Traffic & Transit
Beverly Regional Airport: Happy National Aviation Day, August 19th
On Thursday, August 19th, National Aviation Day, we want everyone to pause, remember, and be filled with wonder and appreciation. Becaus ...
August 16, 2021
Flying! Equal parts human imagination and scientific principles, the ability to fly is magical. However, as flying has been around for generations it can be easy to take it for granted.
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On Thursday, August 19th, National Aviation Day, we want everyone to pause, remember, and be filled with wonder and appreciation. Because when we really stop to wrap our minds around the act of flying, it’s thrilling and astonishing- even for those of us who eat and sleep aviation every day! I mean how can we not marvel at something that seems impossible…sitting inside a flying machine traveling many hundreds of miles per hour, thousands of feet above the landscape below.
The History of National Aviation Day
Most everyone knows who Orville Wright was, and his contribution to aviation. The true architect and pioneer of flight, Orville was the first to take flight. Although the contributions of others like Charles Edward Taylor, a machinist also deserve credit (Taylor was on the team and spent weeks building the 12-horsepower engine) Orville actually made the 120 feet first flight.
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So it’s only fitting that Franklin Delano Roosevelt designate Orville’s birthday, August 19th as National Aviation Day. Roosevelt honored Orville with this proclamation while he was still alive. Of course, today, and in a relatively short time, the insatiable imagination of humans has conquered new challenges like flying across oceans, high speed flights, and finally, flying into space.
How to Spend National Aviation Day
There are so many great ways to celebrate! Here are a just a few ideas.
READ
Read about Firsts in Flights
Here are some incredible memoirs and other books about aviation’s pioneers:
A Dream of Wings by Tom D. Crough
The Fun of It by Amelia Earhart
Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O’Brien
Three-Eight Charlie: 1st Woman to Fly Solo by Jerrie Mock
WATCH
Two great documentaries are:
The Making of the Boeing 747
Kitty Hawk: The Wright Brothers’ Journey of Invention
EXPLORE
There are many aviation museums to check out. Find one near you!
Take a trip to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina where you will find the Wright Brothers National Memorial.
GO “PLANE SPOTTING”
Appreciate flying by creating a social event with friends plane spotting. Bring a picnic and friends and make an afternoon out of it!
ACT
Take a flight
Learn to fly
Build your own airplane
On behalf of Gloria Bouillon, Airport Manager, and everyone here at Beverly Regional Airport, we want to wish you an amazing National Aviation Day! We are happy to answer any questions you may have, and with two flight schools on site, we would love to make your aviation dreams come true. Contact us today!
This press release was produced by Beverly Regional Airport. The views expressed here are the author’s own.