Aviation

Teaching with Historic Places has posted on the web the following lesson plans related to the history of aviation--from the first controlled powered flight to America's space programs. These lessons, based on sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places, are free and ready for immediate classroom use by students in history and social studies classes.

• America's Space Program: Exploring a New Frontier
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research institutions across the country cooperated to develop and implement the complex technology that enabled man to land on the moon.

• Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park:
Where the Wright Brothers Conquered the Air
Discover the early influences that inspired the Wright brothers as inventors and the importance of the Wright Cycle Company Complex where they developed the key mechanical skills that profoundly impacted their invention of the airplane.

• Floyd Bennett Field: Naval Aviation’s Home in Brooklyn
Learn about the vital role played by naval aviators delivering aircraft to combat-bound units in the Pacific during WWII, and the women workers on the home front who helped in one of U.S. history's greatest industrial feats.

• The United States Air Force Academy: Founding a Proud Tradition
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.

• Wright Brothers National Memorial: Site of the First Controlled Powered Flight
Discover why the Wright Brothers chose the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct their flight experiments, how they achieved controlled powered flight in 1903, and how their accomplishments have been commemorated.

 
To learn more about TwHP's other lessons, visit the Lesson Plan Descriptions page.

For more information about the history of aviation, visit the National Register of Historic Places travel itinerary Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms.