Early Flight

Air and Space Museum

Early Flight uses artifacts like the Lilienthal Glider, 1909 Wright Military Flyer, and the Blériot XI to explore how in one short decade people in America and around the world were pushing boundaries, setting records, participating in air shows, and turning the aircraft into a technology that would usher in the aerial age.

Early Flight

Medal, Commemorative, Boston to Washington, D.C., July 1911

Plaque, Early Birds

Plaque, James Gordon Bennett, 1909, Glenn Curtiss

Collier Plaque

Medal, Circuit de L'Est

Medal, Aero Club of America Aviation Medal of Merit, Glenn Curtiss

Medal, Louis Bleriot

Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Glenn Curtiss

Cup, Omaha World Herald

Medal, Count von Zeppelin

Kelly Cup

Medal, A. Santos Dumont Pioneer of the Air

Medal, Chavez Flies the Alps, 1910

Medal, Aviation

Scientific American Trophy

Plaque, Collier Trophy, Glenn Curtiss

Medal, Gordon Bennett Championship, Glenn Curtiss