From hot-air balloons to jets, no other location has a more diverse
aviation history than the
San Francisco Bay Area. Aside from private and commercial airline operations, the area has housed the NACA/
NASA Research Center, the prestigious Boeing School of Aeronautics, and the dirigible USS Macon. It is currently the center for antique aircraft in Northern California and has been the site of numerous flight records, including the Dole Race and Amelia Earhart’s circumnavigation attempts. San Francisco was also home to the pioneer
Pan American Airways flying boat, which opened the Pacific Ocean to air travel.
Background Information
Americans Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted the first heavier-than-air flight and America has led in aviation innovations ever since. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established by Congress in 1958 to guide American research in space. Pan American Airlines pioneered international aviation with flights from the United States to South America and across the Pacific.
