All Stories

Congress created the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, in 1915 to supervise and direct American aeronautical research. 

Jackie Cochran’s record-setting T-38 Talon is now on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Discover the relationship shared between these two aviation icons.

NASA is usually associated with spaceflight, but its first "A" stands for Aeronautics. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb of NASA led the development of several key technologies: area rule in the 1950s and '60s, supercritical wings in the 1970s, and winglets in the 1970s and '80s.

The mid-1930s were a difficult time for airlines. To survive in these challenging times, airlines needed bigger, better, and faster airplanes that could profitably fly passengers as well as mail. By the mid-1930s, the first modern, high-performance airliners were taking to the air. 

In 1929, a group of 99 women pilots decided to form an organization for social, recruitment, and business purposes. Living in a society that limited women's social and economic independence, these group formed for women to mutually support each other in the aviation profession. Thus the Ninety-Nines were born.

Flight attendants improve the flying experience for passengers by ensuring their safety and providing for their comfort. How did this role start? Who were some of the first flight attendants? Discover their stories.  

Suzanne Asbury-Oliver and her husband, Steven Oliver, became America’s only husband and wife professional skywriting and aerobatic team.

Combining flying and photography skills, Osa Johnson and Mary Light both flew on documentary missions, photographing remote areas in Africa. Discover their stories.  

Katherine Stinson was the fourth woman in the U.S. to obtain a pilot's license. Encouraged by her sister Katherine's success, Marjorie Stinson decided to learn to fly.

Brown made history again and again as a pilot, civil rights advocate, and leader.