National Aviation Day marks history of powered flight

National Aviation Day is observed each year on August 19, a date tied to the history of powered flight and to the men credited with advancing it. The commemoration traces back to Orville and Wilbur Wright, who achieved the first successful powered, heavier-than-air flight in 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who formally established the observance through a presidential proclamation in 1939.

The date of August 19 was chosen because it corresponds to Orville Wright's birthday. At the time the observance began, Wright was 68 years old and had witnessed the aviation industry progress from the wood-and-fabric Wright Flyer to mass-produced aircraft such as the Piper J-3 Cub, a design still flown by enthusiasts today.

By 1939, only 36 years after the first flight at Kitty Hawk, aviation had already shifted from wood-and-fabric biplanes to metal aircraft construction. Open-cockpit biplanes used during the First World War had become obsolete, and new military aircraft designs, including the Boeing B-17 and Lockheed P-38, emerged that year amid rising global tensions. The same year also saw the founding of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the tenth anniversary of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots.

Wilbur Wright died in 1912 and did not live to see the holiday established, but Orville Wright survived until 1948, living long enough to witness the beginning of the jet age. He reportedly said he did not regret his role in inventing the airplane, though he expressed discomfort with its use as a weapon of destruction during wartime.