Aviation Firsts
Pilots flew the first western aerial forest fire patrols from Crissy Field, now part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Dream of flight brought Wilbur and Orville Wright to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where, after four years of experimentation, they became the first people to fly a heavier than air, power controlled machine, known as the Wright Flyer. What they achieved changed our world forever. National Aviation Day was created in 1939 by presidential proclamation to commemorate this event and the men that made it happen.
Learn about Fairchild: The first owned and operated NPS Airplane.
Did you Know?
Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon, carried with him a piece of the cloth and wood from the original 1903 Wright Flyer.
Since the advent of flight, there were people who considered aviation for all of its possibilities. On the blank canvas of aviation, pilots aggressively pursued the “firsts” and breaking records. The use of aviation by the military accelerated flying skills and the creation of new technology.
In 1903 the Wright brothers take the world's first powered flight, 1924 sees the first flight around the world and the first helicopter flight, 1937 the Hindenburg zeppelin burns, 1940 the first smokejumpers jump, 1946 the first helicopter is used to fight wildfire, 1947 Colonel Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier, in 1955 the first operational air tanker dropped water on the Mendenhall Fire, 1959 when NASA chooses its first 7 astronauts and 1969 when 2 of them became the first to walk on the moon, Redmond, OR. smokejumpers were actually the first rappellers in wildland firefighting in 1972, 1986 the loss of the Challenger Space shuttle, then the Columbia Shuttle in 2003 the same year as aviation celebrated her first century.
Each landmark built on the successes and failures of each flight before, all of which were lessons learned the hard way, made by people that would push themselves and their aircraft to and past their capabilities.
Aviation Firsts Commemorated in National Parks
Date | Aviation First |
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Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park |
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09/08/1904 | First figure 8 |
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1905 | First airborne engine restart |
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05/1910 | First flight school |
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05/25/1910 | First (and only) time the Wright Brothers flew together |
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11/07/1910 | First cargo flight (Dayton to Columbus, Ohio) |
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Big Bend National Park |
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03/11/1916 | First United States combat use of a powered aircraft |
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Golden Gate National Recreation Area |
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1917 | First aerial wildland fire detection patrols |
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1919 | Launch site of the first transcontinental air race | |
1924 | Landing site of first "dawn to dusk" transcontinental flight |
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1927 | Launch site of the first non-stop North America to Hawaii flight |
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Date | Pilots flew the first western aerial forest fire patrols from Crissy Field, now part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area |
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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park |
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10/28/1928 | First airplane to land in a volcano |
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Grand Canyon National Park |
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02/24/1919 | First flight over the Grand Canyon |
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Fall/1923 | First use of an airplane in search & rescue |
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Gateway National Recreation Area |
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Date | Site of New York City's first municipal airport |
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Date | (Floyd Bennett Field) |
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National Capital Parks |
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Date | First large scale aerial photo mosaic series (70 sq miles) |
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Independence National Historic Park |
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1793 | First airmail sent by a U.S. President |
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Date | (George Washington via hot air balloon) |
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Eisenhower National Historic Site |
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1939 | First U.S. President to obtain a pilot's license |
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1956 | First U.S. President to fly in a jet powered aircraft |
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1957 | First U.S. President to fly in a helicopter |
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Wright Brothers National Memorial |
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12/17/1903 | First successful sustained flight of a powered aircraft |
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Chaco Cultural National Historical Park |
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1928 | First aerial archaeology survey in United States |
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Cape Hatteras National Seashore |
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11/10/36 | First aircraft owned and operated by US Department of Interior |
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Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site |
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1943-1945 | First (only) fighter group to never lose a bomber under its protection |
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Fort Vancouver National Historic Site |
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1937 | First "over the Pole" flight by a Russian |
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