Flight

On August 31, 1957, the US Post Office issued an 8¢ stamp honoring Ramon Magsaysay, the first stamp in a new Champions of Liberty Series.

Baseball legend Theodore Samuel Williams was born on August 30, 1918, in San Diego, California. 

Samuel Pierpont Langley was born on August 22, 1834, in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Aviator and inventor Orville Wright was born on August 19, 1871, in Dayton, Ohio.

On August 17, 1859, the first airmail in the United States was carried by balloon in Indiana, from Lafayette to Crawfordsville.

On July 27, 1909, Orville Wright flew a plane a record one hour and 12 minutes. Born in 1867 and 1871, Wilbur and Orville Wright had been interested in science and technology from a young age.  After receiving a flying toy as a gift from their father in 1878, they became fascinated with flight.  They sought to develop a heavier-than-air flying machine that could carry a man.

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison. Kansas. Earhart had a taste for adventure from a young age.  In 1904, she saw a roller coaster for the first time during a family trip to St. Louis.  When she returned home, Earhart and an uncle built a homemade version and attached it to the roof of a shed.  Though Amelia ended up bruised and the wooden box she rode in was destroyed, she exclaimed, “It’s just like flying!”

General of the Air Force Henry “Hap” Arnold was born on June 25, 1886, in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. 

On June 22, 1946, US Airmail was carried by jet for the first time.