Happy Friday. We’re ending the week here at Stuck at The Airport with some tidbits that caught our attention, like this #TBT – “Throwback Thursday” – tweet from O’Hare International Airport
In 1955, O’Hare officially opens to commercial air traffic; the airport serves 176,902 passengers in its first year. Photo series on display in T3 (L Stinger) “Evolution of O’Hare” exhibit. #ORD#DidYouKnow#TBTpic.twitter.com/4yMP2tuNUT
All month long, we’re been paying attention to – and learning from – the tweets from St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) highlighting the people featured on the airport’s Black Americans in Flight mural.
STL celebrates Black Americans in Flight during Black History Month. On this date in 1923, Tuskegee Airman Clarence "Lucky" Lester was born. His portrait is located in STL’s Black Americans in Flight mural. The artwork is also online at: https://t.co/wnrLroqfsopic.twitter.com/YjtSNJqKFQ
We’re sad we missed seeing this exhibit at Orlando International Airport (MCO).
Last days to visit the exhibit: “Twenty Years Bold: Wells’Built Museum of African American History & Culture” featuring artworks from the local museum, in celebration of Orlando’s African American Heritage. #BHM 🎨 Located at our Main Terminal, near Checkpoint for Gates 70-129 pic.twitter.com/vagBmtz7HB
And we’re impressed that Delta’s Flight Museum is being used as a mass vaccination site in Georgia.
Our Delta Flight Museum, which opened in 1941 as our first aircraft hangar, is taking on a new challenge as it now houses one of the largest vaccination sites in Georgia. pic.twitter.com/oOCCFHlY8B
Make sure to see this historic mural at STL Airport
August 13, 2020 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the dedication ceremony unveiling the Black Americans In Flight mural that now hangs in Terminal One (T1) at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL).
The five-panel mural is eight feet tall and 51 feet long. It pays tribute to African-American Achievements in Aviation from 1917 onward.
Included in the historic mural are 75 portraits, 18 aircraft, five unit patches, and one spacecraft.
In 1986 the Committee for the Aviation Mural Project Success (CAMPS) commissioned St. Louis artist Spencer Taylor to create the mural.
The initial assignment was to honor St. Louis African-American pilots that flew in World War II, also known as Tuskegee Airmen. But Taylor worked with another local artist, Solomon Thurman, and expanded the mural to include the much broader story of African-Americans in aviation and the history they made.
Notable people featured in the mural
A few of the notable people you can spot in the mural include:
Capt. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. On September 2, 1941, David became the first African-American to solo an aircraft as an officer of the U.S. Army Air Corp.
Capt. Wendell O. Pruitt. A St. Louis native, Pruitt was one-half of the famed “Gruesome Twosome.” Capt. Pruitt along and Capt. Lee Archer are considered the most successful pair of Tuskegee pilots in terms of air victories. Both men were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Capt. Marcella A. Hayes. Hayes is the first African-American woman to complete U.S. Army pilot training in 1979. Following her training, she became an Army helicopter pilot.
Capt. Edward J. Dwight, Jr. He is the first African-American candidate for NASA’s space program.
Ronald E. McNair, Ph.D. McNair was a specialist aboard the fatal launch of the Challenger space shuttle in January of 1986.
Mae C. Jemison, M.D. She is the first African-American female astronaut.
In 2017, STL held an event to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the mural’s installation. COVID-19 means no formal ceremony or event can take place now, for the 30th anniversary.
