Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Racing cyclist Coryn Rivera Labecki was born on August 26, 1992, in the city of Garden Grove, California. She grew up in the nearby city of Tustin. Both of Coryn’s parents were Filipino immigrants; her father Wally Rivera had been born in Tondo, a district of the Philippines’ capital city of Manila, and her mother... Continue Reading →
Ken Munechika, who made notable contributions as both an aerospace engineer and U.S. Air Force (USAF) officer, was born on June 18, 1935, in Pākalā Village on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i. (At the time, Hawaii was a U.S. territory; it became the 50th state in 1959.) Munechika’s first name at birth was Kenji. As... Continue Reading →
April 27, 1922 Sheila Scott, who would break more than 100 aviation records, was born in the cathedral city of Worcester in central England. Prior to her pursuit of flying, she worked in such varied fields as nursing and acting. Scott learned how to fly in 1958. After nine months of training, she began to... Continue Reading →
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 →
Transportation History 