Aviator of the Month

September – Albert Scott Crossfield

On the 17^th of September 1959 Albert Crossfield piloted the North American X-15 rocket plane in its first powered flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This also makes him the first man to fly faster than twice the speed of sound.

Crossfield also had a distinguished career as a military pilot and test pilot for North American Aviation.

More information on Crossfield can be found here.

October – Gaston Tissandier

On the 8^th of October 1908 French brothers Albert and Gaston Tissandier make the first flight with an airship powered by electricity.

Gaston Tissandier was a French chemist, meteorologist, aviator and editor. Adventurer could be added to the list of his titles, as he managed to escape besieged Paris by balloon in September 1870.

More information on Tissandier can be found here.

November – Louis Blériot

On the 10^th of November 1907 Louis Blériot introduces what will become the modern configuration of the airplane. His N°VII has an enclosed or covered fuselage, a single set of wings, a tail unit, and a propeller in front of the engine.

In 1909 he became world-famous for making the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier than air aircraft, winning the prize of £1,000 offered by the Daily Mail newspaper.

More information on Blériot can be found here.

December – Orville and Wilbur Wright

On the 17^th of December 1903 the Wright brothers performed the first sustained controlled flight in a powered aircraft.

On the morning of December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright took turns piloting and monitoring their flying machine in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Orville piloted the first flight that lasted just 12 seconds and 120 feet.

On the fourth and final flight of the day, Wilbur travelled 852 feet, remaining airborne for 59 seconds. That morning, the brothers became the first people to demonstrate sustained flight of a heavier—than—air machine under the complete control of the pilot. They built their 1903 glider in sections in the Back room of their Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop. That afternoon, the Wright brothers walked the four miles to Kitty Hawk and sent a telegram to their father, Bishop Milton Wright, Back home in Dayton, Ohio: “Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas."

More information on the Wright brothers can be found here.

January – Jean-Pierre Blanchard

On the 7^th of January 1785 the English Channel is crossed for the first time by air as Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries fly their hydrogen balloon from Dover, England to a forest near Calais, France.

Blanchard was a pioneer in balloon flight, achieving his first successful balloon flight in Paris on 2 March 1784, less than 5 months after the first successful manned balloon flight on 21 November 1783.

More information on Blanchard can be found here.

February – Charles Augustus Lindbergh

On the 4^th of February 1902 Charles Augustus Lindbergh (1902-1974), one of the most famous aviators in history, is born in Detroit, Michigan.

At age 25 in 1927, Lindbergh went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame by making his Orteig Prize–winning nonstop flight from Long Island, New York, to Paris. Lindbergh completed this journey alone in a single-engine purpose-built Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis.

More information on Lindbergh can be found here.

March – Igor Sikorsky

On the 5^th of March 1923 the great aeronautical pioneer Igor Sikorsky sets up the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation in the United States with the financial help of several important leading figures, including Sergey Rachmaninoff. Sikorsky left Russia in 1917 when revolution threatened his work and his life.

Emerging from the company was the the Sikorsky R-4, the first stable, single-rotor, fully controllable helicopter to enter large full-scale production in 1942, upon which the majority of subsequent helicopters were based (though Sikorsky did not invent the helicopter itself).

More information on Sikorsky can be found here.