North Carolina Centennial of Flight
1847
An unmanned balloon is released from Union Square to welcome James K. Polk.
1848
Chapel Hill students celebrate Zachary Taylor's election with
a homemade paper balloon thirteen feet tall and eighteen feet in
circumference.
1880s
Robert Henderson Roper of Washington County is the first American
to jump from a balloon in a parachute of his own making.
1902
Jake Hill of Stokes County builds a dirigible.
December 17,1903
The Wright Brothers conduct the first powered, heavier-than-air flights in Kitty Hawk.
1907
William Luther Paul of Carteret County claims to fly his
Bumble Bee four to five feet
into the air.
June 21, 1913
Tiny Broadwick of Granville County becomes first woman to jump from an airplane.
1915
Forrest Wysong of Greensboro builds an airplane on the campus of present-day NC State University.
October 1919
Belvin Maynard of Sampson County wins Double Transcontinental Aerial Derby
1924
Viola Gentry of Rockingham County becomes
first woman in North Carolina to learn how to fly an airplane.
November 1942
Thomas Oxendine of Pembroke County becomes
first Native American to graduate from U.S. Naval Academy.
1969
Warren Wheeler starts the Wheeler Flying Service
in Raleigh, becoming the first African-American to establish and run a commercial
air carrier.
1985
The Smithsonian Institute restores the original 1903 Wright Flyer.
For more information on North Carolina aviation, refer to
Thomas Parramore's First to Fly.
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