View allAll Photos Tagged firstflight
Prestwick 18 March 1982. Scanned from my father's slide. Copyright Jim Cain.
MSN 601. The prototype Jetstream 31 on its first flight performs a flyby of the factory for the gathered workforce.
On December 17, 1903, at 10:30am at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, this airplane arose for a few seconds to make the first powered, heavier-than-air controlled flight in history. The first flight lasted 12 seconds and flew a distance of 120 feet. Orville Wright piloted the historic flight while his brother, Wilbur, observed. The brothers took three other flights that day, each flight lasting longer than the other with the final flight going a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds. This flight was the culmination of a number of years of research on gliders.
Orville and Wilbur Wright's curiosity with flight began in 1878 when their father, Milton, gave them a rubber band powered toy helicopter. Although they were never formally educated, the self-taught engineers constantly experimented with kites and gliders. Bicycle shop owners by occupation, the brothers spent years designing, testing and redesigning their gliders and planes. After the successful flights of December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur continued to perfect their plane. In 1909 the Army Signal Corps purchased a Wright Flyer, creating the first military airplane. Although Wilbur passed away May 30, 1912, from typhoid fever, Orville remained an active promoter of aviation until his death on January 30, 1948.
The Air Age truly began with that historic flight on December 17, 1903. In 1908 the Wright Brothers designed the first military aircraft for the Army Signal Corps. Seven years later, in 1915, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) became the nation's leading aviation research organization, of which Orville was a member for 28 years. As the airplane became more aerodynamic and technically advanced, its uses expanded into many different directions. Military aircraft played significant roles in both World War I and World War II. The airplane made worldwide travel and exploration possible. Spaceflight would never have been realized without the pioneering achievements of the Wright Brothers.
Source: Library of Congress
Image Number: 65-H-611
Date: December 17, 1903
(Signage and a handful of people removed with generative AI)
"The Wrights made four flights from level ground near the base of the hill on December 17, 1903, in the Wright Flyer, following three years of gliding experiments from atop this and other nearby sand dunes. It is possible to walk along the actual routes of the four flights, with small monuments marking their starts and finishes. Two wooden sheds, based on historic photographs, recreate the world's first airplane hangar and the brothers' living quarters.
Wright Brothers National Memorial, located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came here from Dayton, Ohio, based on information from the U.S. Weather Bureau about the area's steady winds. They also valued the privacy provided by this location, which in the early twentieth century was remote from major population centers.
Authorized as Kill Devil Hill Monument on March 2, 1927, it was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. Congress renamed it and designated it a national memorial on December 4, 1953. As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, the national memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The memorial's visitor center, designed by Ehrman Mitchell and Romaldo Giurgola, was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 3, 2001. The memorial is co-managed with two other Outer Banks parks, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
The Wrights made four flights from level ground near the base of the hill on December 17, 1903, in the Wright Flyer, following three years of gliding experiments from atop this and other nearby sand dunes. It is possible to walk along the actual routes of the four flights, with small monuments marking their starts and finishes. Two wooden sheds, based on historic photographs, recreate the world's first airplane hangar and the brothers' living quarters." (Wikipedia)
PLEASE, NO GRAPHICS, BADGES, OR AWARDS IN COMMENTS. They will be deleted.
Acabat el primer vol, i realitzat el primer aterratge amb èxit, el A350 s'atura just davant el turó de Tolosa per a que ningú es quedi sense immortalitzar el moment
This immature eagle surely made an impression on me when I tried to capture using a much-too-slow shutter speed!! I love the effect though and share it with you. Near St.John's, NL.
To eventually be N8679A and delivered to Southwest Airlines, this 737-8H4 departs from Renton on its first ever flight off runway 16 and was flying as Boeing 917. What an awesome vantage point I stumbled on while exploring the Renton Airport while waiting for the 737 Max Taxi Tests.
The Conquest of the Air: The Kitty Hawk experience is more than is easily absorbed in many ways. Knowing that the last 100 plus years of crazy developments all started in the little wooden sheds on this sandy remote beach is extraordinary. The Wright brothers were the winners of this effort that was on this very spot the beginnings of all of the accomplishments that were to follow, all the way through to the Space Station. Three flights on December 17th 1903 and history had an exclamation point. The inside museum has the original crankcase from the aircraft and it was destroyed on December 17th, most likely in an attempt to fly again. The engine was so very crude by today’s standards and it is remarkable that it was able to accomplish the task at all. I have visited this monument several times and always have a keen sense of the magnitude of change that the ability to fly has had on mankind. Being involved in aviation I hold the monument to be a sort of Hallowed Ground. I know most visitors are happy to see the stone markers and the descriptions of the flights. But to understand the subsequent rapid sequence of developments and increasing pace of technology that started here is awe inspiring.
"The First Flight Centennial sculpture is comprised of 7 life-size bronze figures – that of Orville Wright who flew that day, Wilbur Wright running alongside the planes as it outran him and John T. Daniels, an Outer Banks native who photographed the plane just as it went aloft. The plane is a full-scale replica of the 1903 Flyer with a 40’ 4” wingspan. It was fabricated in stainless steel and weighs 10,000 lbs. The 4 other witnesses on hand that day, Cephus Brinkley, Will Dough, Adam Etheridge and Johnny Moore, were added to the Memorial and dedicated two years later on December 17, 2005. The memorial is located below the large dune that holds the 1932 Wright Brothers Monument. Four story boards tell the story of the Wright brothers and their experiences with the people of the outer banks." (Documenting the American South)
"The sculpture correctly has a criss-crossed chain driving the port propeller but incorrectly has this propeller being identical to, rather than a mirror image of, the starboard propeller." (Wikipedia)
Sponsor Plaque: THIS SCULPTURE DEPICTING THE FIRST FLIGHT / DONATED BY THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA / TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF ORVILLE AND WILBUR WRIGHT / AND THE CITIZENS OF NORTH CAROLINA WHO WELCOMED AND ASSISTED THEM, / DEDICATED UPON THE CENTENNIAL OF THE HISTORIC FIRST FLIGHT, DECEMBER 17, 1903. / STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, MICHALE F. EASLY, GOVERNOR 2003
Sculptor Plaque: STEPHEN H. SMITH, SCULPTOR
PLEASE, NO GRAPHICS, BADGES, OR AWARDS IN COMMENTS. They will be deleted.
Boeing 737-86N B-7175 (43414/5906) landing from it's short hop over the hill from the Renton Factory.
Toulouse, France
Although I am happy I was able to take a picture of it,the weather was terrible, there was virtually no light and night was falling.
Better luck next time with sunshine!
United Airlines 777-222(ER) N223UA makes the first pax revenue takeoff from O'hare's newest runway 9/27C on November 5, 2020. Note the construction dust being blown up by the engines.
If not delivered in five days, return to / Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co., / 503 Granville Street / Vancouver, B.C. (corner card)
Via First Regular Air Mail Service Vancouver - Victoria (this was not the first flight - it was the second flight as it is time marked 5 PM at Vancouver)
The British Columbia Airways company which was formed in 1927 flew a Ford 4-AT Trimotor "Tin Goose" between Victoria and Vancouver and Seattle. The plane, which could carry 8 passengers and 2 crew went into service on July 23rd 1928 carrying freight and passengers. A little over a month later, on August 25th the plane crashed on a foggy Sunday morning near Port Townsend, Washington - killing both crew members and four passengers.
British Columbia Airways Limited - Formed in 1927, the company planned to open an air servicve between Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle. Purchasing a Ford 4-AT-B Tri-motor passenger airplane, the company made its first passenger carrying flight on July 23, 1928. Soon after, the company had permission from postal authorities in Ottawa to issue a company semi-official stamp. Unfortunately, the service was very short lived. On August 25, 1928, the Tri-motor aircraft plunged into the Strait of Juan de Fuca killing senior pilot Harold Walker, co-pilot R.L. Carson, and five passengers. LINK - www.semiofficials.ca/british.html
BC Airways served the Vancouver-Victoria-Seattle area. They issued a single stamp before the airline folded in 1928. BC Airways was formed Nov 27, 1927 and flew a Ford 4-AT Trimotor: The Ford 4-AT was an excellent beast. This trim, 3 engine monoplane cut a dashing figure in a day when biplanes were still common. The Tin Goose (as it was affectionately called) hauled freight or 8 passengers and 2 crew and saw service in every corner of the world. 79 4-ATs were built between 1927-1933 by the Ford company. Its iconic shape is instantly associated with the romantic, golden age of air travel. Pan-Am flew them on their Havana-Cuba route. Amelia Earhart flew one. Lindbergh flew an AT across the Atlantic and Admiral Byrd flew an AT on his flight to the South Pole. It was an amazing aircraft used by bush pilots, passenger airlines, and the military. Capable of carrying 8 passengers and 2 crew, the 4 went into service delivering freight and mail on it’s first flight July 23, 1928. The semi-official stamp was printed Aug 3, 1928 and the first official airmail flight went out Aug 4. On Aug 16, the airline began taking passengers across the San Juan de Fuca Straight. Less than 2 weeks later, the company ended with the crash of their only airplane. On a foggy Aug 25 morning, BC Airways, piloted by Harold Walker, from Seattle (an airmail pilot) and L. Carson of Victoria, co-pilot, crashed into the water near Port Townsend, Washington. Both crewmen and 4 or 5 passengers were killed. LINK to the complete article - bittergrounds.com/bc-airways-semi-official-stamp-canada-s...
Clipped from - The Province newspaper - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - 4 August 1928 - B.C. AIRMAIL IS AUTHORIZED - First Letters Carried Between Victoria and Vancouver Today. STAMPS ISSUED Marking the new status of aerial transportation in British Columbia and a new era in mall carrying here, several letters were carried from Victoria this morning (3 August 1928) by the B.C. Airways Ltd. on a contract recently authorized with the Dominion postal service. As yet the service will not be extended beyond the two major cities, between which it will be maintained twice daily. The cost will be 5 cents In addition to the regular postage, it is announced by Mr. G. H. Clarke, postmaster of Vancouver. "Via Air Mail" must be written prominently upon the address side of the envelope. A special 5-cent sticker (CL44) will be sold by the Post Office and by the air company with which to pay the additional postage. This sticker must be attached to the back of the letter. The air trip to Victoria takes forty minutes. LINK to the newspaper article - www.newspapers.com/clip/112116132/bc-air-mail-is-authorized/
The Big Plane Makes Two Round Trips Every Day LINK to the newspaper article - www.newspapers.com/clip/112117320/the-big-plane-makes-two...
The pilot on the cover above was Arthur Haliburton "Hal" Wilson
(b. 27 July 1899 in Kendal, England - d. 30 December 1983 at age 84 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
He joined the Royal Naval Air Service as a provisional officer in March 1918 and earned his pilot's licence later that same year. Arthur enrolled on an RCAF refresher course and then found work with British Columbia Airways Limited. He later served as a part-time aviator with No. 111 Auxiliary Squadron and in the opening stages of WW2 became the first tow-pilot in his area of operations and a proficient aerobatic instructor. His innovations in many aeronautical arenas brought new standards of flight safety to the province of B.C., including the installation of cable markers across many of the province's valleys. He retired from aviation in 1955 after qualifying as a pilot of 68 different aircraft types. "The dedication of his superior instructional abilities in airmanship, to several generations of embryonic pilots and his general upgrading of aeronautical facilities, has been of substantial benefit to Canadian aviation." Arthur Haliburton Wilson was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1979 at a ceremony held in Edmonton, Alberta. LINK - cahf.ca/arthur-haliburton-wilson/
LINK to a newspaper article "Hal Wilson - Aero Club Ace" - www.newspapers.com/clip/112121397/hal-wilson-aero-club-ace/
- sent from - / VANCOUVER / AUG 3 / 5 - PM / 1928 / BRITISH COLUMBIA / - / ROYAL AIR FORCE BAND / EXHIBITION / AUGUST - 8-18 / - slogan cancel (Coutts R-375).
- arrived at - / VICTORIA / 630 PM / AUG 3 / 1928 / BRITISH COLUMBIA / - / INSURE / YOUR PARCELS / AT / THE POST OFFICE / - slogan cancel (Coutts I-130).
Addressed to: John A. Dolle / 302 North Eye Street / Tacoma, Washington / Care of - C. M. ST. P. RR. CO. Victoria (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad / Victoria, B.C.)
John Anthony Dolle
(b. 1863 in Nuttlar, Meschede, Westphalia, Prussia, Germany – d. 14 November 1954 at age 91 in Puyallup, Pierce, Washington, United States) - occupation - traveling auditor for the Milwaukee Railroad Company - he was the treasurer for the Tacoma Stamp Club - LINK - www.newspapers.com/clip/112078470/the-tacoma-daily-ledger/ LINK to his newspaper obituary - www.newspapers.com/clip/112078537/obituary-for-john-a-dolus/ He was married three times.