For Preservation Month, the College Park Aviation Museum invited Meagan Baco, Director of Communications at Preservation Maryland, to their monthly happy hour to serve as the guest-of-honor — and literally, as the guest bartender.
MARYLAND AVIATION HISTORY
While North Carolina and Ohio battle it out on their licence plates for aviation accolades, Maryland is home to its own unique set of aeronautic firsts! Did you know Maryland was home to the first helicopter flight, the flight of the first government-owned airplane, and the first airmail route, just to name a few.
College Park, Prince George’s County
Opened in 1909, the facility at the College Park Airport, it is the oldest continually operating airport in the world. Crowds flowed in to witness test flights of the Wright flying machine in Fort Myer, Virginia, but following a severe crash, officers worried that they site was unsafe for pilots and visitors, alike. They soon selected this new piece of land adjacent to the University of Maryland, which was large enough for safe instruction. After purchasing a Wright airplane and hiring Wilbur Wright himself as the instructor, the Army was ready to train the first military pilots. It has been said that records were broken daily at the airfield, given the quality of innovation and engineering that it fostered. The Airport is currently owned by Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and was added to the National Register in 1977. The adjacent College Park Aviation Museum built in 1998 interprets the history of the airfield.
Photo by Michael G. Stewart.
100th Anniversary of Air Mail
This August, the College Park Aviation Museum will be commemorating the first Airmail flight from the College Park Airport in 1918. The celebration will include a new exhibit Delivering America: Airmail to Email as well as a weekend of celebration August 10-12, 2018. The celebration will continue throughout the year in partnership with the National Postal Museum.