[citation needed] The first fatal ballooning incident occurred on 26 December 1911, with Lieutenant Wilhelm Werner near Gmunden.
[citation needed] Around 1912 physicist Victor Francis Hess made a series of balloon flights, to measure background radiation.
[citation needed] Josef Emmer (14 April 1912 - 1985) would make many high-altitude flights, taking the world record in September 1937 at 9,374 metres, which would last until 19 July 1961.
[citation needed] The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919), in September 1919, prohibited the construction of powered aircraft in Austria.
The first Austrian aircraft built after the Second World War was designed by Otto Kauba, the OFW OK-15, which flew on 16 July 1956.
[citation needed] One of the first powered Austrian aircraft after the war was the Oberlerchner JOB 15, flown on 20 October 1958, made in Carinthia.
[citation needed] The reconstituted Austrian Air Force formed its first jet aircraft squadron on 7 July 1961 at Schwechat.
[1] In 1980 Erich Wolf won the world military aerobatics competition; he would later be the head of the air force from 2002, until 2020.
[citation needed] Austria has had a rescue helicopter service called Christophorus Flugrettungsverein (CFV) since 1983, founded by the ÖAMTC.