When we think of aviation pioneers, names like the Wright brothers or Amelia Earhart might come to mind. But nestled in the heart of American aviation history is another remarkable name: Walter H. Beech. Beech’s relentless passion for flight culminated in...
Giovanni Battista Caproni: The Italian Dreamer Who Took Flight If there’s one thing we can say about Giovanni Battista Caproni, it’s that he was a man with a vision—a vision that soared as high as the planes he...
Bessie Coleman was the first African American Woman Pilot. Born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, she grew up in a large family with twelve siblings. Despite the challenges of her upbringing, Coleman displayed a strong sense of determination...
Early Life: Igor Sikorsky was born on May 25, 1889, in Kyiv, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), into a well-educated family. His father, a renowned professor of psychology, and his mother, a physician, nurtured his interest in science and art,...
First Woman to Break the Sound Barrier & Aviation Pioneer Early Life: Jacqueline Cochran, born Bessie Lee Pittman in the Florida Panhandle, was the youngest of five children in a working-class family. Her father, Ira Pittman, was a...
Born on December 5, 1879, in Hawthorne, Iowa, Clyde Cessna grew up in rural Rago, Kansas, after his family moved there when he was two. He displayed early mechanical skills, improving farm equipment and developing new farming techniques. He later...
It's been a while since we've had an Aviation Appreciation Friday post and who better to reintroduce our series with than one of the engineering masterminds of Lockheed's Skunk Works Division! Life: Kelly Johnson was born in the small mining town...
Let's Celebrate the Inventors of the World’s First Successful Aircraft... Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867, near Millville, Indiana, and Orville Wright on August 19, 1871, in Dayton, Ohio. They were two of seven Wright siblings, with...
Introducing #5 of the series: Chuck Yaeger, The First Person to Break the Sound Barrier! Early Life & World War II: Chuck Yaeger was born on February 13, 1923, in Myra, West Virginia, Yeager grew up in a modest...
