This is a list of aviation-related events during the 18th century (January 1, 1701 – December 31, 1800):
1700s–1770s
1709
Portuguese Father
Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates a practical model of a
hot-air balloon made of a paper envelope with burning material suspended below it to King
John V of Portugal in the Ambassador's drawing room. Worried that it will set fire to the curtains, servants end its flight by dashing it to the ground. It is the first known demonstration of a practical
lighter-than-air craft.[1]
1716
Well thought-out glider-project of the Swedish scholar
Emanuel Swedenborg. Basis for his construction are bird flight and the glider kite.
1738
In his Hydrodynamica the Swiss scholar
Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782) formulates the principle of the conservation of energy for fluids (
Bernoulli's principle), the relationship between pressure and velocity in a flow.
1746
English military engineer
Benjamin Robins (1707–1751) invented a whirling arm
centrifuge to determine drag.
June 4, Unmanned flight of the Montgolfier brothers 900 m linen
hot air balloon at
Annonay near
Lyon in the Vivarais region of France as a public demonstration. The flight covers 2 km and lasts 10 minutes, to an estimated altitude of 1600–2000 metres.[2]
August 27, Flight of Le Globe, an unmanned experimental
hydrogen balloon, in Paris (built by
Professor Charles and the
Robert brothers). It flies 25 km (16 mi) from Paris to
Gonesse and is destroyed by frightened peasants.
September 19, the Montgolfiers launch a sheep, duck and rooster in a hot-air balloon in a demonstration for King
Louis XVI of France. The balloon rises some 500 m (1,600 ft) and returns the animals unharmed to the ground.
October 15,
Pilâtre de Rozier and
Marquis d'Arlandes rise into the air in a Montgolfière tethered to the ground in Paris. de Rozier becomes the first human passenger in a hot-air balloon, rising 26 m (85 ft).
November 21, In a flight lasting 25 minutes, de Rozier and d'Arlandes take the first untethered ride in a Montgolfière in Paris, the first human passengers carried in free flight by a hot-air balloon.[2]
December 1, Jacques Charles and his assistant
Nicolas-Louis Robert make the first flight in a
hydrogen-filled
gas balloon. They travel from Paris to
Nesles-la-Vallée, a distance of 43 km (27 mi). On his second flight the same day, Charles reaches an altitude of about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) over Nesles-la-Vallée.
December 26,
Louis-Sébastien Lenormand makes the first ever recorded public demonstration of a
parachute descent by jumping from the tower of the
Montpellier observatory in France using his rigid-framed model which he intends as a form of fire escape.
1784
February 25, The first ascent of a manned balloon in Italy takes place with a hot air balloon carrying
Paolo Andreani and two of its builders, the Gerli brothers.
March 13 The first public ascent of a manned balloon in Italy takes place with a hot air balloon at the Villa Sormani in Moncucco carrying Paolo Andreani and two locals.
April 15, The first ascent of a manned balloon in the British Isles takes place with a hot air balloon at
Navan in Ireland.[4]
June 4,
Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman passenger in a hot-air balloon, at
Lyon in France.[5]
August 25 & 27, Scottish apothecary
James Tytler makes the first balloon ascents in Great Britain, in a hot air balloon from
Edinburgh.
May 10, A hot air balloon collides with a chimney in
Tullamore in Ireland, setting light to around 100 houses in the town centre.[8]
June 15, Pilâtre de Rozier and
Pierre Jules Romain become the first known aeronautical fatalities when their balloon crashes during an attempt to cross the English Channel.
November 24, French authorities order
Nicolas J. Conte to construct a military balloon capable of lifting two passengers to an altitude of 1,700 feet (520 meters).[3]
May 3, After completing its training, the Company of Aeronauts is assigned to the French
Army of Sambre-et-Meuse for operational employment.[3]
June 2, The first military aviation sortie in history takes place when the French Company of Aeronauts' balloon l'Entreprenant ("Enterprise") ascends for a
reconnaissance of
Austrian forces besieging
Maubeuge. Austrian artillery fires at the balloon but fails to hit it before it rises out of range.[13]
June 23, The French balloon l'Entreprenant resumes flights, helping to prevent Austrian troops from relieving besieged Austrian forces at
Charleroi.[13] On the same day, the Committee of Public Safety authorizes the formation of a second balloon company in the French Army.[13]
June 26,
Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle and
Major GeneralAntoine Morlot spend nine hours aloft in the balloon l'Entreprenant during the
Battle of Fleurus, providing observation that contributes to a French victory over Austrian forces. It is the first battle in history to be affected by aerial observation.[13]
October 22,
André-Jacques Garnerin jumps from a balloon from 975 meters (3,199 feet) over
Parc Monceau in Paris in a 7-meter (23-foot)-) diameter parachute made of white canvas with a basket attached. He is declared "official French aeronaut of the state".
Englishman Sir
George Cayley (1773–1857) sketches a glider with a rudder unit and an elevator unit. His manuscript is considered to be the starting point of the scientific research on heavier than air flying machines. It is Cayley who helps to sort out the confusion of the time. ..."He knew more than any of his predecessors ... and successors up to the end of the 19th century." – Orville Wright.
Birth of
John Stringfellow, another English pioneer of heavier than air flying machines (d. 1883).
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 9.
^
abcGillispie, Charles Coulston (1983). The Montgolfier Brothers and the Invention of Aviation, 1783-1784. Princeton University Press.
ISBN0-691-08321-5.
^
abcdefGuttman, Jon, "First Military Aviator," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 18.
^
abcdGuttman, Jon, "First Military Aviator," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 19.
^
abLayman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989,
ISBN0-87021-210-9, p. 15.
This is a list of aviation-related events during the 18th century (January 1, 1701 – December 31, 1800):
1700s–1770s
1709
Portuguese Father
Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates a practical model of a
hot-air balloon made of a paper envelope with burning material suspended below it to King
John V of Portugal in the Ambassador's drawing room. Worried that it will set fire to the curtains, servants end its flight by dashing it to the ground. It is the first known demonstration of a practical
lighter-than-air craft.[1]
1716
Well thought-out glider-project of the Swedish scholar
Emanuel Swedenborg. Basis for his construction are bird flight and the glider kite.
1738
In his Hydrodynamica the Swiss scholar
Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782) formulates the principle of the conservation of energy for fluids (
Bernoulli's principle), the relationship between pressure and velocity in a flow.
1746
English military engineer
Benjamin Robins (1707–1751) invented a whirling arm
centrifuge to determine drag.
June 4, Unmanned flight of the Montgolfier brothers 900 m linen
hot air balloon at
Annonay near
Lyon in the Vivarais region of France as a public demonstration. The flight covers 2 km and lasts 10 minutes, to an estimated altitude of 1600–2000 metres.[2]
August 27, Flight of Le Globe, an unmanned experimental
hydrogen balloon, in Paris (built by
Professor Charles and the
Robert brothers). It flies 25 km (16 mi) from Paris to
Gonesse and is destroyed by frightened peasants.
September 19, the Montgolfiers launch a sheep, duck and rooster in a hot-air balloon in a demonstration for King
Louis XVI of France. The balloon rises some 500 m (1,600 ft) and returns the animals unharmed to the ground.
October 15,
Pilâtre de Rozier and
Marquis d'Arlandes rise into the air in a Montgolfière tethered to the ground in Paris. de Rozier becomes the first human passenger in a hot-air balloon, rising 26 m (85 ft).
November 21, In a flight lasting 25 minutes, de Rozier and d'Arlandes take the first untethered ride in a Montgolfière in Paris, the first human passengers carried in free flight by a hot-air balloon.[2]
December 1, Jacques Charles and his assistant
Nicolas-Louis Robert make the first flight in a
hydrogen-filled
gas balloon. They travel from Paris to
Nesles-la-Vallée, a distance of 43 km (27 mi). On his second flight the same day, Charles reaches an altitude of about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) over Nesles-la-Vallée.
December 26,
Louis-Sébastien Lenormand makes the first ever recorded public demonstration of a
parachute descent by jumping from the tower of the
Montpellier observatory in France using his rigid-framed model which he intends as a form of fire escape.
1784
February 25, The first ascent of a manned balloon in Italy takes place with a hot air balloon carrying
Paolo Andreani and two of its builders, the Gerli brothers.
March 13 The first public ascent of a manned balloon in Italy takes place with a hot air balloon at the Villa Sormani in Moncucco carrying Paolo Andreani and two locals.
April 15, The first ascent of a manned balloon in the British Isles takes place with a hot air balloon at
Navan in Ireland.[4]
June 4,
Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman passenger in a hot-air balloon, at
Lyon in France.[5]
August 25 & 27, Scottish apothecary
James Tytler makes the first balloon ascents in Great Britain, in a hot air balloon from
Edinburgh.
May 10, A hot air balloon collides with a chimney in
Tullamore in Ireland, setting light to around 100 houses in the town centre.[8]
June 15, Pilâtre de Rozier and
Pierre Jules Romain become the first known aeronautical fatalities when their balloon crashes during an attempt to cross the English Channel.
November 24, French authorities order
Nicolas J. Conte to construct a military balloon capable of lifting two passengers to an altitude of 1,700 feet (520 meters).[3]
May 3, After completing its training, the Company of Aeronauts is assigned to the French
Army of Sambre-et-Meuse for operational employment.[3]
June 2, The first military aviation sortie in history takes place when the French Company of Aeronauts' balloon l'Entreprenant ("Enterprise") ascends for a
reconnaissance of
Austrian forces besieging
Maubeuge. Austrian artillery fires at the balloon but fails to hit it before it rises out of range.[13]
June 23, The French balloon l'Entreprenant resumes flights, helping to prevent Austrian troops from relieving besieged Austrian forces at
Charleroi.[13] On the same day, the Committee of Public Safety authorizes the formation of a second balloon company in the French Army.[13]
June 26,
Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle and
Major GeneralAntoine Morlot spend nine hours aloft in the balloon l'Entreprenant during the
Battle of Fleurus, providing observation that contributes to a French victory over Austrian forces. It is the first battle in history to be affected by aerial observation.[13]
October 22,
André-Jacques Garnerin jumps from a balloon from 975 meters (3,199 feet) over
Parc Monceau in Paris in a 7-meter (23-foot)-) diameter parachute made of white canvas with a basket attached. He is declared "official French aeronaut of the state".
Englishman Sir
George Cayley (1773–1857) sketches a glider with a rudder unit and an elevator unit. His manuscript is considered to be the starting point of the scientific research on heavier than air flying machines. It is Cayley who helps to sort out the confusion of the time. ..."He knew more than any of his predecessors ... and successors up to the end of the 19th century." – Orville Wright.
Birth of
John Stringfellow, another English pioneer of heavier than air flying machines (d. 1883).
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 9.
^
abcGillispie, Charles Coulston (1983). The Montgolfier Brothers and the Invention of Aviation, 1783-1784. Princeton University Press.
ISBN0-691-08321-5.
^
abcdefGuttman, Jon, "First Military Aviator," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 18.
^
abcdGuttman, Jon, "First Military Aviator," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 19.
^
abLayman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849–1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989,
ISBN0-87021-210-9, p. 15.