A biography of Burt Rutan, an aircraft designer who created a plane that overcame one of flight's last great challenges - circling the world without stopping or refueling. Describes the many aircraft he designed.

Information on the aerial aspect of the war on the Eastern Front during WWI. Includes links to lists of each country's flying 'aces.'

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National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...

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...

A commentary on bush pilots and the development of flying to remote areas. The 3-minute discussion focuses on the history of the development of bush flying and how flight made accessing remote areas of a country possible. This is a...

The history of transportation in the United States is at the click of the mouse for specific modes. Activities and glossary are included. Geared toward primary students in content and navigation.

Article describing the history of the Hindenburg, with videos of it in flight and of it crashing.

Describes the earliest efforts of Texans to fly airplanes.

View the artwork for a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1998 to commemorate the Wright Brothers first flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Includes a detailed paragraph about the famous flight.

Read about the controversy that emerged over the authenticity of Samuel Pierpoint Langley's flying machine, and the response of the Wright Brothers to attempts to usurp their place in history. This is a transcript of a radio broadcast.

Learn about the first efforts to build a flying machine in this discussion of a Harper's magazine article from 1869 in this transcript of a radio broadcast.

Read about the success of the DC-3 passenger plane, which went into use in 1936, in overcoming the difficulties such planes had encountered up until then. This is a transcript of a radio broadcast.

Does war inevitably advance the invention of new technology? Read this explanation of why this commonly held belief may not be true, at least in the example of military aircraft. This is a transcript of a radio broadcast.

This site has a comprehensive overview of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., including information on Osama bin Laden's background, the formation of Al Qaeda, the attacks themselves, the US response, civil liberties and national...

The events surrounding the Cold War at its very height are the focus. Text plus a colored graphic flowchart make the topic visually appealing and of interest to both students and educators.

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."

In this textbook unit, students learn the reasons why the Industrial Revolution took root in England first, and the innovations that made this possible. These included textile inventions such as the flying shuttle and the spinning jenny,...

This multi-media rich site explores the voyage made by James Cook on the Endeavour in 1768. This voyage, marked as one of the most influential in history, made major nautical, geographical, natural history, and medical discoveries along...

The cockpit voice recorder captured the sound of passengers attempting to break through the door. Like the three other planes hijacked on September 11, Flight 93 was overtaken by al-Qaeda intent on crashing it into the White House or the...

This informative resource is a biography of Amelia Earhart and her accomplishments, focusing on the early years, her celebrity status, and her last flight.

In this unit students will explore the lives of the Wright brothers. The end result will be a student-made documentary highlighting the factors that allowed the Wright brothers to succeed at manned flight when others before them had failed.

'We pledge to never leave a fallen comrade behind,' says one of the survivors. American Airlines Flight 77, struck the Pentagon between Wedges 1 and 2. Anderson was in Wedge 2. Pentagon workers who had evacuated were trying to get inside...

A comprehensive site of the history of airmail in America.

This lesson plan has students read primary materials from the Smithsonian collection written by the Wright brothers, and compare and contrast them to secondary sources, such as newspaper stories from the next day. There is background...