HOUSTON – Before Wilbur and Orville Wright played a significant role in aviation, air-show balloonists were flying decades before airplanes. In fact, balloonists were credited as the first people to fly in Texas in the 1860s.
However, in 1865, a new form of aviation happened. It’s believed the legend behind Jacob Brodbeck’s alleged flight was groundbreaking. Although researchers can’t determine the exact city of Brodbeck’s flight, they can all agree that the airship was destroyed.
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Years later, the Wright brothers achieved the first powered airplane flight in 1903. Still, no successful flights had taken place in Texas.
On February 18, 1910, all of that changed. After arriving from Los Angeles, Frenchmen, Louis Paulhan made history as the first person to fly an airplane in the Lone Star State.
According to the Houston Post, Paulhan flew his Farman Biplane successfully four times across a crowd of 3,500 witnesses.
The flight happened at 2:30 p.m. at Aviation Camp in South Houston and admission was $1.
Read the Houston Post’s coverage after the historical event
A few weeks later, Lt. Benjamin Foulois would follow the footsteps of Paulhan, completing a similar flight in San Antonio.
Flying would become a new form on transportation, and change history forever.