Test Flight Collection

First chimpanzee in space. Ham, the first chimpanzee in space, in his flight suit. On January 31, 1961, a Mercury-Redstone rocket carrying Ham was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA

P-51 ("Mustang") fighter planes being prep... North American Aviation, Inc, Inglewood, Calif. 1942
P-51 (" Mustang" ) fighter planes being prepared for test flight at the field of the North American Aviation, Inc. plant in Inglewood, Calif

Army Aviation, College Park Aviation Field - Wright Brothers Plane, Wrecked, 1911. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Army Aviation, College Park Aviation Field - Wright Brothers Plane, Wrecked, 1911. [Early test flights in Maryland]

Wright Brothers Airplane, Etc - Harry Atwood, 1911. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Wright Brothers Airplane, Etc - Harry Atwood, 1911. [US aviation pineer, engineer and inventor Atwood was chief flight instructor for William Starling Burgess whose Burgess Company built a variety of

Aviator Harry Atwood, in Plane with Leo Stevens, 1911. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Aviator Harry Atwood, in Plane with Leo Stevens, 1911. [US aviation pineer, engineer and inventor Atwood was chief flight instructor for William Starling Burgess whose Burgess Company built a variety

Wright Brothers Airplane, Etc - Harry Atwood, 1911. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Wright Brothers Airplane, Etc - Harry Atwood, 1911. [US aviation pineer, engineer and inventor Atwood was chief flight instructor for William Starling Burgess whose Burgess Company built a variety of

Army Aviation, College Park Aviation Field, 2nd Season - Wright Biplane, Type B... 1912. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Army Aviation, College Park Aviation Field, 2nd Season - Wright Biplane, Type B; Lt. Harry Graham, 1912. [Early test flights in Maryland. Lieutenant Graham flying Wright Brothers aircraft]

Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Va, July 1909 - First Army Flights, 1909 July. Creator: Harris & Ewing
Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Virginia, July 1909 - First Army Flights, 1909 July. [The Wright brothers conducted test flights at Fort Myer after the U.S

Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Va, July 1909 - First Army Flights; Wilbur And Orville Wright... Creator: Harris & Ewing
Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Virginia, July 1909 - First Army Flights; Wilbur And Orville Wright, Charlie Taylor; Putting Plane On Launching Rail

Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Va, July 1909. Creator: Harris & Ewing. Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Va, July 1909
Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Virginia, July 1909 - First Army Flights; Hangar, Orville Wright, Right, 1909 July. [The Wright brothers conducted test flights at Fort Myer after the U.S

Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Va, July 1909 - First Army Flights; View of Wright Plane, 1909 July
Wright Flights, Fort Myer, Virginia, July 1909 - First Army Flights; View of Wright Plane, 1909 July. [The Wright brothers conducted test flights at Fort Myer after the U.S

Dassault Mirage Iiiv Balzac V 02 Vtol Prototype Hovering?
Dassault Mirage Iiiv Balzac V 02 Vtol Prototype Hovering During a Test-Flight Date: 1965

Prototype Hawker Hurricane being test flown by Flight Lieutenant PWS Bulman, c1935 (1941). PWS George Bulman was Chief Test Pilot for Hawker Aircraft from 1925

8x Douglas DB-7A Havoc II aircraft awaiting delivery
Royal Air Force - Douglas DB-7A Havoc II intruder aircraft lined up at the factory before delivery. The nearest aircraft is AH433, the fourth production aircraft

Dassault Mirage 5COAM FAC3029
Fuerza Aerea Colombiana - Dassault Mirage 5COAM FAC3029 (msn 101), on a pre-delivery test-flight after modernisation / upgrade in the early 1990s

A fast, hard-hitting new A-20 (B-25)... Long Beach, Calif. plant of Douglas Aircraft Company, 1942
A fast, hard-hitting new A-20 [i.e. B-25] attack bomber is brought for a test hop to the flight line at the Long Beach, Calif. plant of Douglas Aircraft Company

New B-25 bombers lined up for final inspection... North American Aviation, Inc. Calif. 1942. Creator: Alfred T Palmer
New B-25 bombers lined up for final inspection and tests at the flying field of an aircraft plant, North American Aviation, Inc. Calif. It performs at the 25, 000-foot ceiling

B-25 bombers on the outdoor assembly line at North American Aviation... Kansas City, Kansas, 1942
B-25 bombers on the outdoor assembly line at North American Aviation, Incorporated, almost ready for their first test flight, Kansas City, Kansas

Pathfinder aircraft test flight, USA, July 27, 1995. Creator: NASA
Pathfinder aircraft test flight, USA, July 27, 1995. The Pathfinder was one of several unmanned aircraft being evaluated under NASAs Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST)

Suit worn by Mike Melvill aboard SpaceShipOne, 2004. Creator: Unknown
Suit worn by Mike Melvill aboard SpaceShipOne, 2004. Test pilot Mike Melvill wore this suit on June 21, 2004, during the first privately funded spaceflight of SpaceShipOne

The first flight of UK-built Concorde prototype 002 from Filton near Bristol to RAF Fairford piloted by Brian Trubshaw on 9th April 1969

Aircraft BAC TSR2 supersonic fighter / bomber designed for the Royal Air Force. After development trials the Labour government decided to cancel the project

Orbiter flight tests, Space Shuttle Enterprise landing, USA, c1975. Creator: NASA
Orbiter flight tests, Space Shuttle Enterprise landing, USA, c1975. The Enterprise (OV-101) was built as part of NASAs Space Shuttle programme to perform atmospheric test flights after being launched

Quite an early type of waterplane making a trial flight from Hampstead Ponds, c1918 (1919). Artist: W Heath Robinson
Quite an early type of waterplane making a trial flight from Hampstead Ponds, c1918 (1919). From The Wonder Book of Aircraft for Boys and Girls, edited by Harry Golding. [Ward. Lock & Co

Jacques Charles launches his first aerostat from the Champ de Mars, Paris, 1783 (1890s). French aeronauts Jacques Charles (1746-1823)

First test flight of a hot air balloon at Annonay, France, 4 June, 1783 (1890s). Enthusiastic crowds watching the first unmanned test flight by brothers Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier

Autonomous airborne refuelling testing C016 / 0584
Autonomous airborne refuelling testing. F-18 Hornet aircraft being refuelled in mid-air during a flight to test autonomous airborne refuelling technology

The Ares I-X rocket is seen on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center
October 26, 2009 - An Ares I-X rocket is seen on launch pad 39b at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida

Airship Mayfly
H M Airship No 1, built in Barrow as a response to German advances in airship technology, prior to its maiden test-flight. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Mayfly Unveiling
H M Airship No 1, built in Barrow as a response to German advances in airship technology, slowly emerges from her hangar prior to its maiden test-flight. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

XF-92A delta-wing aircraft, 1953
XF-92A delta-wing aircraft, on a flight from NACA's High-Speed Flight Research Station, Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA

Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle C016 / 0597
Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This aircraft has a wingspan of 35 metres. Developed between 2001 and 2005 by Northrop Grumman for US military surveillance

DROID aircraft collision avoidance tests C016 / 0599
DROID aircraft collision avoidance tests. NASAs Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone (DROID) aircraft in flight during testing of a ground collision avoidance system

X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle C016 / 0590
X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle test flight. This was the sixth flight of X-45A, the first Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) technology demonstrator

XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic aircraft, 1965 C016 / 0591
XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic aircraft. This is the first version of this 1960s US supersonic aircraft, the XB-70A (62-0001). Here

Bell XP-59A Airacomet, 1942 C016 / 4328
Bell XP-59A Airacomet in flight. This was the US militarys first jet fighter aircraft. It was designed and built by Bell Aircraft during World War II, and first flew in October 1942

Soviet Sputnik 4 stamp, 1960
Soviet Sputnik 4 stamp commemorating the launch of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 4 on 15 May 1960. Sputnik 4 was a test-flight of the Vostok spacecraft, which launched the following year

Soviet GIRD-09 rocket, 1933
Soviet GIRD-09 rocket. This was the first Soviet liquid-propelled rocket. GIRD 09, was launched on 17th August 1933, in the Nakhabino forests, near Moscow, Russia

First Soviet heavy bomber, 1925
First Soviet heavy bomber. Aircraft crew on the wings of an ANT-4 bomber in 1925. This aircraft was the first Soviet heavy bomber

Lindberghs Spirit of St Louis airplane on a test flight before his transatlantic voyage. The Spirit of St Louis was designed by Ryan Airlines and built in San Diego

SpaceShipOne firing rocket
SpaceShipOne private spacecraft. Image 1 of 3. Computer artwork of SpaceShipOne firing its rocket engine. The Moon is at upper left

ARD test flight sequence, artwork

German WWII ramjet bomber in flight. This is a Dornier Do 217 heavy bomber with a ramjet propulsor mounted on top of its fuselage

German WWII ramjet bomber in flight. This is a Dornier Do 217 heavy bomber with a ramjet propulsor mounted on top of its fuselage

Soyuz 13 rocket launch. Launch of the Soviet Soyuz 13 spacecraft carrying Pyotr Klimuk and Valentin Lebedev. Soyuz 13 was the Soviet Unions first dedicated science mission

Tiling rocket launch, 1930s
Engineer R. Tiling, the Rocket inventor from Osnabrueck, Germany, started three of his aluminium rockets from the Berlin Airport Tempelhof

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"From Chimpanzees to Supersonic Jets: A Journey through Test Flights" The first chimpanzee in space, paving the way for human exploration beyond Earth's atmosphere. Witnessing the meticulous preparations of P-51 ("Mustang") fighter planes at North American Aviation, Inc. , Inglewood, Calif. In 1942. Celebrating the historic first flight of UK-built Concorde prototype 002 as it soared from Filton near Bristol to RAF. Eight Douglas DB-7A Havoc II aircraft eagerly awaiting delivery, ready to take on their missions with precision and power. Marveling at the Dassault Mirage 5COAM FAC3029, a masterpiece of engineering and aerodynamics that pushed boundaries in military aviation. Hovering in awe as the Dassault Mirage Iiiv Balzac V 02 VTOL Prototype defied gravity with its vertical takeoff capabilities. Experiencing the exhilaration of witnessing Flight Lieutenant PWS Bulman test flying a prototype Hawker Hurricane back in c1935 (1941). Admiring the fast and hard-hitting new A-20 (B-25) bombers taking shape at Douglas Aircraft Company's Long Beach plant in 1942. New B-25 bombers lined up for final inspection at North American Aviation, Inc. , California - a testament to precision craftsmanship and attention to detail. Witnessing the outdoor assembly line where B-25 bombers were born at North American Aviation's Kansas City facility in 1942 - an impressive display of industrial might. Exploring Pathfinder aircraft during a groundbreaking test flight conducted by NASA on July 27, 1995 - pushing boundaries towards advanced aerial navigation systems. Getting an up-close look at Mike Melvill's spacesuit worn aboard SpaceShipOne during its pioneering journey into suborbital space in 2004.