Flying Legends

In aviation there have been some outstanding individuals who touched the sky in their pursuit of doing what had never been done before. Here we have attempted to list them:

It is well-known that the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, were the first men to fly on December 17, 1903. But others had actually flown before them. The Wright brothers, however, did accomplish the first human flight which was powered, controlled, and sustained.
One of the earliest pioneers in human flight was British inventor and aviator Percy Pilcher. He was the most famous British pilot of unpowered aircraft at the turn of the century. He died in a hang glider accident in 1899 before having the opportunity to test some of his aviation inventions.
Following World War I, British aviator Alan Cobham became a test pilot and, in November 1925, he flew from London to Cape Town, one leg of his eventual 27,000 mile journey during which Cobham proved the reliability of future flight despite the dangers of flying over hostile and foreign lands.
Breaking the race and gender barrier of flight, “Queen Bess” or Bessie Colman became the first African American woman in the world to earn her pilot’s license. Unable to gain acceptance to any flight schools in the U.S., Colman received her pilot’s license on June 15, 1921, from Federation Aeoronatique Internationale after attending flight school for only seven months at the Caudron Brothers School of Aviation in Le Crotoy, France. Her subsequent talent as a barnstormer turned Colman into a role model for women and for African Americans.
The most famous of all aviators, Charles A, Lindbergh, flew the Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927 at the young age of 25. Lindbergh had learned to fly quite young and barnstormed the country thrilling crowds with wingwalking. His personal tragedy when his son was kidnapped and murdered clouded the rest of his life.
Wiley Post is another familiar name in aviation. He set two trans-global speed records and invented the first practical pressure suit enabling him to explore high-altitutde flight. He was hired as a pilot by popular comedian and philosopher Will Rogers for a trip to Alaska but a tragic accident on take-off killed both men in 1935.
1936 brought the world Beryl Markham who was the first to fly solo east to west across the Atlantic Ocean. She was the first woman to earn a pilot’s license in her native Kenya and became a famous bush pilot there.
The most famous woman to pilot a plane was Amelia Earhardt. While attempting to fly around the world from Miami, Florida, Earhardt disappeared, possibly in a storm, as she tried to find Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, at the age of 39.
Wartime pilots were exceptionally brave and James H. Doolittle was among the bravest. He executed the first outside loop in 1927, which was thought to be impossible due to aerobatic stresses on the plane. During WWII, Doolittle’s squad completed a daring bombing mission over Tokyo in 1942 only to have it end with tragic results.
Modern heroes of aviation include test pilot Chuck Yeager who broke the sound barrier, billionaire Howard Hughes who created one of the largest aviation companies, Hughes Aircraft, and the pair Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager who together circumnavigated the world nonstop and without refueling their experimental aircraft the Voyager in 1986.