Flight altitude record

This listing of flight altitude records are the records set for the highest aeronautical flights conducted in the atmosphere, set since the age of ballooning.

Some, but not all of the records were certified by the non-profit international aviation organization, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). One reason for a lack of 'official' certification was that the flight occurred prior to the creation of the FAI.^[1]

For clarity, the "Fixed-wing aircraft" table is sorted by FAI-designated categories as determined by whether the record-creating aircraft left the ground by its own power (category "Altitude"), or whether it was first carried aloft by a carrier-aircraft prior to its record setting event (category "Altitude gain", or formally "Altitude Gain, Aeroplane Launched from a Carrier Aircraft"). Other sub-categories describe the airframe, and more importantly, the powerplant type (since rocket-powered aircraft can have greater altitude abilities than those with air-breathing engines).^[1]

An essential requirement for the creation of an "official" altitude record is the employment of FAI-certified observers present during the record-setting flight.^[1] Thus several records noted are unofficial due to the lack of such observers.

These aviation-related lists are incomplete; you can help by expanding them with more items referenced to reliable sources.

Balloons

In 1931, Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer (photo) reached a record altitude of 15,781 m. In 1932, Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns made a second record-breaking ascent to 16,201 m. Auguste Piccard ultimately made a total of twenty-seven balloon flights, setting a final record of 23,000 m.

• 1783—15 August—24 m (79 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier of France, made the first ascent in a hot-air balloon.
• 1783-19 October-81 m (266 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, in Paris.
• 1783-19 October-105 m (344 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier with André Giroud de Villette, in Paris.
• 1783-21 November-1,000 m (3,300 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier with Marquis d'Arlandes, in Paris.
• 1783—1 December 1783—2.7 km (8,900 ft); Jacques Alexandre Charles and his assistant Marie-Noël Robert, both of France, made the first flight in a hydrogen balloon to about 610 m. Charles then ascended alone to the record altitude.
• 1784—4 km (13,000 ft) Pilâtre de Rozier and the chemist Joseph Proust in a Montgolfier.
• 1803—18 July 1803—7.28 km (23,900 ft) Étienne-Gaspard Robert and Auguste Lhoëst in a balloon.
• 1839—7.9 km (26,000 ft) Charles Green and Spencer Rush in a free balloon.
• 1862—5 September 1862— about 11.887 km (39,000 ft)—Henry Coxwell and James Glaisher in a coal-gas balloon. Glaisher lost consciousness during the ascent due to the low air pressure and cold temperature of −11 °C (12 °F).
• 1927—4 November 1927—13.222 km (43,380 ft)—Captain Hawthorne C. Gray of the (United States Army Air Corps) in a helium balloon. Gray was killed when his oxygen supply ran out.
• 1931—27 May 1931—15.787 km (51,790 ft) —Auguste Piccard & Paul Kipfer in a hydrogen balloon.
• 1932—16.2 km (53,000 ft) —Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns in a hydrogen balloon.
• 1933—30 September—18.501 km (60,700 ft) USSR balloon USSR-1.
• 1933—20 November—18.592 km (61,000 ft) Lt. Comdr. Thomas G. W. Settle (USN) and Maj Chester L. Fordney (USMC) in Century of Progress balloon
• 1934—30 January—21.946 km (72,000 ft) USSR balloon Osoaviakhim-1. The three crew were killed when the balloon broke up during the descent.
• 1935—10 November—22.066 km (72,400 ft) Captain O. A. Anderson and Captain A. W. Stevens (United States Army Air Corps) ascended in the Explorer II gondola from the Stratobowl, near Rapid City, South Dakota, for a flight that lasted 8 hours 13 minutes and covered 362 kilometres (225 mi).
• 1956—8 November—23.165 km (76,000 ft) Malcolm D. Ross and M. L. Lewis (United States Navy) in Office of Naval Research Strato-Lab I, using a pressurized gondola and plastic balloon launching near Rapid City, South Dakota, and landing 282 km (175 mi) away near Kennedy, Nebraska.
• 1957—2 June—29.4997 km (96,784 ft) Captain Joseph W. Kittinger (United States Air Force) ascended in the Manhigh 1 gondola to a record-breaking altitude.
• 1957—19 August—31.212 km (102,400 ft) above sea level, Major David Simons (United States Air Force) ascended from the Portsmouth Mine near Crosby, Minnesota in the Manhigh 2 gondola for a 32-hour record-breaking flight. Simons landed at 5:32 PM on 20 August in northeast South Dakota.
• 1960—16 August— In testing a high altitude parachute system, Joseph Kittinger parachuted from Excelsior III over New Mexico at 102,800 ft (31,300 m). He set world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 mi (26 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed achieved by a human without motorized assistance, 614 mph (988 km/h).^[2]
• 1961—4 May—34.668 km (113,740 ft); Commander Malcolm D. Ross and Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather, Jr. (US Navy) in Strato-Lab V, using an unpressurized gondola. After descending, the gondola containing the two balloonists landed in the Gulf of Mexico. Prather slipped off the rescue helicopter's hook into the ocean and drowned.^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• 1966— Amateur parachute jumper Nicholas Piantanida (USA) reached 123,800 feet (37,700 m) with his Strato Jump II balloon but due to being unable to disconnect his oxygen line from the main capsule's feed he was forced to detach the balloon from the capsule, abort the jump and return in the capsule without the balloon. Due to his glove's design, he was also unable to reattach his safety harnesses and endured very great G forces but survived the descent. Piantanida's ascent is not recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as a balloon altitude world record.
• 2012—14 October – Felix Baumgartner in Red Bull Stratos reached 38,969 metres (127,851 ft) on a balloon starting near Roswell, New Mexico, USA, and returned to Earth by a parachute jump.
• 2014—24 October – Alan Eustace, a senior vice president at Google, reached 41,424 metres (135,906 ft) on a balloon and returned to Earth by a parachute jump.^[4]

Hot air balloons

Year	Date	Altitude		Person	Aircraft	Notes
		imperial	metric
2004	December 13, 2004	4.1 mi (22,000 ft)	6.614 km (6,614 m)	David Hempleman-Adams	Boland Rover A-2	Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record for hot air balloon as of 2007
1783	15 October 1783	0.016 mi (84 ft)	0.026 km (26 m)	Pilâtre de Rozier	Montgolfier	tethered balloon

On November 26, 2005, Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,290 m (69,850 ft). He launched from downtown Bombay, India and landed 240 km (150 mi) south in Panchale. The previous record of 19,811 m (64,997 ft) had been set by Per Lindstrand on June 6, 1988 in Plano, Texas.

Unmanned gas balloon

During 1893 French scientist Jules Richard constructed sounding balloons. These unmanned balloons, carrying light, but very precise instruments, approached an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).^[5]

The U.S. (and for a while, the world) altitude record for unmanned balloons was 51.8 km (170,000 ft) (according to a 1991 edition of Guinness Book of World Records). The vehicle was a Winzen-Balloon with a volume of 1.35 million cubic metres, which was launched during October 1972 in Chico, California, USA.

During 2002 an ultra-thin-film balloon named BU60-1 made of polyethylene film 3.4 µm thick with a volume of 60,000 m³ was launched from Sanriku Balloon Center at Ofunato City, Iwate in Japan at 6:35 on May 23, 2002. The balloon ascended at a speed of 260 m per minute and successfully reached the altitude of 53.0 km (173,900 ft), breaking the previous world record set during 1972.^[6]

Gliders

The highest altitude obtained in an unpowered aircraft is 15,460 m (50,720 ft) on 30 August 2006 by Steve Fossett (pilot) and Einar Enevoldson (co-pilot) in their high performance research glider, a modified DG-500.^[7] This record was set as part of the Perlan Project.^[8] The previous record was 49,009 ft (14,938 m) on February 17, 1986 by Robert Harris using lee waves over California City, USA.^[7]

Fixed-wing aircraft

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 uncontrolled 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[9]
1910	June 17	4,603 ft	1,403 m	Walter Brookins	Wright biplane	propeller	[10]
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[11]
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.[12] Hoxsey died in a plane crash five days later while trying to set a new record.[13]
1912	September 11	18,405 ft	5,610 m	Roland Garros	Blériot monoplane	propeller	Saint-Brieuc (France) [14]
1915	January 5	11,950 ft	3,640 m	Joseph Eugene Carberry	Curtiss Model E	propeller	[15]
1916	November 9	26,083 ft	7,950 m	Guido Guidi	Caudron G.4	propeller	Torino Mirafiori airfield[16]
1919	June 14	31,230 ft	9,520 m	Jean Casale	Nieuport NiD.29	propeller	[17][18]
1920	February 27	33,113 ft	10,093 m	Major Rudolf Schroeder	LUSAC-11	propeller	[19][20]
1921	September 18	34,508 ft	10,518 m	Lieutenant John Arthur Macready	LUSAC-11	propeller	[21]
1923	September 5	35,240 ft	10,740 m	Joseph Sadi-Lecointe	Nieuport NiD.40R	propeller	[22][23]
1923	October 30	36,565 ft	11,145 m	Joseph Sadi-Lecointe	Nieuport NiD.40R	propeller	[23][24]
1924	October 21	39,587 ft	12,066 m	Jean Callizo	Gourdou-Leseurre 40 C.1	propeller	[25] Callizo later claimed several higher records which were then stripped from him as he had falsified barograph readings.[26][27]
1930	June 4	43,168 ft	13,158 m	Lieutenant Apollo Soucek, USN	Wright Apache	propeller	[28]
1932	September 16	43,976 ft	13,404 m	Cyril Uwins	Vickers Vespa	propeller	[29]
1933	September 28	44,819 ft	13,661 m	Gustave Lemoine	Potez 506	propeller	[30]
1934	April 11	47,354 ft	14,433 m	Renato Donati	Caproni Ca.113 AQ	propeller	[31][32]
1936	August 14	48,698 ft	14,843 m	Georges Détré	Potez 506	propeller	highest with no pressure suit[33]
1936	September 28	49,967 ft	15,230 m	Squadron Leader Francis Ronald Swain	Bristol Type 138	propeller	[34]
1938	June 30	53,937 ft	16,440 m	M. J. Adam	Bristol Type 138	propeller	[34]
1938	October 22	56,850 ft	17,330 m	Lieutenant Colonel Mario Pezzi	Caproni Ca.161	manned propeller biplane record to date	[35]
1948	March 23	59,430 ft	18,114 m	John Cunningham	de Havilland Vampire	Turbojet	Modified Vampire F.1 with extended wingtips and de Havilland Ghost engine.[36][37]
1951	August 15	79,494 ft	24,230 m	Bill Bridgeman	Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket	Payload Deployed Rocket Plane	Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR-11 liquid fuel rocket engine (designated as XLR8-RM-5).
1953	May 4	63,668 ft	19,406 m	Walter Frame Gibb	English Electric Canberra B.2	Turbojet	fitted with two Rolls-Royce Olympus engines.[38]
1953	August 21	83,235 ft	25,370 m	Lt. Col. Marion Carl	Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket	Payload Deployed Rocket Plane	Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR-11 liquid fuel rocket engine (designated as XLR8-RM-5).
1954	May 28	90,440 ft	27,570 m	Arthur W. Murray	Bell X-1A	Payload Deployed Rocket Plane	Unofficial record. Powered by the XLR-11 liquid fuel rocket engine.[39]
1955	August 29	65,876 ft	20,079 m	Walter Frame Gibb	English Electric Canberra B.2	Turbojet	Olympus powered.[40]
1956	September 7	126,283 ft	38,491 m	Iven Kincheloe	Bell X-2	Payload Deployed Rocket Plane	[41]
1957	August 28	70,310 ft	21,430 m	Mike Randrup	English Electric Canberra B.2	Turbojet/rocket	With Scorpion Rocket Motor
1958	April 18	76,939 ft	23,451 m	Lieutenant Commander George C. Watkins	F11F-1F Tiger	Turbojet	[42]
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	The F-104 became the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records when on 16 May 1958, U.S. Air Force Capt Walter W. Irwin set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph
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	J79 Turbojet
1961	April 28	113,891 ft	34,714 m	Giorgii Mosolov	Ye-66A Mig-21	R-11 Turbojet + rocket
1962	July 17	314,700 ft	95,900 m	Robert Michael White	X-15	Payload Deployed Rocket Plane	Not a C-1 FAI record
1963	July 19	347,400 ft	105,900 m	Joseph Albert Walker	X-15	Payload Deployed Rocket Plane	Not a C-1 FAI record.
1963	August 22	353,200 ft	107,700 m	Joseph Albert Walker	X-15	Payload Deployed 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 self powered take off.
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 take off.
1973	July 25	118,898 ft	36,240 m	A. Fedotov	Soviet Ye-266	Jet plane record	Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type
1977	August 31	123,520 ft	37,650 m	A. Fedotov	Soviet Ye-266	Jet plane record	Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type
1995	August 4	60,897 ft	18,561 m		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	Payload Deployed 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.[43]

Piston-driven propeller aeroplane

The highest altitude obtained by a piston-driven propeller UAV (without payload) is 67,028 feet (20,430 m). It was obtained during 1988–1989 by the Boeing Condor UAV.^[44]

The highest altitude obtained in a piston-driven propeller biplane (without a payload) was 17,083 m (56,047 ft) on October 22, 1938 by Mario Pezzi at Montecelio, Italy in a Caproni Ca.161 driven by a Piaggio XI R.C. engine.^[45]

The highest altitude obtained in a piston-driven propeller monoplane (without a payload) was 18,552 m (60,866 ft) on August 4, 1995 by the Grob Strato 2C driven by two Teledyne Continental TSIO-550 engines.

Jet aircraft

The highest current world absolute general aviation altitude record -General Aviation World Records- achieved by a manned Airbreathing jet engine propelled aircraft is 37,650 metres (123,520 ft) set by Alexandr Fedotov, in a Mikoyan Gurevitch E-266M (MiG-25M), on 31 August 1977.

Rocket plane

The highest altitude obtained by a manned aeroplane (launched from another aircraft) is 112,010 m (367,487 ft) by Brian Binnie in the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne (powered by a Scaled Composite SD-010 engine with 18,000 pounds (8,200 kg) of thrust) on 4 October 2004 at Mojave, CA.^[43] The previous (unofficial) record was 107,960 m (354,199 ft) set by Joseph A. Walker in an North American X-15 in mission X-15 Flight 91 on August 22, 1963. Walker had reached 106 km - crossing the Kármán line the first time - with X-15 Flight 90 the previous month.

The highest altitude obtained by a rocket-powered aircraft (self-launched—i.e. not launched from another aircraft) was 24,217 m (79,452 ft) on May 2, 1958 by Roger Carpentier over Istres, France in a Sud-Ouest Trident II mixed power (turbojet and rocket engine) aircraft.^[46]

Electrically powered aircraft

The highest altitude obtained by an electrically powered aircraft is 96,863 feet (29,524 m) on August 14, 2001 by the NASA Helios, and is the highest altitude in horizontal flight by a winged aircraft. This is also the altitude record for propeller driven aircraft, FAI class U (Experimental / New Technologies), and FAI class U-1.d (Remotely controlled UAV : Weight 500 kg to less than 2500 kg).^[47]

Rotorcraft

On June 21, 1972, Jean Boulet of France piloted an Aérospatiale Lama helicopter to an absolute altitude record of 40,814 feet (12,440 m).^[48] At the extreme altitude the engine flamed out and the helicopter had to be (safely) landed via another record breaker — the longest successful autorotation in history.^[49] The helicopter had been stripped of all unnecessary equipment prior to the flight to minimize its weight and the pilot was breathing supplemental oxygen.

Paper airplanes

The highest altitude obtained by a paper plane is currently for the Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) project, which was released at an altitude of 27,307 metres (89,590 ft), from a helium balloon that was launched approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Madrid, Spain on 28 October 2010, and recorded by The Register's "special projects bureau". The project achieved a Guinness world record recognition.^[50][51]

Cannon rounds

The current world-record for highest cannon projectile flight is held by Project HARP’s 16-inch space gun prototype, which fired a 180 kg Martlet 2 projectile to record height of 180 km (590,550 ft; 110 mi) in Yuma, Arizona, on November 18th, 1966. The projectile’s trajectory briefly sent it into space, making it the first cannon-fired projectile to exit the atmosphere.^[52]

The Paris Gun (German: Paris-Geschütz) was a German long-range siege gun used to bombard Paris during World War I. It was in service from March–August 1918. Its 106-kilogram shells had a range of about 130 km (80 mi) with a maximum altitude of about 42.3 km (26.3 mi).

See also

• High-altitude airship
• High-altitude balloon
• Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

Notes

1. The FAI Absolute Altitude (#2325) record for balloon flight set in 1961 by Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather is still current, as it requires the balloonist to descend with the balloon.^[3]

References

1. Maksel, Rebecca (2009-05-29). "Who Holds the Altitude Record For an Airplane?: Depends On the Category—And On Who Was Watching". Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution). Retrieved 2012-03-03.
3. The International Air Sports Federation (FAI). "Ballooning World Records". Retrieved 2015-03-20.
4. "Alan Eustace Jumps From Stratosphere, Breaking Felix Baumgartner’s World Record". The New York Times.
5. http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/early_scientific_balloons/LTA7.htm
6. "Research on Balloon to Float over 50km Altitude". Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
7. "Fédération Aéronautique Internationale — Gliding World Records". Retrieved 2009-07-24.
8. DG Flugzeugbau GmbH. "Perlan Project". Retrieved 2 February 2012.
9. "1910 Dominguez Meet – Paulhan".
10. Washington Post. June 18, 1910. Indianapolis, Indiana, June 17, 1910. Walter Brookins, in a Wright biplane, broke the world's aeroplane record for altitude today, when he soared to a height of 4,603 feet (1,403 m), according to the measurement of the altimeter. His motor stopped as he was descending, and he made a glide of 2 miles (3.2 km), landing easily in a wheat field. Missing or empty |title= (help)
11. "International Aviation Tournament". Newsday.
12. "Hoxsey Soars 11,474 Feet; World's Record". Los Angeles Herald. December 27, 1910. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
13. "Hoxsey, Capsized By Wind, Crashes In Biplane To Instant Death At Dominguez Field". Los Angeles Herald. January 1, 1911. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
15. Aerial Age. 1915. Joseph E. Carberry, who holds the American record for altitude, accompanied by passenger, Capt. B. D. Foulois, Lieut. T. DeWitt Milling, Lieut. Ira A. Rader, Lieut, Carlton G. Chapman ...
16. Evangelisti, Giorgio, Gente dell'Aria vol. 6, Ed. Olimpia, 2000
17. FAI record file #15455.
18. Rosenthal, Marchand, Borget, Bénichou. Nieuport 1909-1950, Larivière, 1997, ISBN 2907051113.
19. Owers 1993, p. 51.
20. Flight 16 December 1920, p. 1274.
21. Angelucci and Bowers 1987, p. 195.
22. FAI record file #8246.
23. Flight 7 February 1924, p. 75.
24. FAI record file #8223.
25. "FAI Record ID #8384". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. April 30, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
26. "Airisms from the Air: Some "Record"". Flight. Vol. XIX no. 976. September 8, 1927. p. 635.
27. "Macready May Win Record". Popular Science. December 1927. p. 54.
28. "World's Records In Aviation". Flight, 20 March 1931, p. 247.
29. Andrews and Morgan 1988, pp. 205–206.
30. "The New Altitude Record". Flight, 19 October 1933. p. 1043.
31. "The World's Aviation Records". Flight, 16 August 1934, p. 844.
32. Cooper, Ralph. "Renato Donati 1894–". The Early Birds of Aviation. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
33. Détré, Georges. "J'ai piloté le Potez 506 à 15.000m." L'album du fanatique de l'aviation, March 1971. p. 27.
34. Lewis 1971, p. 485.
35. Taylor 1965, p. 346.
36. Bridgman 1951, p. 6b.
37. Lewis 1971, pp. 327–328.
38. Lewis 1971, p. 371.
39. NASA Bell X-1 Fact Sheet
40. Lewis 1971, p. 389.
41. "50th Anniversary of Two Historic X-2 Milestones Celebrated," NASA 2006
42. The New Navy 1954–1959 PDF
43. "FAI Record ID #9881 - Altitude above the earth's surface with or without maneuvres of the aerospacecraft, Class P-1 (Suborbital missions) " Mass Turnaround time Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Retrieved: 28 November 2015.
44. http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/condor.html
45. http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=11713
46. "Trident's 79,720ft" (pdf), Flight, 9 May 1958, p. 623
47. "Aviation and Space World Records". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
48. http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=11657
49. https://books.google.com/books?id=CSmVLrllpKUC&pg=PA151
50. Guinness World Record certificate
51. Haines, Lester. PARIS soars to Guinness World Record: Highest paper plane launch ever, 17 February 2012.
52. Graf, Richard K. "A Brief History of the HARP Project". Encyclopedia Astronautica. astronautix.com. Retrieved 2013-08-14.

Bibliography

• Andrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London:Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.
• Angelucci, Enzo and Peter M. Bowers. The American Fighter. Sparkford, UK:Haynes Publishing Group, 1987. ISBN 0-85429-635-2.
• Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1951–52. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd, 1951.
• "Eighteen Years of World's Records". Flight, 7 February 1924, pp. 73–75.
• Lewis, Peter. British Racing and Record-Breaking Aircraft. London:Putnam, 1971. ISBN 0-370-00067-6.
• Owers, Colin. "Stop-Gap Fighter:The LUSAC Series". Air Enthusiast, Fifty, May to July 1993. Stamford, UK:Key Publishing. ISSN 0143-5450. pp. 49–51.
• Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66. London:Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1965.
• "The Royal Aero Club of the U.K.: Official Notices to Members". Flight 16 December 1920.

External links

• Fédération Aéronautique Internationale No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata. –the international, non-profit, non-government organization that tracks aircraft world records
• Balloon World Records Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
• Excelsior III Details of Kittingers' Jump from a stratospheric balloon in 1960
• Iowa State University – High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology
• Eng, Cassandra (1997). "Altitude of the Highest Manned Balloon Flight". The Physics Factbook.