Aviation History

Origins to 1918

1783

June 4th

• The Montgolfier brothers send up an unmanned hot-air balloon at Annonay. This was the first public demonstration of a lighter-than-air machine

September 19th

• Versailles - The Montgolfiers send animals up in a hot-air balloon

November 21st

• Pilâtre de Rozier and François d'Arlandes make the first baloon flight (3 km, 25mins) in Paris

1785

January 7th

• Blanchard and Jefferies become the first men to fly a balloon across the English Channel

June 15th

• Romain and de Rozier are killed when their hydrogen and hot-air balloon catches fire

1868

June

• The first aeronautical exposition. Designs and models are displayed at the Crystal Palace in London. They include a model of Strigfellow's steam triplane

1896

August 9th

• Otto Lilienthal the German aviation poineer is killed when his glider crashes

1903

October 7th

• Samuel Pierpoint Langley's Aerodrome fails to get off the "ground" and ends up in the Potomac River

December 8th

• Langley's Aerodrome crashes again during take-off

December 17th

• The Wright Flyer I designed and built by Orville and Wilbur Wright, takes off flies and lands sucessfully at Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The first engine-powered aeroplane flight