Airborne on Aviation Day!
Aviation Day celebrates the spirit of flight that captured the imaginations of all who dared to fly in the sky like birds. It’s a day to honor those who thought beyond the constraints of gravity and enabled mankind to reach the moon.
August 19th is Aviation Day, observed throughout America most especially by those who work in the aviation industry. The possibility of mass transportation through flight was recognized in the late 1930, and perpetuated by the heroic cross Atlantic flights of Charles Lindbergh and the gallantry of Amelia Earhart. Even before those historic accomplishments however, were the brief yet amazing experiments conducted by Orville and Wilbur Wright, the brothers who launched the first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903. The two brothers dared to soar with the birds, and accomplished a dream that had been held by man since the beginning of time. While the flight lasted only twelve seconds, Orville piloted the primitive aircraft 120 feet, and thus began an unquenchable desire to master airwaves and currents that continues to this day.
The brief flight of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk propelled others to further develop the Wright brothers’ designs, and before long, independent inventors and daring pilots were making the idea of flight a very likely prospect for the future.
National Aviation Day is not a federal holiday, but is recognized and celebrated by every state in the union; a day to reflect on the contributions and ingenuity of those who seek limitless possibilities. Schools across the nation invite airline pilots, engineers and even those who work with NASA, in the space administration, to offer talks in classrooms and auditoriums around the country. Focus on such events is not only on career possibilities, but in the fields of space exploration and research and technology. Aviation Day is also celebrated with plays and speeches about famous aviation pioneers like Amelia Earhart and Chuck Yeager, who was the first man to break the sound barrier. Aviation has come a long way since that twelve second flight on the beaches of Kitty Hawk in 1903, and Americans remember the dedication and sacrifices that have been made to perpetuate the process of flight and space exploration since then. The huge success of the space shuttle program has encouraged many young people to aspire to become astronauts and become pioneers in further space explorations and discoveries.
Military branches regularly offer amazing and popular aerial displays on Aviation Day from their specialized fighter pilot teams. The Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels draw hundreds of thousands of spectators for every performance. Aircraft designs have come a long way since that first rustic airplane that the Wright brothers flew, and technology and science continues to introduce faster and sleeker aircraft, for both military use and transportation needs.
Children and young people in America create models and crafts that honor the history of flight every year in classrooms throughout the country. They visit museums and learn about the great pioneers in aviation history, and many grow up to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. Celebrating Aviation Day is more than recognizing the importance of airplanes in the lives of Americans; it’s also a celebration of the human spirit and the desire to explore new realms. That desire to explore and to search extends way beyond the horizon and extends into space. More young people than ever before are entering the space program or learning skills that will find them jobs and careers in the space industry. That twelve second flight had an impact on Americans that is unequalled by any other event in the history of discoveries, and continues to live on to this day.