History
1889 Edouard and André Michelin founded Michelin®, today the largest tire manufacturer in the world, as a small rubber factory in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
1903 The Wright Brothers build and fly the first working airplane.
1909 Frenchman Louis Blériot makes the first successful long-distance flight over water from France across the English Channel.
1910 French baroness Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to gain a license to fly. Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to receive a pilot's license in the US.
1914 Less than 3 weeks after the declaration of war, Michelin® offers the French government its help in the designing of a true bomber.
1915 Through 1918, Michelin® builds 1884 planes in its Carmes factory. The world's first concrete airstrip is built at Aulnat in 1916.
1919 John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown make the first successful Atlantic crossing.
1921 Bessie Coleman becomes the first African-American to earn a pilot's license.
1923 Lieutenants John A. Macready and Oakley G. Kelly make the first non-stop flight across the United States.
1926 Charles Lindbergh becomes the first man to successfully fly a non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic. He flies on BFGoodrich® tires.
1930 Mrs. Victor Bruce, a British aviator, flies solo around the world. Amy Johnson is the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
1931 Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, Jr., complete the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight.
1932 Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly a solo round trip across the North Atlantic.
1937 Amelia Earhart disappeared while attempting to fly around the world.
1939 The world's first jet plane, the German Heinkel 178, flies on August 27th.
1943 The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II become the first African-American pilots to serve in combat.
1947 The Army Air Force becomes a separate major branch of the US military.
1948 On March 26th, Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, named Glamorous Glennis after his wife.
1965 First air circumnavigation of the globe via both poles was accomplished by the Polecat, a Boeing 707.
1969 On July 20th, Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to stand on the moon.
1981 Space shuttle Columbia lands on BFGoodrich® tires, wheels and brakes.
1981 Michelin® develops the world's first operational radial aircraft tire, introduced when the French Air Force Mirage III are equipped with the MICHELIN® AIR X®.
1983 Michelin® develops the first radial tire on commercial aircraft, Airbus A300.
1984 Michelin® develops the first radial tire on corporate aircraft, Falcon 900.
1986 Michelin® develops the first radial tire on a US military aircraft, McDonnell Douglas F15E. Michelin® develops a radial tire for the most popular Airbus aircraft, Airbus A320.
1986 Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager fly non-stop around the world in 9 days.
1989 The Michelin® Group purchases the BFGoodrich® aircraft tire division to establish a full-service supplier tending to the needs of the military, airline, regional and general aviation segments of the aviation industry.
1992 Michelin® develops the first radial tire on a regional aircraft, Aerospatiale ATR-42.
1993 Michelin® develops the first radial tire on a Boeing airplane, Boeing B777.
1997 Michelin® develops a radial tire for the most popular Boeing aircraft, Boeing B-737 NG.
2000 Michelin® is the sole supplier to the NASA Space Shuttle program and is proud to celebrate the touch down of Space Shuttle Discovery completing the program's 100th mission.