Today is National Aviation Day

By Mona Hatfield

National Aviation Day by NASA. From https www.nasa.gov, Public Domain, https commons.wikimedia.org

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The National Aviation Day (August 19) is a United States national observation that celebrates the development of aviation.

The holiday was established in 1939 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who issued a presidential proclamation which designated the anniversary of Orville Wright‘s birthday to be National Aviation Day (Mr. Wright, born in 1871, was still alive when the proclamation was first issued, and would live another nine years). The proclamation was codified (USC 36:I:A:1:118), and it allows the sitting US President to proclaim August 19 as National Aviation Day each year, if desired. Their proclamation may direct all federal buildings and installations to fly the US Flag that day, and may encourage citizens to observe the day with activities that promote interest in aviation.

His birthday, August 19, was deemed to be National Aviation Day. Orville Wright, at age 34. Photo by The Wright Brothers, From Library of Congress, Public Domain, https commons.wikimedia.org

COURTESY www.almanac.com