{"id":10329,"date":"2025-12-04T13:32:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T12:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/?post_type=magazin&p=10329"},"modified":"2025-12-04T13:32:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T12:32:57","slug":"in-2026-we-will-be-celebrating-125-years-of-the-aero-club-of-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"magazin","link":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/en\/magazine\/in-2026-we-will-be-celebrating-125-years-of-the-aero-club-of-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"In 2026 we will be celebrating 125 years of the Aero Club of Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2026 we will be celebrating 125 years of the Aero Club of Switzerland<\/h1>\n

To mark this event in style, Swissmint is issuing the new Swiss Aviation coin series.<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″]

About the Aero Club of Switzerland
\n<\/strong>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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner]

Notable milestones from the pioneering age of Swiss aviation<\/h2>\n<\/div>[vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

1783<\/h2>\n<\/div>

On 19 October 1783<\/strong>, the French brothers Joseph Michel<\/strong> and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier<\/strong> successfully sent the first manned tethered balloon around 2,000 metres up into the sky by means of hot air.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

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1788<\/h2>\n<\/div>

On 5 May 1788<\/strong>, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard<\/strong>, in an ‘aerostatic experiment’ in Basel<\/strong>, launched the first hydrogen balloon<\/strong> with a passenger in Switzerland.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

1794<\/h2>\n<\/div>

In France<\/strong>, the first airship company<\/strong> is founded. This marks the start of the military use of manned flight.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

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1891<\/h2>\n<\/div>

The Swiss General Staff acquired a tethered balloon<\/strong> to supplement reconnaissance by the artillery.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

1893<\/h2>\n<\/div>

In 1893<\/strong>, Eduard<\/strong> Spelterini<\/strong> made headlines as the pilot of a gas balloon. His balloon flights and aerial<\/strong> photographs<\/strong> helped to increase the popularity of ballooning as a sport.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

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1897<\/h2>\n<\/div>

On 24 May 1897<\/strong>, the Federal Council requested that an airship<\/strong> company<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

1898<\/h2>\n<\/div>

First crossing of the Alps<\/strong> by Spelterini.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

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1900<\/h2>\n<\/div>

On 2 July 1900<\/strong>, the first flight of an airship built by Ferdinand<\/strong> Zeppelin<\/strong> took place.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

1910<\/h2>\n<\/div>

In 1910<\/strong>, the city of Lucerne<\/strong> built an airship<\/strong> station<\/strong> from which the Aero Cooperative organised flights with a ram airship from 1910 to 1912.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

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1931-1932<\/h2>\n<\/div>

Auguste Piccard’s<\/strong> balloon flights into the stratosphere to an altitude of 15,780 metres.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

1966<\/h2>\n<\/div>

On 28 August 1966<\/strong>, Kurt R\u00fcnzi<\/strong> imported the first hot-air balloon<\/strong> to Switzerland.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

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1999<\/h2>\n<\/div>

From 1 to 21 March 1999<\/strong>, Bertrand Piccard<\/strong> and Brian Jones<\/strong> made the first round-the-world balloon flight with the Breitling Orbiter III<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/div>","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-10329","magazin","type-magazin","status-publish","hentry","thema-special-coins"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazin\/10329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazin"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazin\/10329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10394,"href":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazin\/10329\/revisions\/10394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sondermuenze.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}