Every year on August 19, National Aviation Day offers pilots and aviation enthusiasts a chance to celebrate the ability to take to the skies.
Three men are responsible for the creation of the day: Orville and Wilbur Wright, who successfully achieved powered heavier-than-air-flight in 1903 at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who established the observation with a presidential proclamation in 1939.
August 19 was selected because it was Orville Wright’s birthday. Wright was 68 at the time and had watched aviation evolve from the Wright Flyer made of wood and fabric cobbled together in a bike shop to the mass production of the J-3 Piper Cub, which is still a favorite of aviators today.
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Although just 36 years had passed since that historic first flight, the aviation industry had evolved from wood-and-fabric airplanes to metal designs. The open-cockpit biplanes used during World War I were now obsolete and as another conflict loomed aircraft designs began to progress.
The birth of military designs, such as the Boeing B-17 and the Lockheed P-38, came in 1939.
Overall, 1939 was a big year for aviation, as it was the year the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) was founded, and the Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots were celebrating its 10 year anniversary.
Wilbur Wright did not live to see the creation of the national holiday, dying at 45 in 1912 from typhoid. However, Orville Wright, who died in 1948 at 76, did live to see the dawn of the jet age. During World War II he remarked that he did not regret his role in the invention of the airplane, although he did not like the destruction airplanes caused when used as weapons.
The celebration of National Aviation Day is a matter of personal preference. Most pilots do so by flying, but if you can’t get off the ground Wednesday, you can observe the occasion by sharing the joy of aviation with others through trips to aviation museums or airports, especially those that are more user friendly than others and have aircraft viewing areas.
For a more down-home celebration, aviation movies are always a good choice, such as The Rocketeer, Top Gun, and Top Gun: Maverick, The Great Waldo Pepper, Memphis Belle, and The Aviator.
Many pilots celebrate by introducing a youngster to the world of aviation. You just may be the person who sparks a lifelong interest.
