Originally published in 2002
“First Feats” in Aviation
- German engineer Otto Lilienthal made his first glider flight 1891.
- After the Wright brothers, the first American to fly was Glenn Curtiss (1908).
- Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, the first person to be killed in an airplane crash, was flying with Orville Wright (1908)
- The first in-flight motion photography was shot by Orville Wright (1909).
- The first shipboard landing was made by Eugene Ely (Curtiss Pusher, 1911).
- The first pilot to break the 100-mph barrier was Jules Vedrines (108 mph, Deperdussin, 1912, Chicago).
- The first U.S. airmail delivery was conducted between New York City and Washington, DC (May 15, 1918, Curtiss JN-4H).
- The first around-the-world flight took 175 days (April 6- Sept. 28, 1924, U.S. Army Air Service).
- The first transpacific flight was accomplished by a U.S. Navy team (1925).
- The first full-length motion-picture film to feature aviation was called Wings (1927).
- The first woman to fly cross the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane was Amelia Earhart (1928).
- The first plane to stay aloft for more than 100 consecutive hours was a Fokker C-2 (1929).
- The first airplane to make a 30-year production run was the Beech 18 (1937-69).
- The “Spirit of St. Louis,” the first plane to cross the Atlantic Ocean with just one person aboard, was built in San Diego.
- The first airplane to be produced by the Cessna Aircraft Corporation was the Model A.
- Louis Becherau developed the first pedal system for rudder control.
- The Experimental Aircraft Association’s first chapter is located in Riverside, California.
- Orville Wright, the first man to fly a powered, heavier than- air aircraft, did not live to see or hear about the first dog fight between military jet aircraft.
- Richard VanGrunsven’s first homebuilt, the RV-1, was a modified Stits Playboy.
- Burt Rutan, designer of the Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the world without refueling, once worked for Bede Aircraft.
