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Decisive year for hot air balloons and aviation.
Was a watershed year for ballooning and aviation.
- On 4 June, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers demonstrated their unmanned hot air balloon at Annonay, France.
- On 19 October, the Montgolfiers launched the first manned flight, a tethered balloon with humans on board, at the Folie Titon in Paris.
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First free flight with human passengers.
-On 21 November, the Montgolfiers launched the first free flight with human passengers. They drifted 8 km (5.0 mi) in a balloon powered by a wood fire.
-On 1 December, 1783, Jacques Charles and the Nicolas-Louis Robert launched their manned hydrogen balloon from the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, as a crowd of 400,000 witnessed. They ascended to a height of about 1,800 feet (550 m) and landed at sunset in Nesles-la-Vallée after a flight of 2 hours and 5 minutes, covering 36 km. -
Diego Marín Aguilera
The Spanish inventor Diego Marín Aguilera managed to cross the river Arandilla in Coruña del Conde, Castile, flying 300 – 400 m, with a flying machine.
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Leonardo Da Vinci's work was unveiled
Leonardo wrote about and sketched many designs for flying machines and mechanisms, including ornithopters, fixed-wing gliders, rotorcraft (perhaps inspired by whirligig toys), parachutes (in the form of a wooden-framed pyramidal tent), and a wind speed gauge. His early designs were man-powered and included ornithopters and rotorcraft; however, he came to realize the impracticality of this and later turned to controlled gliding flight, also sketching some designs powered by a spring. -
George Cayley
George Cayley set down the concept of the modern aeroplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control.
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First modern heavier-than-air flying machine
George Cayley constructed a model glider which was the first modern heavier-than-air flying machine, having the layout of a conventional modern aircraft with an inclined wing towards the front and adjustable tail at the back with both tailplane and fin. -
Albrecht Berblinger constructed an ornithopter
An ornithopter is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers seek to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may differ in form, they are usually built on the same scale as these flying creatures. -
Benito León Acosta
Being the president of Mexico Antonio López de Santa Anna, the engineer Benito León Acosta begins his first ascents in a hot air balloon in Mexico.
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Sir George Cayley was first called the "father of the aeroplane"
His most important contributions to aeronautics include:
- Clarifying our ideas and laying down the principles of heavier-than-air flight.
- Reaching a scientific understanding of the principles of bird flight.
- Conducting scientific aerodynamic experiments demonstrating drag and streamlining, movement of the centre of pressure, and the increase in lift from curving the wing surface.
- Defining the modern aeroplane configuration comprising a fixed-wing, fuselage and tail assembly. -
John Stringfellow
In 1848, John Stringfellow achieved the first powered flight using an unmanned 10 feet (3.0 m) wingspan steam-powered monoplane built in a disused lace factory in Chard, Somerset.
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The first powered, controlled, sustained lighter-than-air flight
The first powered, controlled, sustained lighter-than-air flight is believed to have taken place when Henri Giffard flew 15 miles (24 km) in France, with a steam engine-driven craft.
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Joaquín de la Cantolla y Rico
The Mexican Joaquín de la Cantolla y Rico, during the Second Mexican Empire, built three hot-air balloons: the Moctezuma I, Moctezuma II and the Vulcano. Even today, many Mexicans, when referring to a hot air balloon of any size, often call it a Cantolla balloon
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Alphonse Pénaud
Alphonse Pénaud, a Frenchman, flew the first aerodynamically stable fixed-wing aeroplane, a model monoplane he called the "Planophore", a distance of 40 m (130 ft) -
Enrico Forlanini
Enrico Forlanini developed an unmanned helicopter powered by a steam engine. It rose to a height of 13 meters, where it remained for 20 seconds, after a vertical take-off from a park in Milan. -
The earliest man-carrying flying machine still in existence
Biot constructed a bird-like glider with the help of Massia and flew in it briefly. It is preserved in the Musee de l'Air, France, and is claimed to be the earliest man-carrying flying machine still in existence. -
The first fully controllable free-flight
The first fully controllable free-flight was made in a French Army electric-powered airship, La France, by Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs. The 170-foot (52 m) long, 66,000-cubic-foot (1,900 m3) airship covered 8 km (5.0 mi) in 23 minutes with the aid of an 8½ horsepower electric motor. -
Otto Lilienthal
Otto Lilienthal became known as the "Glider King" or "Flying Man" of Germany. Publishing his research in 1889 as Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation (Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst). He also produced a series of hang gliders, including bat-wing, monoplane, and biplane forms, such as the Derwitzer Glider and Normal soaring apparatus.
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First person to make controlled untethered glides routinely
Otto Lilienthal became the first person to make controlled untethered glides routinely, and the first to be photographed flying a heavier-than-air machine, stimulating interest around the world. He rigorously documented his work, including photographs, and for this reason, is one of the best known of the early pioneers. Lilienthal made over 2,000 glides until his death in 1896 from injuries sustained in a glider crash. -
The invention of the box kite by Lawrence Hargrave
The invention of the box kite during this period by the Australian Lawrence Hargrave would lead to the development of the practical biplane. Hargrave linked four of his kites together, added a sling seat, and was the first to obtain lift with a heavier than air aircraft, when he flew up 16 feet (4.9 m).
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Langley's Aerodrome No. 5
Langley's Aerodrome No. 5 made the first successful sustained flight of an unpiloted, engine-driven heavier-than-air craft of a substantial size. It was launched from a spring-actuated catapult mounted on top of a houseboat on the Potomac River near Quantico, Virginia. Two flights were made that afternoon, one of 1,005 meters (3,297 ft) and a second of 700 meters (2,300 ft), at a speed of approximately 25 miles per hour (40 km/h). -
Whitehead
Two and a half years before the Wright Brothers' flight, Whitehead claimed to have carried out a controlled, powered flight in his Number 21 monoplane at Fairfield, Connecticut.
In March 2013, Jane's All the World's Aircraft, published an editorial that accepted Whitehead's flight as the first manned, powered, controlled flight of a heavier-than-air craft. The Smithsonian Institution and many aviation historians continue to maintain that Whitehead did not fly as suggested. -
First aircraft to make routine controlled flights
The Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his airship Number 6, the first aircraft to make routine controlled flights were non-rigid airships, over Paris from the Parc de Saint-Cloud around the Eiffel Tower and back in under 30 minutes to win the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize.
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First sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air manned flight
The Wrights brothers made the first sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air manned flight at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, four miles (8 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The first flight of 120 feet (37 m) in 12 seconds, was recorded in a famous photograph. In the fourth flight of the same day, Wilbur Wright flew 852 feet (260 m) in 59 seconds. The flights were witnessed by five people, making these the first public flights and the first well-documented ones. -
The Flyer III by brothers Wright
The Wrights on 23 June 1905, first flew the Flyer III. After a severe crash on 14 July 1905, they rebuilt the Flyer III and made important design changes. Lather the Flyer III became the first practical aircraft (though without wheels and needing a launching device), flying consistently under full control and landing without damage. On 5 October 1905, Wilbur flew 24 miles (39 km) in 39 minutes 23 seconds.
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Alberto Santos-Dumont and the 14-bits
The Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont made a public flight in Paris with the 14-bis, also known as Oiseau de proie (French for "bird of prey"). This covered a distance of 60 m (200 ft) on the grounds of the Chateau de Bagatelle in Paris' Bois de Boulogne before a large crowd of witnesses. This well-documented event was the first flight verified by the Aéro-Club de France of a powered heavier-than-air machine in Europe.
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The first time a helicopter is have risen off the ground
The first time a manned helicopter is known to have risen off the ground was on a tethered flight in 1907 by the Breguet-Richet Gyroplane. Later the same year the Cornu helicopter, also French, made the first rotary-winged free flight at Lisieux, France. However, these were not practical designs.
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First motorized flight in Mexico
Alberto Braniff made the first motorized flight in Mexico and Latin America. The late 1910s and the 1920s are considered the golden ages for Mexican aviation, as it is when the aviation industry reached its peak, driven by the first military pilots. There were also large events, such as the first airmail in Mexico in 1917, the first acrobatic maneuvers in 1918, as well as the nonstop long-distance flights from Mexico to Washington, Cuba, and Central America in 1928. -
Francisco I. Madero, first acting president to fly an airplane
Francisco I. Madero was invited to participate in a display flight, aboard a two-seat Deperdussin aircraft, becoming the first acting president to fly an airplane. Thus, Madero was impressed and decided to authorize the purchase of five planes, so he sent five Mexicans to study at the Moisant Aviation School in New York, which would later be known as the "first five"