The story of flight

The story of flight 1903– 2013

Until the 20th century, flying was the hobby of a few adventurous balloonists. In 1903, however, the Wright brothers made the first controlled, powered flight in an airplane. Within a few years, planes were being used both as vehicles taking paying passengers and as weapons of war. Connecticut–Ohio, 1942 The first mass-produced helicopter, the Sikorsky R-4, flew 761 miles (1,225 km) on a test flight. Newfoundland–Ireland, 1919 Alcock and Brown flew a Vickers Vimy across the Atlantic in 16 hours, receiving a £10,000 ($45,000) prize from the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper and knighthoods from the king of England.

Wenatchee California, 1947 The Bell X-1 rocket plane, piloted by Chuck Yeager, became the first manned aircraft to travel faster than sound in level flight.

St. John’s Clifden

California, 1976 The SR-71A Blackbird became the fastest and highest jet aircraft.

Edwards Air Force Base

California, 2013 SpaceShipTwo—the world’s first commercial passenger spacecraft—made its first powered test flight.

KEY The arrows on this map show nonstop flight milestones.

First nonstop flight across the Atlantic First nonstop flight across the Pacific First nonstop flight around the world Round the world (California–California), 1986 Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew the Rutan Model 76 Voyager nonstop around the world. The flight took 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1903 The Wright brothers made the first-ever controlled flight in a powered airplane. New York– London, 1970 The Boeing 747 heralded the age of wide-bodied airliners, which carry hundreds of passengers each.

Tampa Bay, Florida, 1914 The St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line, launched the world’s first passenger service to use winged aircraft. Paris–Rio de Janeiro, 1976 An Air France Concorde made one of the world’s first two supersonic scheduled passenger flights. The other, on the same day, was by a British Airways Concorde from London to Bahrain.

Frankfurt–Rio de Janeiro, 1936 The zeppelin LZ-127 Hindenburg began to take passengers on scheduled flights across the Atlantic.

Southeast England, 1940 The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces.

Paris, 1783 Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes became the world’s first pilots, flying the Montgolfier hot-air balloon. Yorkshire, England, 1853 George Cayley developed a manned glider that flew across the valley in front of his home.

Lichterfelde, Germany, 1896 Otto Lilienthal launched himself from his own man-made hill in a series of homemade hang-gliders. Rostock, Germany, 1939 The experimental Heinkel He 178 was the first jet-engine-powered aircraft to fly.

Japan–US, 1931 Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon crossed the Pacific in 41 hours in their Bellanca Skyrocket, Miss Veedol.

Lake Constance, Germany, 1900 LZ-1 launched the era of zeppelins—rigid airships filled with hydrogen or helium. Mediterranean, 1942 The first production helicopter, the Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri, was deployed in World War II.

Moscow, 1932 The TsAGI-1EA—the first successful helicopter with a single rotor for creating lift—took off. Moscow–Almaty, 1975 The supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 went into service, flying mail and freight to Alma-Ata (now Almaty) in Kazakhstan.

Sabishiro Beach

Round the world (Switzerland–Egypt), 1999 Breitling Orbiter 3 was the first balloon to fly around the world without landing.

Sydney–Singapore, 2007 The Airbus 380—the heaviest-ever airliner—made its first passenger flight.

London–Johannesburg, 1952 The de Havilland Comet became the first jet airliner to fly with passengers.

“There is no sport equal to ... being carried through the air on great white wings.”

California–Australia, 2001 The unmanned aircraft Global Hawk flew unaided across the Pacific. Somewhere in the Pacific, 1937 Pioneering female pilot Amelia Earhart and her navigator disappeared on their round-the- world flight.