Flight and Early Aviators
Exhibitions and Presentations

[Detail] First flight...

Multimedia resources from the Library of Congress that support instruction about flight and early aviators. These resources include expert presentations, exhibitions, bibliographies, Webcasts, and other online materials.

• Aerodynamics, Aircraft and Balloons and Airships (Science Reference Services) Explore these three Science Tracer Bullets for information, bibliographies and internet sources on each topic.
• American Treasures: S-42 Flying Clipper Seaplane (Exhibition) This was the first plane put into regular service by Pan American Airways in August 1934.
• American Treasures: Bell (Exhibition) Bell made extensive aerodynamic studies with these ring kites before attempting to build airplanes.
• American Treasures: First Flight (Exhibition) In 1903 the Wright brothers accomplished their first successful flight.
• American Treasures: Lindbergh on the Future of Airliners (Exhibition) Charles Lindbergh correctly predicted that trans-oceanic aircraft of the future will not only be very large but will be land-based rather than water-based.
• American Treasures: Igor Sikorsky's Helicopters (Exhibition) One of aviation's greatest designers, Russian-born Igor Sikorsky, began work on helicopters as early as 1910. In this journal, he records his technical progress as of 1930.
• Photographs Taken by the Wright Brothers of Aviation Experiments, Home, and Family (Prints and Photographs) View Library of Congress digital images of 303 glass plate negatives, most taken by the Wright brothers themselves between 1896 and 1911, that document their successes and failures with their new flying machines.
• Today in History (June 11, 1927) Charles Lindbergh (Today in History) On this day in 1927, Charles Lindbergh received the first Distinguished Flying Cross ever awarded.
• With Wings As Eagles: From Fantasy to Flight (Online Activity) View a powerpoint presentation highlighting resources from the Library of Congress that document the history of flight.