Aviators Posters “T...-U...-V...-W...-X...-Y...-Z...-”
for the classroom and home schoolers.

Valentina Tereshkova*
Louise Thaden
Paul Tibbets
Tuskegee Airmen

Ed White*
Alfred Worden*
Wright Brothers

The Tuskegee Airmen

Poster Text: In March of 1942, five African American men earned the siver wings of military pilots at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. These men were the first "Tuskegee Airmen," a group of black pilots who served with great distinction during World War II. The Red-Tail Angels also compiled an outstanding combat record. They participated in the D-Day operation, downing many German fighter planes in the days following the June 6, 1944, invasion of France. On June 25, 1944, two Tuskegee Airmen sank a German warship with machine gun fire. This was the first time a fighter aircraft had accomplished such a feat. During the war, the Tuskegee Airmen destroyed many enemy aircraft and damaged and destroyed a great number of enemy railroad cars, barges, boats, oil and ammunitions dumps, buildings, and factories. They earned 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Legion of Merit, 744 Air Medals, eight Purple Hearts, two Soldier's Medals, and fourteen Bronze Stars. Sisty-six Tuskegee Airmen died in aerial combat and 32 more were shot down and captured as prisoners of war. After World War II, the black squadrons were deactivated. By 1947, the Army Air Corps had become the United States Air Force and had begun integrating its units. Some historians believe that the performance records of the Tuskegee Airmen helped bring an end to segregation in the military....

• Black Military History posters
• Tuskegee Airmen at Amazon.com

Edward White II
b. 11-14-1930; San Antonio, TX
d. 1-27-1967; Cape Kennedy, FL

Ed White, a US Air Force pilot, was selected in the Gemini astronaut program. He was the first Americant to walk in space, on June 3, 1965. White died with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission.

Alfred Worden
b. 2-7-1932; Jackson, Michigan

Al Worden was the command module pilot of the Apollo 15 Moon mission in 1971.

In addition to being one of only 24 people who have flown to the Moon, he is also deemed by the Guinnes Book of World Records as the “Most isolated human being” during his time alone in the command module “Endeavour”.

Wright Brothers

Technologies Past Text: “We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests.” Orville Wright

The Wright's Flyer had a “tail first” arrangement. Wing-warping allowed the plane to turn, but the brothers found that a bank could cause the plane to spiral into the ground. Thy added moveable rudders to keep th turn under control.

Orville and Wilbur Wright, American inventors and aviation pioneers, achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled flight of an airplane in 1903. The brothers built two sturdier, more reliable planes in the next two years, and in 1906 received a U.S. patent for a powered aircraft.

17 December 1903 at Kitty Hawk: Flyer No. 1 rises into the air for the first time. Three flights were made that day. The longest, piloted by Wilbur, was 852 feet and took 59 seconds. ...

• more Wright Bros. posters
• Technology's Past posters
• Historic Headlines posters

Chuck Yeager autographed photo

Chuck Yeager
b. 2-13-1923; WV

Chuck Yeager was the first test pilot to travel faster than sound in level flights and ascent, in 1947.

The definiton of sound is “a vibration that travels as a wave through an 'elastic' medium, generally air”; the speed of sound is the distance of a wave over a certain amount of time. The speed of sound is dependent on a variety of factors including the amount of humidity in the air.

• ears & hearing anatomy posters
• The Right Stuff, DVD

Jeana Yeager autographed photo

Jeana Yeager
b. 5-18-1952; Fort Worth, TX

John W. Young
b. 9-24-1930; San Francisco, CA (raised in FL)

John Young was the ninth person to walk on the Moon (Apollo 16, 1972) and only one of three people to twice journey to the Moon (Lovell & Cernan). Young also had the longest astronaut career, 42 years with NASA, and the only person to have piloted four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command/Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle.

• Forever Young

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
b. 7-8-1838; Konstanz, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany
d. 3-8-1917; Berlin

Von Zeppelin invented a buoyant airship that used a cavity filled with a gas less dense than air and manuvered with rudders and propellers. After some spectucalar accidents airships are no longer viable in commercial transportation, though most people are familiar with blimps (soft sided airships) used in advertising where the ability to hover for long periods is desirable.