Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Interactive Experiments
Three interactives in an online exhibition about the Wright Brothers. The first is an engineering activity on the forces of flight, and is accompanied by a lesson plan for Grades 6-8. The second is a gallery of original artifacts related...
Science Struck
Science Struck: Events That Led to the Invention of the Airplane
Discover the history of the first airplanes and flying machines, and how the Wright brothers constructed their first successful airplane.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Land! Water! Sky! Oh My!
This lesson focuses on the importance of airplanes in today's society. Airplanes of all shapes and sizes are used for hundreds of different reasons, including recreation, commercial business, public transportation, and delivery of goods,...
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Early Aviation
Collection of digital resources gathered from public libraries, archives, and museums about early aviation. Learn more about key innovators and technologies from early flight experimentation and the invention of the hot air balloon to...
Other
Women in Aviation: Above All Else: The Story of Anne Morrow Lindbergh
This site has the story of Mrs. Charles Lindbergh, who was an accomplished pilot in her own right and won many awards in aviation.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: America by Air: Early Commercial Aviation
Commercial airlines took flight soon after the Wright brothers' famous first flights. Read about how the U.S. government encouraged the development of air travel.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms
Features 100 aircraft, airfields, research labs, military installations, battle sites, launch facilities, and other places that tell about people and events that made the U.S. a world leader in aviation. Highlights of this travel...
Other
Wwi Aviation: An Illustrated History of World War One: The Eastern Front
Information on the aerial aspect of the war on the Eastern Front during WWI. Includes links to lists of each country's flying 'aces.'
Other
Federal Aviation Administration: Aviation Trivia [Pdf]
Test your knowledge of aviation by taking this twelve-question quiz. Answer questions about rockets and other aircraft.
Other
Museum of Flight
The Museum of Flight collects and exhibits historically significant artifacts of air and space travel.
University of Houston
University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: No. 1362: Flying Across the Atlantic
Article discussing the early flights across the Atlantic. This is a transcript of an accompanying radio broadcast.
Other
Wichita State University: The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships
Online exhibit about one engineer's role in the designing and making of passenger airships or 'zeppelins'
Purdue University
George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers
The world's largest collection of Amelia Earhart papers, memorabilia and artifacts.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: The Invention of the Aerial Age
Beautiful, well-done site from the Smithsonian on the Wright Brothers: Who were they and what was the importance of the era they ushered in? Their roots are traced back to the Great Migration. Classroom activities and interactive...
Scholastic
Scholastic Instructor: 100 Years of Flight
Learn more about the first "100 Years of Flight" when you explore this article. It features resources, historical background knowledge and more.
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute: Flights of Inspiration
Franklin Institute site showcases the first flight taken by the Wright brothers. Follows the Wright brothers plan to achieve first flight as they used their failures to win them success in aviation.
Other
Spirit of St. Louis
Site offers "general dimensions, specifications, weight characteristics, and man hours required to build the aircraft." Also gives individual thumbnail images "of the technical preparation of the airplane."
Scholastic
Scholastic: The Flight of Amelia Earhart
A lesson unit to help students in grades 4-8 learn about the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart. The interactive timeline shows advances in technology and the world as a backdrop to Amelia's life.
Other
Museum of Women Pilots: Women in Aviation History
The history of women pilots from 1909 to 1996, from the first woman licensed to fly to the first female Marine Corps pilot commanding a combat helicopter. Much information about the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) which later...
A&E Television
History.com: What Happened to Twa Flight 800?
Minutes after its take off from New York's Kennedy International Airport, a Boeing 747 headed for Paris exploded midair over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island on July 17, 1996, leaving all 230 people aboard dead. The...
Other
Warbirds Resource Group: Luftwaffe Resource Center
This comprehensive site catalogs the planes of the Luftwaffe from 1935 on, and provides detailed specifications on armaments, missiles, bombs and other accessories to air warfare. It does not present a history of their use, but rather a...
The Henry Ford
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village: Wright Brothers
Brief history of the lives and accomplishments of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Includes a chronology of major events from Wilbur's birth in 1867 to Orville's death in 1948.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: America in the 1920s: Machine: Airplane
The National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
Other
Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co.: The Wright Story
A detailed look at the lives of Orville and Wilbur Wright, offering an overview of their childhood and career choices, their invention of the airplane, and the development and challenges of the airplane business. Provides embedded links...