 FAMOUS FLIGHTS IN HISTORY (1903-1918)
Dec. 17, 1903. Orville and Wilbur Wright make first successful flight, at Kitty Hawk, N.C.; 120 feet in 12 seconds.
Oct. 23, 1906. Alberto Santos-Dumont makes first officially observed flight in Europe, nearly 200 feet in 6 seconds, in France.
July 25, 1909. Louis Bleriot of France in Bleriot XI, which he designed, makes first crossing of English Channel by airplane, 25 miles in 37 minutes.
Aug. 22-29, 1909. Glenn H. Curtiss in Golden Flyer wins first James Gordon Bennett international airplane race and other events.
May 28, 1910. Glenn H. Curtiss flies Hudson Flyer in record flight, 135.4 miles, from Albany to New York City, in 2 hours, 32 minutes.
Nov. 14, 1910. Eugene Ely takes off from deck of U.S. cruiser Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Va., in first flight from deck of a ship.
Sept. 17-Dec. 10, 1911. Calbraith P. Rodgers in Wright EX Vin Fiz makes first transcontinental flight, 4,231 miles, from Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, N.Y., to Long Beach, Calif., in 84 days and 70 hops; flying time, 82 hours, 14 minutes.
Sept. 23, 1911. Earle L. Ovington in Bleriot monoplane flies first officially sanctioned airmail in U.S., from Hempstead to Mineola, Long Island, N.Y.
May 13, 1913. Igor Sikorsky, Russian engineer, flies Grand, first four-engine airplane.
Jan. 1, 1914. Anthony Jannus in Benoist flying boat begins world's first scheduled airline service with heavier-than-air craft, from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Fla.
May 15, 1918. U.S. Army pilots in Curtiss JN4-H Jennies begin first continuous scheduled public-service airmail in U.S. between New York City and Washington, D.C., via Philadelphia.
(1903-1918) |
(1919-1938) |
(1939-1977) |
(1979-1986)
Information critically reviewed by Robert van der Linden, former Assistant Curator, Department of Aeronautics, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. |
