Images of Aviation

Pan American World Airways could be considered a corporate Cinderella--a rags-to-riches-and-back-again phenomenon.

From its founding in 1927 and its relatively obscure inauguration as a mail carrier on a 90-mile mail run from Florida's Key West to Cuba, Pan Am's route system grew to span the globe. The company that would eventually become famous for its blue-and-white-world logo grew into a conglomerate of hotels, airlines, business jets, real estate, a helicopter service, and even a guided missiles range division. But financial problems plagued Pan Am in its last two decades, and in 1991, Pan American World Airways ceased flying after 64 years of service. The story of Pan Am is as much the story of president Juan T. Trippe as it is an account of airplanes, pilots, flight attendants, and glamorous destinations. As the company moved throughout the world building airfields from jungles, crossing oceans, and forcing the development of new airplanes, it was Trippe's airline and his vision. A global pioneer, Pan Am was the first airline to use radio communications, to employ cabin attendants and serve meals aloft, and to complete an around-the-world flight. The company's achievements were legendary, but its failures, tragedies, and disasters were also part of a complex corporate life.

Since 1950, US Navy fleet defender (fighter) squadrons--home-based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia--have served as a vital part of the country's national defense and helped to exert global US naval firepower. Over the years, NAS Oceana-based fleet defender squadrons have participated in combat during the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars and in military incidents and conflicts in Libya as well as Kosovo and Afghanistan. During the Cold War, NAS Oceana-based fleet defender squadrons served as crucial deterrents to the Soviet Union's acts of aggression and provocation. More recently, NAS Oceana-based fleet defender squadrons have been highly engaged in the ongoing War on Terrorism, striking Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) targets in Iraq and Syria and Taliban targets in Afghanistan. Today, these squadrons stand ready to defend the United States, its naval fleets, and its interests abroad.

The world's first naval aeronautical station, Naval Air Station Pensacola is a dynamic and active station today.

A sign at the gate of Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) welcomes visitors to "The Cradle of Naval Aviation" - and, indeed it is. It came into being when the USS Mississippi (BB-23) arrived in Pensacola on January 20, 1914, with seven aircraft, nine officers, and 23 men. Today, NASP hosts several schools and several branches of the US military. It is also the home of the Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, as well as the renowned National Naval Aviation Museum (NNAM), which displays more than 100 years of naval aviation, from a replica Curtiss hydroplane to the F-14 Tomcat.

MacDill Air Force Base--through global war, regional conflicts, and counterinsurgencies--has repeatedly answered the clarion call to arms and proven itself to be an unrivaled military juggernaut within America's strategic arsenal.

MacDill Air Force Base was first recognized as a suitable location for an airfield by US Army aviators flying mock warfare maneuvers over Tampa in May 1938. Satisfying the US War Department's geographical requirements for providing air defense of America's southern Atlantic coast and supporting air operations over the Caribbean, the site was approved in July 1939 to become the location for the Army Air Force-planned Southeast Air Base. It was later renamed MacDill Field in honor of Army Air Force aviator and pioneer Col. Leslie MacDill. The base was formally dedicated on April 16, 1941, and B-17 Flying Fortress and B-26 Marauder combat crewmen began training in the business of making war. From bomber and tactical fighter wings to combatant commands and aerial refueling squadrons,

From early aerial experimenters who devoted their lives to the development of a heavier-than-air flying machine to the massive expansion of military flight training during the Second World War, the story of aviation in Alabama represents a remarkable historical legacy. In March 1910, Orville and Wilbur Wright established the nation's first civilian flying school on the grounds of what would become Maxwell Air Force Base, the center for military aerospace education and airpower doctrine. The establishment of the Wright brothers' flying school represents the first of a series of extraordinary events that propelled Alabama to the forefront of the evolution of aviation as the foundation of Pres. Franklin Roosevelt's "arsenal of democracy" during the Second World War.

Virginia has one of the oldest and richest aeronautical legacies in the country. Beginning with the use of balloons in the Civil War, the commonwealth was at the forefront of aerospace innovation, particularly in military aviation. Langley Field and Quantico were key development centers in the maturation of aerial warfare for the Army Air Service, its successors, and the Marine Corps. Norfolk witnessed the birth of the American carrier force and was on the front line in the Battle of the Atlantic. The state is also home to a legacy of civil and commercial activity. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laboratory at Langley Field established numerous foundational principles of modern aerodynamics, supported the development of many of the most significant aircraft of the 20th century, and paved the way for travel beyond Earth. Commercial airfields, including Richmond, Roanoke, and Washington's Hoover and National, were at the cutting edge of modern air travel and played host to aviation's elite. These images from local, state, and national archives--nearly all previously unpublished--depict a rich technological heritage.

Go inside the aeronautical history of the Langley Research Center from its beginning.

Following the creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1915, a unique flight research operations division was established at the nation's first civilian aeronautics research laboratory, the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Langley flight research personnel helped the nation's aircraft industry bloom during the Golden Era of aviation throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Langley's flight research then helped win World War II with performance-enhancing modifications to new aircraft. During the Cold War, Langley helped the country maintain an edge in aeronautics over its Warsaw Pact rivals.

When the space race began, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958 and Langley's pilots were instrumental in training astronauts. In addition to advancing rotorcraft during the 1960s and 1970s, Langley research pioneered a multitude of military and civil Vertical Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) concepts. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Langley research developed advancements in general and commercial aviation technologies.

Join author and Huntsville native T. Gary Wicks as he uncovers the beginnings and inventions that influenced air and space engineering in Alabama and America.

The air age in Huntsville began more than a century ago with Will Quick's design and construction of a flying machine, which he demonstrated in 1908 for patenting and manufacture. The space age began in Huntsville a half century later with the advent of Wernher Von Braun's Redstone Jupiter C rocket, which launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit in 1958. A decade later, Huntsville was at the epicenter of the greatest technological achievement of the 20th century as the Saturn V rocket propelled humankind to the moon. Nowhere in the world is the century's rapid advance of air and space technology more apparent than in Huntsville. This unique evolution of flying machines and space vehicles unfolds in this pictorial documentary, including the dramatic growth of the research facilities and community infrastructure that produced these remarkable inventions.

The intriguing history of aviation in Charleston, West Virginia, deserves to fly out of anonymity. Wertz Field opened in Institute in 1930, allowing for the introduction of the first commercial passenger service in 1933. In 1942, the construction of a rubber plant next to the field blocked flight approaches, resulting in its closure. Recognizing the urgent need for air service to the community, industrious West Virginians literally moved mountains to build Kanawha Airport on flat land created by leveling three mountains north of the state's capital, Charleston. Opening in November 1947, Kanawha Airport offered the community convenient air service and became home to the West Virginia Air National Guard. This book covers the history of aviation in the Charleston area, from the first airplane flight in 1912 to the current Yeager Airport, which links the region to the world economy.

In 1972, two pilots--one a federal career engineer, the other the pastor of a prominent church in Washington, D.C.--discovered a common passion for flying airplanes and serving people. One day over lunch, the men conceived a flight plan, one that would undergo many changes before becoming Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, as it is known today. Ed Boyer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Dr. Louis Evans, pastor of the National Presbyterian Church, discussed how to pool their interests and qualifications. From its beginnings as a charitable shuttle service for religious leaders and dignitaries, to full-scale charitable air ambulance operations, to Angel Flights for ambulatory patients, the initial vision has grown into a network of over 1,500 volunteer pilots in the Mid-Atlantic region who use their private planes to fly people in need to specialized treatment. Angel Flight coordinates missions of mercy from its offices in Virginia Beach, helping patients to find "the shortest distance between home and hope."

Throughout the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia, has played a significant role in the development of American naval aviation. The roles of fleet operational feasibility flight testing, flight testing of prototype aircraft, and tactical combat flight training at this naval air station have been crucial to this development. Technological advancements in naval airpower have significantly altered military doctrine and tactics, enabling the United States to gain strategic advantages over opposing forces in wars and military conflicts. Moreover, courage, innovative spirit, and ingenuity in conducting naval flight testing at Naval Air Station Norfolk have made and continue to make the advancement of American naval aviation possible. This remarkable military facility serves as a vital component of the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk.

Local businessman and inventor John Ellis Fowler introduced the concept of the flying machine to Mobile and South Alabama. Fowler's innovative designs mark the beginning of the remarkable aviation heritage of Alabama's port city, a legacy further enhanced by the evolution of military and civilian aviation on Alabama's Gulf Coast. A mild climate and abundance of flat terrain made the region attractive for the establishment of military flight training programs during the World War II while the availability of air, rail, and sea transportation made Mobile an ideal location for construction of a supply and repair depot to support military aviation in the Southeast. Images of Aviation: Mobile Aviation is the story of the first century of powered flight in Mobile and South Alabama.

The history of powered flight in Alabama began in February 1910 with the arrival of Wilbur Wright in the capital city of Montgomery. In search of a suitable location to establish a training camp for student aviators, Wright selected Montgomery as the site of the nation's first civilian pilot training school because of the region's short winters, mild climate, and flat farmland. The establishment of the Wright flying school marked the beginning of a remarkable aviation heritage in Montgomery, a legacy further enhanced by the arrival of military flight
training at Taylor Field less than a decade later. The same factors that attracted the Wrights to Montgomery made the area an ideal location for the military flight training programs that would produce more than 100,000 aviation cadets at Maxwell and Gunter Fields during the Second World War. From the
Wright brothers to the Air University at Maxwell Field, Images of Aviation: Montgomery Aviation is the story of the first century of powered flight in Alabama's capital city.

Louisville's Bowman Field is Kentucky's oldest continuously operating airport and one of the oldest in the United States. Abram Hite Bowman, Robert "Bob" Gast, and Wallace Sidney Park are considered the founders of Bowman Field, which dates to 1920. John Bennett, Frank Holzaphel, Dick Mulloy, and Wil Paris were among those who made the airport a success. Bowman Field was the landing place of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis in 1927. It also hosted aviatrix Ruth Nichols, who, in 1931, ended a record-setting flight when her airplane caught fire. During World War II, the airfield was repurposed as the Bowman Army Airbase and a training facility for flight nurses. In 1957, Bowman Field was the nation's busiest local traffic airport. As we approach the airfield's centennial, the Bowman Field Administration Building, built in 1929, has been hardly touched by the hands of time. Bowman Field is the airport where the past meets the future.

In 1910, an awestruck crowd at the Roanoke Fair got its first glimpse of powered flight when a Curtiss biplane soared overhead. Within the next decade, gliders were lifting off from hills in South Roanoke and cow pastures were being converted into airstrips. Once Roanoke Municipal Airport was developed in 1929, earlier local airfields such as Cook, Trout, and Horton Fields were rendered inactive. Then in 1941, when--with federal assistance-- the municipal airport became Woodrum Field, the region's air travel transitioned into the modern era and brought services from major airlines to the area. Roanoke's aviation reputation continued to grow when the city played a critical role in military air travel and training during World War II, leading its airport to become one of the busiest on the East Coast. Aviation in Roanoke tells the stories of early airfields, the growth and transformation of Woodrum Field, and the adventures of Roanoke's aviation pioneers.