Flight altitude record
Fixed-wing aircraft

Flight altitude record

Section Title: Fixed-wing aircraft
Table Section Text: None

Year	Date	Altitude	Person	Aircraft	Propulsion	Notes

Imperial	Metric

1890	October 8	8 in	20 cm	Clément Ader	Éole	propeller	Uncontrolled hop

1903	December 17	10 ft	3 m	Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright	Wright Flyer	propeller	Photographed and witnessed unofficially.

1906	October 23	10 ft	3 m	Alberto Santos-Dumont	14-bis	propeller	First officially witnessed and certified flight.

1906	November 12	13 ft	4 m	Alberto Santos-Dumont	14-bis	propeller

1908	December 18	360 ft	110 m	Wilbur Wright	Biplane	propeller	at Auovors

1909	July	492 ft	150 m	Louis Paulhan	Farman	propeller	Douai Air Show

1909	3,018 ft	920 m	Louis Paulhan	Farman	propeller	Lyon

1910	January 9	4,164 ft	1,269 m	Louis Paulhan	Farman	propeller	Los Angeles Air Meet

1910	June 17	4,603 ft	1,403 m	Walter Brookins	Wright biplane	propeller

1910	October 30	8,471 ft	2,582 m	Ralph Johnstone	Wright biplane	propeller	International Aviation Tournament was at the Belmont Park race track in Elmont, New York

1910	December 26	11,474 ft	3,497 m	Archibald Hoxsey	Wright Model B	propeller	Second International Aviation Meet held in 1910 at Dominguez Field, Los Angeles. Hoxsey died in a plane crash five days later while trying to set a new record.

1912	September 11	18,405 ft	5,610 m	Roland Garros	Blériot monoplane	propeller	Saint-Brieuc (France)

1915	January 5	11,950 ft	3,640 m	Joseph Eugene Carberry	Curtiss Model E	propeller

1916	November 9	26,083 ft	7,950 m	Guido Guidi	Caudron G.4	propeller	Torino Mirafiori airfield

1919	June 14	31,230 ft	9,520 m	Jean Casale	Nieuport NiD.29	propeller

1920	February 27	33,113 ft	10,093 m	Major Rudolf Schroeder	LUSAC-11	propeller

1921	September 18	34,508 ft	10,518 m	Lt. John Arthur Macready	LUSAC-11	propeller

1923	September 5	35,240 ft	10,740 m	Joseph Sadi-Lecointe	Nieuport NiD.40R	propeller

1923	October 30	36,565 ft	11,145 m	Joseph Sadi-Lecointe	Nieuport NiD.40R	propeller

1924	October 21	39,587 ft	12,066 m	Jean Callizo	Gourdou-Leseurre 40 C.1	propeller	Callizo later claimed several higher records, but these were stripped from him, as he had falsified barograph readings.

1930	June 4	43,168 ft	13,158 m	Lt. Apollo Soucek, USN	Wright Apache	propeller

1932	September 16	43,976 ft	13,404 m	Cyril Uwins	Vickers Vespa	propeller

1933	September 28	44,819 ft	13,661 m	Gustave Lemoine	Potez 506	propeller

1934	April 11	47,354 ft	14,433 m	Renato Donati	Caproni Ca.113 AQ	propeller

1936	August 14	48,698 ft	14,843 m	Georges Détré	Potez 506	propeller	highest with no pressure suit

1936	September 28	49,967 ft	15,230 m	Squadron Leader Francis Ronald Swain	Bristol Type 138	propeller

1938	June 30	53,937 ft	16,440 m	M. J. Adam	Bristol Type 138	propeller

1938	October 22	56,850 ft	17,330 m	Lt. Colonel Mario Pezzi	Caproni Ca.161	manned propeller-driven biplane record so far

1948	March 23	59,430 ft	18,114 m	John Cunningham	de Havilland Vampire	turbojet	Modified Vampire F.1 with extended wingtips and a de Havilland Ghost jet engine.

1951	August 15	79,494 ft	24,230 m	Bill Bridgeman	Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket	air-launched rocket plane	Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR11 liquid fuel rocket engine (designated as XLR8-RM-5).

1953	May 4	63,668 ft	19,406 m	Walter Gibb	English Electric Canberra B.2	turbojet	propelled by two Rolls-Royce Olympus engines.

1953	August 21	83,235 ft	25,370 m	Lt. Col. Marion Carl	Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket	air-launched rocket plane	Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR11 liquid fuel rocket engine (designated as XLR8-RM-5).

1954	May 28	90,440 ft	27,570 m	Arthur W. Murray	Bell X-1A	air-launched rocket plane	Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR11 liquid fuel rocket engine.

1955	August 29	65,876 ft	20,079 m	Walter Gibb	English Electric Canberra B.2	turbojet	Olympus powered.

1956	September 7	126,283 ft	38,491 m	Iven Kincheloe	Bell X-2	air-launched rocket plane

1957	August 28	70,310 ft	21,430 m	Mike Randrup	English Electric Canberra WK163	turbojet & rocket	With Napier "Double Scorpion" rocket motor

1958	April 18	76,939 ft	23,451 m	Lt. Commander George C. Watkins, USN	Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger	turbojet

1958	May 2	79,452 ft	24,217 m	Roger Carpentier	SNCASO Trident II	turbojet & rocket

1958	May 7	91,243 ft	27,811 m	Major Howard C. Johnson	Lockheed F-104 Starfighter	turbojet	This F-104 became the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records when on 16 May 1958, U.S.

1959	September 4	94,658 ft	28,852 m	Vladimir Ilyushin	Sukhoi Su-9	turbojet

1959	December 6	98,557 ft	30,040 m	Commander Lawrence E. Flint, Jr.	McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II	turbojet

1959	December 14	103,389 ft	31,513 m	Capt "Joe" B. Jordan	Lockheed F-104 Starfighter	turbojet	General Electric J79

1961	April 28	113,891 ft	34,714 m	Giorgii Mosolov	Ye-66A Mig-21	turbojet & rocket	R-11

1962	July 17	314,700 ft	95,900 m	Robert Michael White	X-15	air-launched rocket plane	Not a C-1 FAI record

1963	July 19	347,400 ft	105,900 m	Joseph Albert Walker	X-15	air-launched rocket plane	Not a C-1 FAI record.

1963	August 22	353,200 ft	107,700 m	Joseph Albert Walker	X-15	air-launched rocket plane	Not a C-1 FAI record

1963	November 15	118,860 ft	36,230 m	Major Robert W. Smith	Lockheed NF-104A	turbojet & rocket	Unofficial altitude record for aircraft with a self-powered takeoff.

1963	December 6	120,800 ft	36,800 m	Major Robert W. Smith	Lockheed NF-104A	turbojet & rocket	Unofficial altitude record for aircraft with self-powered takeoff.

1973	July 25	118,898 ft	36,240 m	Aleksandr Fedotov	Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-266	Jet plane record	Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type

1976	July 28	85,069 ft	25,929 m	Captain Robert Helt	Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird	turbojet	Pratt & Whitney J58; Absolute Record of FAI classes C, H and M Another SR-71 set absolute speed record on the same day.

1977	August 31	123,520 ft	37,650 m	Aleksandr Fedotov	Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-266	Jet plane record	Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type

1995	August 4	60,897 ft	18,561 m	2 pilots: Einar Enevoldson and other, and two scientists	Grob Strato 2C	manned propeller monoplane record to date

2001	August 14	96,863 ft	29,524 m	Unmanned	NASA Helios HP01	propeller	Set altitude records for propeller driven aircraft, solar-electric aircraft, and highest altitude in horizontal flight by a winged aircraft.

2004	October 4	367,490 ft	112,010 m	Brian Binnie	SpaceShipOne	air launched rocket plane	In addition to the altitude record, this flight also set records for greatest mass lifted to altitude and minimum time between two consecutive flights in a reusable vehicle.

Sentence(s)

The altitude of Trident II turbojet & rocket engine aircraft was recorded as 24,217 m (79,452 ft) on May 2, 1958 by Roger Carpentier.

final_sentence: The altitude of Trident II turbojet & rocket engine aircraft was recorded as 24,217 m (79,452 ft) on May 2, 1958 by Roger Carpentier.