Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
– Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
("High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee Jr.)
From what I've seen, it seems that eagles can fly up to about 20,000 feet. Who was the first human aviator to reach this altitude in sustained flight, and what aircraft was used?
If the initial record was not set on an aircraft with wings, I would also be interested in the first time it was done in a fixed-wing aircraft, because while a balloon pilot may have "slipped the surly bonds of Earth," they have not "danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings."