Tag: Flight

December 7th International Civil Aviation Day

December holidays

Ever since Wilbur and Orville launched their Kitty Hawk people have wanted to learn how to fly. (To be fair hey wanted to learn how to fly even before that). The military was one of the best ways to learn but after the wars are over there wasn’t much call for fighter pilots. So the ICAO was formed in 1944 for those civilians who wanted to fly. In 1994 the organization celebrated it’s fifty year anniversary and in 1996 it was recognized by US Congress resolution officially.

How to celebrate – Learn how to fly. Study the history of flight. Become a member of the ICAO.

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August 23rd Ride The Wind Day

August Holidays

Today is all about using as natural power source to supply movement, the wind. This includes things like flying, sailing, hang gliding, anything where wind powers your way. It’s a little chancy to plan your day, and entertainment, accordingly because it is a source you cannot control. You have to go along with where the wind wants to take you and how fast it wants to get you there, if at all. It can help provide energy for the earth, but just like all things concerning mother nature, she gives and she takes away!

How to celebrate – Go fly a kite. Invest in wind power for your electric, just don’t depend on it. Get a wind gauge.

August 19th Aviation Day

August Holidays

Today is Orville Wright’s birthday. You may remember Orville and his brother Wilbur, no, not the guy who had a talking horse. They are the brothers who are credited with being the first in flight Dec. 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville was born August 19th, 1871. Today was a presidential proclamation by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939. Who knew that what the brothers were up too would one day take us to the moon!

How to celebrate – Read about the Wright Brothers. Study mans struggle to fly. Become pilot!

July 24th Amelia Earhart Day

July Holidays

The world’s most celebrated female pilot disappeared on July 2nd, 1937 while on a flight around the world. She was in the Pacific, surrounded by clouds, looking for an island when last heard from. Born on July 24th, 1897 Earhart met every challenge in her life head on and did her best to conquer it , sometimes being a lady (As imagined in those days) but normally not as the world would have approved of. But one does not become a legend by doing what society asks of them. After a 250,000 mile search for her plane the hunt was given up and to this day it is not known exactly what happened or where she crashed.

How to celebrate – Read more about Amelia Earhart. Try to determine if she was a spy or adventurer. (Or both) Learn about other famous female pilots.

August 19th National Aviation Day

August Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

August 19th National Aviation Day

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Today we celebrate all those aviators that have led to our advancement in air travel and even into space. The day was created by President F. D. Roosevelt in 1939 to honor Orville Wright who was born August 19th, 1871. (Bet that didn’t make Wilbur very happy).

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If you think about the world of flight it really is amazing that we have come so far in such a short time considering the belief that man was never meant to fly.

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How to celebrate – Read more about the Wright Brothers. See how many famous aviators you can name. Take some flying lessons. (You never know when it may come in handy)

August 19th National Aviation Day

August Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Today we celebrate flight and the men, and women, who made it all happen. Though there have been many claims as to who was the first to fly it is generally accepted that the Wright Brothers were the first to successfully pilot an airplane on Dec. 17th, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

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As such it is only fitting that we celebrate this day in the honor or Orville Wright, who was born on August 19th, 1871. The day became a National holiday when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it in 1939.

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If you think about the world of flight it is amazing when you consider the first recorded successful flight came in 1903 and only 66 years later we were landing on the moon, in 1969. It is possible a young child in 1903 could have witnessed the moon landing in their lifetime.

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Originally called Wright Brother’s Day this date eventually became Aviation Day because many others added to the history of flight in a relatively short time. (Also because others have laid claim to being the first in flight.)  Today, airplanes are hardly even noticed as they soar across the sky. A little over a hundred years ago it was considered a miracle.

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Who knows where flight may end up. The American government seemed to give up on space and flight advancement but now private groups are picking up the slack.  Just like with the Wright Brothers, life waits for no one.

 

July 24th Amelia Earhart Day

July Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Wow, an ad commemorating Amelia Earhart… what are they selling? Maybe a disappearing cream of some sort. Anyway, today we celebrate the life of Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly to Europe from the US. She did not do it on her own, in fact she wasn’t even allowed to pilot the plane. She was probably a better pilot than those who actually did the flying, but that’s not important.

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We remember her for her daring, and eventually, solo flights over many great distances. Probably her best remembered flight is the one that did not end, or at least as we know it. Her plane disappeared while trying to find Howell Island in the Pacific. Radio transmission revealed she was lost in cloud cover and unable to find the island, or any islands for that matter. She was last heard from on July 2nd, 1937.

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Her plane was a Lockheed Model 10 Electra, better known as “The Flying Laboratory”.  It was a fairly reliable plane for the day, not that any of them were outstanding in the safety department. But still, it should have held up well, and her navigator, Fred Noonan was experienced. Some believe she was shot down the by Japanese as World War 2 loomed closer and closer to American involvement.

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Over the years I have heard a few stories about Earhart that tell a little different background. She was quite the party animal, some might even say living on the wild side. That being said, she may have wanted to disappear, and what a better way of doing it than planing a flight around the world!?!

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In fact the photo above, taken after she was given up for dead, shows someone identical to Fred Noonan, and someone suspiciously similar to Amelia Earhart in the background. Why she would want to disappear, we will never know. Maybe the Japanese did shoot her down, may she did disappear over the ocean, or maybe she just wanted to be left alone. She was born July 24th, 1897.

How to celebrate – Do a little research on Amelia yourself and see if you can figure out what happened to her. Celebrate women in flight. Try and figure out what Drzewiecki Design products are?

August 19th National Aviation Day

August Holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Orville and Wilbur Wright did not invent the airplane. There were others before them. The debate of who invented it first goes on-and-on but we know it was not the Wright Brothers. What they did invent was a way to control the airplane.

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Their first flight came on December 17th, 1903 and it truly was the first airplane flight that could be controlled by the pilot. They would elaborate on their success and help launch a mode of transportation that has never been equaled.

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While the airplane was built to transport people it rapidly became a weapon of war. Above are the types of airplanes flown in World War 1, not long after the Wright Brothers flight. The planes were crude and fragile but they proved their value to the army, and to the world.

In the years that followed World War 1, there were many advancements in aviation. Transporting the mail, cargo, and occasionally people began to find a place in every day life. While war raged in Europe, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, proclamated National Aviation Day in 1939, placing it on August 19th, Orville Wright’s birthday (1871).

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World War 2 launched the airplane into an entirely different world. Planes became more and more advanced and proved to be the most decisive weapon in history. Planes were able to fly faster and higher than ever before, Germany even invented the first ever jet. When the war came to an end, hundreds of experienced pilots flooded the world as airlines began to spring up and the experience of hauling cargo during the war was turned into a profitable business.

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Today planes are accepted as a common way to travel, ship cargo, and make our lives better. Of course their use in war is even more advanced and effective than ever before. And to think it all started just a little over 100 years ago when Orville and Wilbur Wright, while not inventing the airplane, made it so we could fly one.

How to celebrate – Study the history of aviation.Visit an exhibit on flight. Learn how to fly.