,960 m; 354,200 ft) than any other aircraft before or since. 1959 The X–15 flew to an altitude of 67 mi. 1963 The X-15A-2 achieved the speed of Mac 6.72 (4,534 mph) 1967 1924 1929 1933 A USAF B–50, Lucky Lady II, completed first nonstop around-the-world flight. 1949 The U.S. ultralight Voyager, flown by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completes a 9-day, nonstop, around-the- world flight, California to California without refueling. 1986 Linda Finch successfully flew the around-the-world route attempted by Amelia Earhart in 1937. 1997 1783 Jean Pierre Blanchard, French balloonist, made first successful voyage across the English Channel. 1785 1939 Commander J.R. Williford, U.S. Navy, made longest direct helicopter flight — 2,105 miles. 1965 First nonstop crossing of North Atlantic made by two USAF helicopters. 1967 Steve Fossett flew a record distance (15,200 miles) in his balloon, Solo Spirit. 1998 1909 Harriet Quimby flew across English Channel, first woman to perform this feat. 1912 Flying across of Atlantic by air, accomplished by U.S. Navy seaplane; flying time, 54 hours. 1919 Portuguese airmen Arturo de Cabral-Sacadura and Gago Coutinho fly across the South Atlantic (Lisbon-Brazil) via the Canary and Cape Verdeislands, losing two airplanes in route. 1922 Australian Charles Kingford-Smith and crew fly a Fokker F-VII across the Pacific, San Francisco Honolulu-Brisbane, Australia. 1928 Bryam Allen pedals the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel breaking the distance record for human-powered flight. 1979 Stephen Ptacek flew Solar Challenger, powered by electricity from solar cells, across the English Channel. 1981 1804 1848 1852 1891 1911 U. S. Army Air Service pilots O.G Kelly and J. A. Macready fly a Fokker T-2 nonstop from New York to California in 26 hours, 50 minutes. Lieutenant Commander Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett flew across the North Pole, May 9. Soviet flyer Valery Chkalov flies across the North Pole nonstop, Moscow-Pearson, Wash., in a Tupolev ANT-25. First flights of Supersonic Transports (SST’s) – Soviet TU 144 and Anglo-French Concorde. 1923 1926 1937 1969 1976 Record for distance (74 miles) and time aloft (3 hours, 54 minutes) set in a human-powered plane, the Daedalus. 1988 U.S. Pilot A. Scott Crossfield flies faster than twice the speed of sound in a Douglass Skyrocket. (March 2) Amelia Earhart became first woman to fly Atlantic solo.
