January 28: The last balloon to leave Paris during the Persian siege takes off with orders for the French fleet to bring food and supplies to replenish the French capital, an armistice having been signed. The flight of the General Cambronne ends a period of almost exactly 5 months during which the advantages of balloons were put to efficient use.

August 18: Alphonse Pénaud achieves the first flight of an inherently stable airplane when his Planophore is flown 131 feet in 11 seconds before the Société de Navigation Aérienne in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris.

August 19: Orville Wright is born in Dayton, Ohio. He is co-inventor, with his brother Wilbur, of the first airplane to achieve powered, sustained, and controlled flight and the first fully practical powered airplane. Orville piloted the famous first flight at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina after winning a coin flip against his brother.