Beverly Regional Airport: November Is National Aviation History Month

Press release from Beverly Regional Airport:

October 30, 2021

Aviation has had a relatively short but formidable history beginning with early attempts at flight that included kites and gliders, then evolved to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic and space flights.

National Aviation History Month is dedicated to exploring, recognizing, and celebrating America’s great contributions and achievements in the development of aviation.

At Beverly Regional Airport, we are more than aviation enthusiasts, we live, breathe and sleep all things aviation, and hope you will join us in observing, and remembering all the people and advances that have led to today’s truly remarkable world of aviation.

Here are some fun facts that you can learn and share with others. Some of these fun facts were first compiled on Gail S Hennessey’s Education blog post.

AVIATION FUN FACTS

• The Wright brothers’ first attempt went 120 ft (approximately 6ft)…a distance covered less than the wingspan of today’s 747 Jumbo Jet!
• Charles Lindbergh was the first to fly non-stop from New York to Paris. The trip, in 1927, took 33.5 hours.
• Amelia Earhart was the first woman aviator to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. The year was 1928.
• Lillian Gatlin was the first woman to ride as a passenger in an airplane! The year was 1922.
• In 1939, Willa Brown was the first African American woman to earn a commercial pilot’s license.
• Every 37 seconds, an airplane takes off from Chicago O’Hare’s International Airport. That’s about 100 airplanes each hour.
• One third of your taste buds get numb while flying.
• Bessie Coleman was an American aviator and the first African American female pilot. She was also the first American to receive an international pilot’s license.
• At any given time, there are 3 million people in the air in an airplane!
• Some people maintain that the Wright Brothers were not the first but that Gustave Whitehead successful powered an aircraft in Bridgeport, CT, on August 14, 1901…two years before the Wright Brothers. Whitehead’s craft, called the Condor, did two flights on that date. Reaching 50 Ft., the distance covered was 1 1/2 miles.
• Aerophobia is the fear of flying.
• There is also a National Aviation Day on August 19th. The day was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1939, on the birthday of Orville Wright, who first piloted the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903.
• Inventor, artist, scientist, Leonardo da Vinci had sketches for a flying machine called an ornithopter. The year was 1485.
• George Cayley is called the “Father of Aviation”. He built the first glider in 1799.

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Check out all the links below to learn more about Aviation.

• Aerospace Industries Association
• Federal Aviation Administration, Air Traffic By The Numbers
• Federal Aviation Administration, Aviation Data & Statistics
• Frontiers of Flight Museum (in Association with the Smithsonian Institution)
• Library of Congress, The Dream of Flight
• NASA History
• National Aviation Hall of Fame (chartered by Congress)
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Aerospace
• National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
• National Park Service, Travel Sites of American Aviation
• Smithsonian, National Air and Space Museum
• U.S. Navy, Naval Aviation Histories
• Women in Aviation International

At Beverly Regional Airport, we are always celebrating the miracle and majesty of aviation, but we are especially proud this month! We invite you to our airport to celebrate, remember and with two flight schools on site, discover firsthand the beauty of aviation! Contact Airport Manager, Gloria Bouillon for more information.

This press release was produced by Beverly Regional Airport. The views expressed here are the author’s own.