In 2026 we will be celebrating 125 years of the Aero Club of Switzerland
To mark this event in style, Swissmint is issuing the new Swiss Aviation coin series.
Ahead of the anniversary in 2026, the special coin ‘Pioneers of Swiss aviation’ was issued on 18 September. For the anniversary itself, Swissmint is issuing the silver coin ‘125 years of the Aero Club of Switzerland’. The third and last special coin in the Swiss aviation series will be issued in 2027, and will be dedicated to the future of aviation.
About the Aero Club of Switzerland
The Aero Club of Switzerland (AeCS) is the umbrella organisation for air sports and light aviation. The Club represents around 23,000 members. The AeCS is organised into motorised flight, gliding, model flying, balloon, parachute, Swiss microlight, helicopter and experimental divisions. It is responsible for the administrative management, organisation and promotion of SPHAIR (the Swiss Air Force training platform) on behalf of the federal government.
On the next pages, we have compiled a few notable events from the age of the pioneers of Swiss aviation for you. We also present the special coin ‘Pioneers of Swiss aviation’ from the new Swiss aviation series.
Notable milestones from the pioneering age of Swiss aviation
1783
On 19 October 1783, the French brothers Joseph Michel and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier successfully sent the first manned tethered balloon around 2,000 metres up into the sky by means of hot air.
1788
On 5 May 1788, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard, in an ‘aerostatic experiment’ in Basel, launched the first hydrogen balloon with a passenger in Switzerland.
1794
In France, the first airship company is founded. This marks the start of the military use of manned flight.
1891
The Swiss General Staff acquired a tethered balloon to supplement reconnaissance by the artillery.
1893
In 1893, Eduard Spelterini made headlines as the pilot of a gas balloon. His balloon flights and aerial photographs helped to increase the popularity of ballooning as a sport.
1897
On 24 May 1897, the Federal Council requested that an airship company be established. It was convinced ‘that our army can no longer do without the powerful weapon of tethered balloons’. The corps was dissolved in 1937.
1898
First crossing of the Alps by Spelterini.
1900
On 2 July 1900, the first flight of an airship built by Ferdinand Zeppelin took place.
1910
In 1910, the city of Lucerne built an airship station from which the Aero Cooperative organised flights with a ram airship from 1910 to 1912.
1931-1932
Auguste Piccard’s balloon flights into the stratosphere to an altitude of 15,780 metres.
1966
On 28 August 1966, Kurt Rünzi imported the first hot-air balloon to Switzerland.
1999
From 1 to 21 March 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones made the first round-the-world balloon flight with the Breitling Orbiter III.