Curated OER
Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight
Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...
Curated OER
The History and Future of Flight
Students create a PowerPoint presentation and oral report on the history and future of flight. In this flight lesson, students work in small groups to research the history and future of flight. Students then write a report with...
Curated OER
Early Myths of Flight
Students explore mythology by researching the Internet. In this history of flight instructional activity, students view websites discussing the first recorded flight and the mythological creatures that people suspected could fly....
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National Humanities Center presents collections of primary resources compatible with the Common Core State Standards - historical documents, literary texts, and works of art - thematically organized with notes and discussion...
Science Museum, London
Science Museum Online Stuff: The First Flight
An excellent article about how Orville and Wilbur Wright's interest in flight developed and led to the first airplane flight.
Library of Congress
Loc: The Dream of Flight
The Library of Congress has opened its vast resources and created an exhibition commemorating the centennial of flight. The library uses "some of its rarest and most significant materials," to present this aviation history exhibit. Be...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Dream of Flight
The Library of Congress has opened its vast resources and created an exhibition commemorating the centennial of flight. The Library uses "Some of its rarest and most significant materials," to present this beautiful website. Be sure to...
Purdue University
George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers
The world's largest collection of Amelia Earhart papers, memorabilia and artifacts.
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...
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...
Other
Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co.: Aviation's Attic
Explore this virtual museum and learn the history of the Wright brothers and their determination to fly.
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...
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Embracing the Impossible [Pdf]
In this lesson, students explore primary resources to see what people who lived in the early age of flight felt about this innovation. They then compare that response to that towards an invention of today.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: America by Air:the Jet Age, 1958 Today
Learn about the changes that have occurred in commercial jet travel since 1958, when jet passenger service began in the United States.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Women in Aviation and Space History
Find information on the many women who became well known for their part in aviation history. Click on one of the drop down menus on the left to find a name, then click on the name to see a short description of the woman and her...
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Milestones of Flight
This Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum site tells the history of fight with an easy to use timeline. Also, find out about specific flights in the list of links.
American Academy of Achievement
Academy of Achievement: General Chuck Yeager, Usaf
Biography with photos and audio on Chuck Yeager, an Air Force pilot credited with being the first man to break the sound barrier. Site includes photos, audio and text.
NASA
Nasa: History of Flight
How did we learn to fly? Resource takes users back through time to discover where the history of flight all started. Offers links to games, art and stories as well as activities.
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.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Burt Rutan
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.
NPR: National Public Radio
Npr: Evolution of Military Aviation
An interactive timeline lets you see examples of military aircraft that have evolved since the first flight of the Wright brothers. Links at the bottom of the page lead to articles about fighter pilots.
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
Ellen's Place: Amelia Earhart 1897 1937
This informative resource is a biography of Amelia Earhart and her accomplishments, focusing on the early years, her celebrity status, and her last flight.
Other
Chuck Yeager
"The fastest man alive," "The guy with the right stuff," "Mr. Supersonic," read about this true American on his own personal website. Filled with fact filled information.