All Stories

Curator Alex Spencer tells the story of Felice Figus.

Curator Russ Lee discusses the lesser-known Japanese fighter aircraft Shiden Kai.

Alverna Babbs challenged the Civil Aeronautics Administration in 1944 for a waiver to earn her student pilot’s license. The CAA was reluctant due to Babb’s disability—a double leg amputation at the age of 13 months. With her own persistence and the assistance of Roscoe Turner, Babbs earned her waiver and her full pilot’s license in 1946, the first person with a disability to do so (as documented in the previous blog in this series celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act). After remarrying and having children, Alverna Williams took a 30 year hiatus from flying. She returned to aviation in the 1970s, determined once again to take her place in the sky. 

Thirty years ago, on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act came into effect. This important civil rights law prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. Forty-six years earlier, without the protection of law and its accommodations, Alverna Babbs, who had lost both legs as a child, fought to receive a waiver for her student license. When she succeeded, she became the first American pilot with disabilities to earn a pilot’s license.

National Air and Space Museum fellow Caroline Johnson remembers the pioneering life of Emily Howell Warner.

Curator Jeremy Kinney explores the contribution of Royal Air Force leader Desmond Cooke to the improvement of Supermarine Spitfires prior to the Battle of Britain.

Curator Laurence Burke looks back on the extensive career of Navy pilot Edward L. “Whitey” Feightner

During World War II, airlines worked closely with the military to further the war effort by transporting people and materiel. Bob van der Linden, curator of air transportation, discusses Air Transport Command.

Curator Russell Lee shares the story of aircraft designer Neal V. Loving.

Today we’re talking about Sully, the movie based on the real-life emergency water landing of US Airways flight 1549 which ditched in the Hudson River in January 2009.