Celebrating National Aviation Day

Sculpture at the Wright Brothers National Monument _courtesy National Park Service

Today (August 19) is National Aviation Day, which celebrates the development of aviation and marks Orville Wright’s birthday.

Airports and aviation fans around the country will be noting the day in various ways.

Courtesy CVG

At Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), they’ll be celebrating with two events.

*From 11:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m. CVG is inviting community members to stop by the Airport Viewing Area to watch planes take off and land and enjoy a family-friendy outing with the Kona Ice truc, the CVG fire truck, games and other activities.

*From 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. CVG and Graeter’s Ice Cream will be greeting arriving passengers with samples of ice cream. There will also be a performance from ArtsWave Presents and aviation-themed giveaways in the terminal.

Mural honoring Wright Brothers – at Tampa International Airport

On National Aviation Day, one of my traditions is to remember Katharine Wright, Orville and Wilbur’s sister, who was often referred to as “The Third Wright Brother.”

Don’t know about her? That’s because Orville tried to have Katharine’s role in the brothers’ accomplishment erased from history.

Here’s a short feature story I produced about Katherine Wright back in 2003 for National Public Radio as part of my Hidden Treasures Radio Project series.

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