Pressurised cabin (Lockheed XC-35)
Cabina presurizada (Lockheed XC-35)
- Date
- 1937 · confidence high
- Place
- Burbank, California, USA
- Credited to
- Lockheed and the US Army Air Corps
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
An experimental aircraft with a sealed cabin pressurised by compressors, flying at high altitude without oxygen masks. The XC-35 (1937) proved the principle adopted in the Boeing 307 Stratoliner (1938) and all later airliners.
The Packard-Le Père LUSAC-11 tested an experimental pressurised cabin in 1921; the XC-35 is the first aircraft with an effective pressurisation system. The Boeing 307 was the first pressurised commercial aircraft.
What it led to
- commercial flight above bad weather, at altitude and over long distance
- jet airliners with sealed cabins