Forty Aviation Firsts 1757- 1960
Prepared by the Massachusetts Aviation Historical Society, Inc.www.massaerohistory.org - info@massaerohistory.org
September 13, 1757 Boston’s historic North Church was the site of what was reportedly was the First successful heavier than air flight by a human being in America. John Childs using homemade wings, made three tethered flights from the steeple before the town fathers grounded him.
January, 1784 - First magazine article on ballooning published in the U.S.- Boston Magazine printed a two page article entitled “Explanation of the Air Balloon” accompanied by a picture of an aerostat complete with oars and a rudder.
October 13, 1860 - First aerial photograph in the U.S. was taken by James Wallace Black of Boston from Samuel Archer King’s balloon the “Queen of the Air” over Boston. Two tethered flights on Boston Common were made at 1200 feet to expose eight glass negative plates to get one clear photograph of Boston and a second ascent was made to 5000 to 6000 feet before high winds required them to land.
August 4, 1894 - The First Atmospheric Sounding in the world was accomplished at Abbott Lawrence Rotch’s Blue Hill Observatory with a kite carrying a thermograph to a height of 2,030 feet above mean sea level
March 19, 1895 - Boston Aeronautical Society was founded to encourage experiments and study with aerial machines and to advance the science of aerodynamics. This first American aeronautical society elected William Pickering, President, and Albert A. Merrill, Secretary.
July 19, 1900 - The highest meteorological kite sounding was made from Blue Hill Observatory to a height of 15,790 feet.
January 9, 1902 - Aero Club of New England, America’s first aeronautical club, is organized in Boston. Balloonist and automobilist Charles J. Glidden spearheaded the formation of the Club and with ten other leading citizens of Boston signed a formal letter of agreement at a meeting held at the Massachusetts Automobile Club.
March 10,1906 - The Aero Park next to the Pittsfield Gas Works was selected by the Aero Club of America as the base for the first international balloon race in America.
March 31, 1909 - The first air marking on record was installed on the campus of Amherst College, Amherst MA where the college’s name was outlined in 35 foot letters for the benefit of passing pilots.
June 20, 1909 - first balloon honeymoon -Roger Burnham and Eleanor Wering on Sunday ascended at Woods Hole, MA at 12:40 pm in the “Pittsfield” piloted by William Von Sleet landed 4:30 pm in an orchard in Holbrook, MA.
February 16, 1910 - The Boston Aero Show ran for eight days and was the first major, all aviation exhibition, held in the United States. (18 prototype aircraft and a large number of aeronautical models were displayed)
February 11, 1911 - The Burgess and Curtis Company of Marblehead, MA was the first licensed aircraft manufacturer in the U.S. The Wright Company of Dayton, OH licensed the Wright Model B that was then produced by the Burgess Company as the Burgess-Wright Model F.
May 28, 1911 - The first Intercollegiate Glider Competition was organized and sponsored by the Harvard Aeronautical Society. Seven colleges participated in the Squantum, MA Meet which was held from May 28-May 30, 1911.
June 3, 1911 - The first Intercollegiate Balloon Race started from North Adams, MA. Williams College Aeronautical Society was the race sponsor and Dartmouth, Williams and M.I.T. entered balloons in the event.
September 23, 1911 - Earle L. Ovington of Newton MA delivers the first U.S. Air Mail in New York, on a flight from Nassau to Mineola, Long Island, NY. Ovington was designated America’s First official air mail pilot.
May 22, 1912 - Birthday of Marine Corps Aviation. 1st Lt. Alfred A Cunningham USMC the first Marine Corps officer was assigned to flight instruction was ordered to the Burgess Co. Marblehead, MA for flight training.
January 13, 1913 - First Aerial Parcel Post Service flown by Harry M. Jones from Franklin Park in Boston to Governor’s Island, New York via Providence, New Haven, New London, Oakhurst NY. Pilot delivered a pot of baked beans to Providence and letter mail to other cities on the route.
April, 1914 - The first aeronautical engineering course at a college is established by M.I.T. at its Boston, MA campus. An aeronautical lecture program had started at M.I.T. in 1912 and the Masters Degree program was in place by the fall of 1914.
June 14, 1914 - A candidate for the Sixth Congressional District of MA, A. Piatt Andrew was the first politician to use an aircraft in a political campaign. A Burgess –Dunne seaplane piloted by Clifford Webster was used to barnstorm the Haverhill and Newburyport MA communities.
September 17, 1914 - A Burgess-Dunne built in Marblehead, MA was the first aeroplane purchased by the Canadian military services. The B-D flying wing seaplane was shipped to Lake Champlain and then delivered to Quebec by Clifford Webster for use by the Canadian Aviation Corps.
December 12, 1915 - Grover C. Loening of the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company of Jamaica Plain, MA designed, built and flight-tested the first aeroplane with a fabric covered all-steel airframe with wooden wing spars.
April 17, 1917 - The U.S. Government purchases its first monoplanes. U.S. Army ordered two Albree Pursuit Monoplanes, designed by George Norman Albree. These aeroplanes were manufactured by the Pigeon Hollow Spar Company of East Boston, MA and assembled in Swampscott, MA. The two monoplanes were delivered to Langley Field, VA in September and November 1917 for flight-testing.
October 2-3, 1918 - Godfrey L. Cabot, pilot, scientist and engineer, tested his invention the first Aerial Pick Up System with his personal aircraft; picking up a 155-pound package from a moving sea sled in Boston Harbor.
August 13, 1923 - The first Naval Air Reserve Unit was established at the new Naval Air Reserve Base, NARB Squantum, MA. This new Air Reserve program was promoted and supported by LCDR Richard E. Byrd and the former Navy pilots in the Boston area that had served in WW1.
March 16, 1926 - first liquid fuel rocket flight traveled 184 feet in 2.5 seconds and reached an altitude of 40 feet at a speed of 60 mph. The flight was made from Aunt Effie’s Farm in Auburn, MA under the direction of Professor Robert Hutchins Goddard of Clark University-The Father of Modern Rocketry.
July 1, 1926 - first official U.S. airline contract airmail service (C.A.M.-1) was flown from Hadley Field, New Brunswick, NJ to Boston by a Colonial Air Transport Fokker Universal.
April 1, 1927 - first U.S. night scheduled passenger flight, was flown by a Colonial Air Transport Fokker Trimotor from Hadley Field NJ to Boston MA.
April 4, 1927 - The first regularly scheduled, and continuing airline passenger service in the U.S. was established between Boston and New York City by Colonial Airlines.
September 3, 1928 - Boston is the port of entry for the first Ship to Shore Airmail from Europe flown from the liner “Ile de France” by its “on board” seaplane.
May 1, 1929 -The first Commuter Air Tickets placed on sale by Colonial Airlines for Boston to Newark flights (offered in 10 and 50 trip ticket sets).
August 18, 1929 - Ralph S. Barnaby on a 15 minute 6 second glider flight from Corn Hill, North Truro, MA became the first American to win an international soaring certificate. The flight was also the first official flight to exceed the U.S. gliding record set by Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk NC, October 24,1911.
May 22, 1930 - Goodyear delivered the first dirigible for private commercial operation to the New England Airship Company of New Bedford, MA. Bird and Son, E. Walpole, MA then chartered the airship. As a goodwill messenger it made 1308 flights and carried more than 6000 passengers over New England.
April 17, 1935 - The first Radio-Meteorograph transmission of temperature data from an airplane was received at Blue Hill from an altitude of 17,000 feet.
December 23,1935 - The first Radio-Meteorograph transmission of pressure and temperature data from a balloon was received at Blue Hill Observatory from a height of 52,500 feet.
February 13, 1942 - Northeast Airlines military air cargo flights across the North Atlantic to Scotland were the first overseas flights by a U.S. domestic airline.
April 18, 1942 - General Electric’s I-A Jet engine was tested and achieved the design test specifications at the River Works in Lynn MA. This was the first successful operation of a jet engine in the United States.
May 29,1944 - U.S. Navy airships of ZP-14 completed the first transatlantic crossing by nonrigid airships. Flight left from NAS South Weymouth, MA and after 80 hours and 2 stops at Argentia and the Azores, they landed on June 1,1944 at Port Lyautey, Morocco.
October 23,1945 - First commercial landplane non-stop service to Europe inaugurated by American Overseas Airlines from Boston utilizing the DC-4 aircraft “New England” with the first departures from Hanscom Army Air Field in Bedford, MA.
July 15, 1952 - First transatlantic helicopter flight- Two U.S.A.F. Sikorsky H-19s (S-55) “Hop-A-Long” and “Whirl-A-Way” flew from Westover AFB, Chicopee, MA to Wiesbaden, Germany) and arrived on Aug. 4, 1952. (51 hours 55 minutes flight time, with 6 stops in 21 days)
May 2, 1959 - The first Sport Parachuting Center in the U.S. was dedicated at Orange MA. The Center was designed and built under the direction of the noted parachutist Jacques-Andre Istel.
