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A Report
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It all began with Bleriot, the Wright brothers and Santos-Dumont, and such famous aviatrices as Adrienne Bolland, Amelia Earhart and Helene Boucher. Aviation is one of the decisive developments of the 20th century. The early pilots - Lindbergh, Mermoz and Saint-Exupery, to name but a few - pioneered the skies, while Gagarin and Shepard explored outer space. In August 1998, we pay tribute to these legendary aviators, and to the Aero-Club de France, which celebrates its one hundredth anniversary.
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A law dated 16th June 1948, stipulated the creation of the Compagnie nationale Air France. On 4th August, Max Hymans became chairman, and Henri Ziegler managing director.
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26th Feb - 2nd Mar 1949: In 1949, Captain James Gallagher flew the first nonstop round-the world flight in just over 94 hours. His B50, named Lucky Lady was refueled four times in the air.
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The De Havilland Comet ushered in jet-powered aircraft travel on 2nd May 1952, with a first passenger flight between London and Johannesburg for BOAC. The four-jet DH 106 Comet made its maiden voyage on 27th July 1949. Put into commercial operation three years later, it was taken out of service in 1954 after a series of accidents.
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28th Oct 1952: For the Mystere, the first French aircraft to break the sound barrier, Marcel Dassault developed a new design for the servo-actuators, under the responsibility of Joseph Ritzenhaler and a young assistant, fresh out of engineering school: Jean-Luc Lagardere.
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During an air show in Algiers on 17th May 1953, the pilot and journalist Jacques Noetinger gave the third fighter squadron of Reims the name it still carries today : "Patrouille de France". This squadron is specialized in the art of stunt flying initiated by Adolphe Pegoud.
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On 18th May 1953, American Jacqueline Cochran, aboard an F 86 Sabre, became the first woman to break the sound barrier.
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On 15th August 1953, another Jacqueline - Frenchwoman Jacqueline Auriol - rivaled the American Jacqueline Cochran by breaking the sound barrier.
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Air France brought luxury to air travel with the Parisien Special, a Lockheed Super Constellation between Paris and New York, inaugurated on 20th Nov 1953. Passengers were greeted with champagne and ushered into 8 cabins, with seats that converted into double beds at night.
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On 15th July 1954, Boeing test-flew the Dash 80, the prototype for the 707. For many years, the 707 was the airplane of choice for long-haul flights.
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The Caravelle, the first commercial French jet, flew its first test flight on 27th May 1955. Nine models were designed and sold to 24 different airline companies.
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The first Sputnik weighed a scant 182 pounds, but on 4th October 1957, it became the first man-made object launched as a satellite from earth. The race for space was on. Bolstered by this first success, the Soviets launched Sputnik 2 on 3rd November 1957, with one small passenger : a dog named Laika.
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On 12th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth, becoming the first man to enter outer space.
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In April of 1961, President Kennedy promised America that they would reach the moon by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, the USSR was surging ahead. Finally, on 5th May 1961, Alan Shepard was launched into space aboard the Mercury capsule Freedom. On 6th August Russian cosmonaut Guerman Titov orbited the earth 17 times. The Americans countered on 20th Feb 1962, by sending John Glenn into space on the Friendship 7; he was the first American astronaut to orbit the earth.
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On 16th June 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space when she orbited the earth 49 times aboard the Vostok 6.
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On 18th March 1965, Alexei Leonov, orbiting the earth in the Voskhod 2, made the first space walk. He remained outside for 12 minutes, 9 seconds.
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On 20th May 1966, Air France became the first European company to offer an "open-air festival" to its passengers, with music, a film and individual headsets. In 1951, Air France had already showed An American in Paris on the Super constellation, but the films were discontinued because of international regulations.
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The Canadair CL-215 made its first tanker plane flight on 23rd October 1967. Used to fight forest fires, the aircraft's water tanks could be filled in about 10 seconds with 1,440 gallons of water, which were then dumped on the fire.
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Airline travel suddenly became accessible to everyone with the arrival of the Boeing 747 Jumbo jet on 9th February 1969.
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The Concorde took to the skies for the first time on 2nd March 1969.
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Neil Armstrong's famous words, "One small step for man…", reached earth on 20th July 1969, as the astronaut stepped onto the moon for the first time in mankind's history.
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Didier Daurat, the director and soul of the Aeropostable airmail service, died on 2nd December 1969. According to Saint-Exupery, he had created "a unique civilization, where men felt nobler than they did elsewhere".
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The Airbus A300, Europe's answer to the American aircraft manufacturers, flew for the first time on 28th October 1972, at the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, with Max Fishl and Bernard Ziegler at the controls.
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On 8th March 1974, with the opening of the Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, the most modern in Europe, the small village of Roissy-en-France gained international fame.
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On 7th April 1975, after years of training and unflinching determination, Daniele Decure became the first woman pilot for Air France, and was eventually promoted to the rank of flight captain aboard and Airbus A320.
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After a lengthy legal battle, the Franco-British supersonic aircraft, the Concorde, finally obtained permission to land at New York's JFK airport on 22nd November 1977.
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The Night Hawk, the famous stealth aircraft, was so secret that its existence was only revealed publicly on 18th June 1981. Although (almost) invisible on radar screens, it is certainly recognizable on sight.
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The Columbia space shuttle blasted off for the first time on 12th April 1981.
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The first French "spationaute", Jean-Loup Chretien, lived on board the Soviet spaceship Soyuz T6 from 24 June to 2 July 1982. He returned again to space, spending 26 days on the Mir space station, including a six-hour space walk.
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On 14th December 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager broke new flights records with a nonstop flight around the world in their Voyager aircraft. They stayed aloft for 9 days without refuelling.
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On 11 August 1988, Catherine Maunoury, flight attendant and chief cabin purser for Air France, became the world champion stunt pilot.
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This large long-haul carrier (8,900 miles), the most recent model in the Airbus line, made a faultless maiden voyage on 25th October 1991.
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From 16 to 18 June 1993, Pierre Baud and Bernard Ziegler circled the globe aboard an Airbus A340 in 48 hours and 32 minutes, with just a single stop in New Zealand. Their average speed was 550 mph.
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17th Aug 1996: The doctor Claudie Andre-Deshaya became the first French woman in space after spending 14 days on the Mir space station.
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On 1st May 1997, the first issue of Air France magazine was published, in conjunction with the merger of Air France and Air Inter.
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`Airbus presented the model of the A3XX at the 1997 Le Bourget Air Fair, held on June 15-22 1977. If the program is begun, the aircraft - the largest commercial plane ever built - should be ready by the year 2003.
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On 9th April 1998, the Boeing 777-200 started flying the Air France Paris-New York route.
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(Extracted from the AIR FRANCE magazine - August 1998 issue)
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