Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
In 1978, Jill E. Brown made aviation history as the first African American woman to become a pilot for a major U.S. passenger airline. She was born in Baltimore in 1950. Her family owned a farm in West Virginia and, by the time she was nine, Brown had begun operating a tractor there and performing... Continue Reading →
March 3, 2014 William “Bill” Reid Pogue, whose extensive flight achievements included service as both a U.S. Air Force (USAF) officer and NASA astronaut, died at his home in Cocoa Beach, Florida. He was 84. Pogue started out life on January 30, 1984, Okemah, Oklahoma. He was of Choctaw ancestry, even though he never became... Continue Reading →
Aviation pioneer Janet Harmon Bragg was born in the city of Griffin, Georgia, on March 24, 2007. She developed a strong interest in flying at a young age. In 1933, Bragg enrolled at Curtiss-Wright Aeronautical University in Chicago. By that time, the university had become an aviation school for blacks that was managed by pilots John C. Robinson (1903-1954)... Continue Reading →
December 31, 1909 On New Year’s Eve, inventor and mechanic Henry Ferguson (1884-1960) became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air aircraft in Ireland. This pioneering flight took place in the village and civil parish of Hillsborough, which is 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of the city of Belfast in what is now officially known... Continue Reading →
November 13, 1899 In a widely publicized flight, Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932) piloted an airship in the skies above Paris. He had been born in southeastern Brazil’s municipality of Palmira, which was eventually renamed after him, and ended up spending most of his adult life in France to more fully pursue his strong... Continue Reading →
November 7, 1924 The world airspeed record for seaplanes was decisively broken in the skies above southeastern Virginia. The pilot for this flight was Lieutenant Victor E. Bertrandias of the U.S. Army Air Service (USAAS). He was accompanied by USAAS Lieutenant George C. McDonald. Their flight began at 10:45 a.m. and it entailed traveling a... Continue Reading →
Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr., who made notable contributions as both a U.S. Navy aviator and NASA astronaut, died at his home in the city of San Marcos, California. He was 88. Gordon had been born in Seattle on October 5, 1929. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1951 with a B.S. in... Continue Reading →
October 29, 1960 In Peru, Lima International Airport in the seaside city and constitutional province of Callao made its public debut. This airport, which is about 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) northwest of the historic district of the country's capital city of Lima, was officially opened a little over four months after its first international flight... Continue Reading →
Trailblazing airline pilot Linda Pauwels was born Linda Pfeiffer in San Pedro, a city in Argentina’s Province of Buenos Aires, in 1963. She was the daughter of Mabel Gaspard Pfeiffer, a native Argentinian who worked as a schoolteacher; and Jerzy “Jorge” Pfeiffer, a Polish-born naturalized Argentine citizen. Pauwels was only six years old when her... Continue Reading →
July 10, 1947 The maiden flight of the prototype of the Airspeed Ambassador, a twin piston-engined airliner, took place in the skies above England’s southern coast. This plane, which was designed and manufactured by the British aeronautical engineering company Airspeed Ltd., became one of the first airliners to be produced and introduced in England during... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 