Flight

On March 22, 1941, James Stewart was inducted into the US Army, making him the first major US movie star to don a military uniform during World War II.

On February 22, 1921, experimental overnight transcontinental airmail flights between San Francisco and New York were launched. Despite a rocky start, the flights were a resounding success, earning support and funding for expanded service.

February 5 is celebrated annually as National Weatherpersons Day in honor of Dr. John Jeffries, one of America’s first weather observers. National Weatherpersons Day is held on February 5 to mark Jeffries’s birthday in 1744.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902, in Detroit, Michigan. An aviation pioneer, he made the first successful non-stop flight across the Atlantic and contributed to the war effort in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Aviator Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas.  The first female African American aviator, she achieved her dream of becoming a pilot during a time when most African Americans would not have even considered learning to fly.

On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 launched from Kennedy Space Center. It was the second manned spaceflight mission in the Apollo program, and the first to leave low Earth orbit, travel around the moon and safely return to Earth.  It was also the first human spaceflight launched from Kennedy Space Center.

On December 17, 1903, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first successful heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

On December 1, 1941, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), was established in Washington, DC. Unpaid volunteers formed the Civil Air Patrol, using privately owned aircraft and their own funds to support the military.

Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr was born on November 18, 1923, in Derry, New Hampshire. He was the first American (second person after Yuri Gagarin) to travel into space and the fifth person to walk on the Moon.