This page contains a list of Massachusetts aviation firsts, to access the detailed list of firsts click here. 

September 13,1757-Boston’s historic Old North Church's steeple was the launching site of what was reportedly was the First successful heavier than air, tethered flights by a human being in America.

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.

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.

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.

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 Co. of Marblehead, 
 was the First licensed aircraft manufacturer in the U.S. The 
Wright Co. licensed the Wright Model B that was then produced
 by the Burgess Co. 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 sponsor and Dartmouth, Williams and M.I.T. entered balloons.

December 12, 1915-Grover C. Loening of the Sturtevant Aeroplane
Co. of Jamaica Plain designed, built and flight-tested the First 
aeroplane with a fabric covered all-steel airframe with wooden wing
spars.

April 17,1917- 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.

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.

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 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 six 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

©W. J. Deane/MAHS   7/15/2008