100 YEARS OF FLIGHT

FIRSTS AIR BALLONS & HELICOPTERSTwo 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 WORLDJacques 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 reusablespacecraft, 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.

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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.

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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.

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AIR BALLONS& HELICOPTERS

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1998

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SPEED(MPH)

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1938 1959 1963MPH MPH

ALTITUDE(MILES)1536

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SPEED & ALTITUDE

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7000

AIRPLANES & GLIDERS

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1981Space shuttle orbiter Columbia made an

airplane-like landing after completing its first space mission.

1932Amelia Earhart became first woman to fly Atlantic solo.

1927Charles A. Lindbergh made first solo nonstop transatlantic flight,

New York to Paris.

1903Wright brothers made first sustained, controlled flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

CROSSED BODIES OF WATERSPEED & ALTITUDELouis Bleriot, French airplane designer, crosses the English Channel in his 25-hp monoplane.

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1903 Wright brothers made first sustained,controlled flights in powered heavier-than-aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

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1918

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1929 Fritz Opel of Germany flew first rocket plane.

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1939

1953 American aviator Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to cross the sound barrier, piloting an F-86 Sabre Jet.

U.S. Pilot A. Scott Crossfield flies faster than twice the spee of sound in a Douglass Skyrocket. (March 2)

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 Atlanticmade 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 Bennettflew across the North Pole, May 9.

Soviet flyer Valery Chkalov flies across the North Polenonstop, 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.