Wings of History Air Museum

For those who love aviation and flying

June

June 15, 1785 – Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier attempted the first manned crossing of the English Channel in a balloon but tragically crashed.

June 25, 1905 – Wilbur and Orville Wright made their first flight of 1905 in Huffman Prairie, Ohio, in their new “Flyer III,” the first practical airplane in history. 

June 26, 1909 – The first commercial sale of an airplane in the United States was made as Glenn H. Curtiss sold one of his planes to the Aeronautic Society of New York for $7,500. This action spurred the Wright brothers to begin a patent suit to prevent him from selling airplanes without a license. 

June 14, 1919 – Alcock and Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight in a Vickers Vimy aircraft from Newfoundland to Ireland.  Most people think Lindbergh was the first to complete a transatlantic flight in 1927, but Alcock and Brown were first.  Lindbergh was the first person to complete such a flight solo, and first to fly from York to Paris nonstop.

June 11, 1926 – The first flight of the Ford Trimotor “Tin Goose”, an all-metal monoplane which competed with the three-engine Fokker and becomes a pioneer American airliner. 

June 17, 1928 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger.

June 6, 1944 – A huge airborne armada, nine planes wide and 200 miles long, carries American and British troops across the British Channel for the D-Day invasion of Europe.

June 26, 1948 – The Berlin Airlift began, where Western Allies supplied West Berlin by air during the Soviet blockade.

June 18, 1983 – Sally Ride became the first American woman to travel to space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.

June 1, 2011 – Lufthansa introduced the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (747-8I), marking a milestone in commercial aviation.

The above is a partial list of aviation events that took place in the month of June.  A more complete listing can be found here.