| Home | Join |
| About Aero Club - History - Photos |
HistoryFrom support for the Wright Brothers to advocacy for aviation, the Aero Club of Washington's history spans a century of progress. Looking Back Washington in 1909 was a strangely different city. The automobile was still a novelty and only a handful of citizens believed that the flying machine was here to stay. Public opinion as 1909 began was that the Wright brothers were cranks, and their claims about powered flight only a dream. Even their achievements at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903, were dismissed by the general public as the hallucinations of a couple of crackpots. That the airplane had been invented by native sons only to be rejected by their country, that all indications were the machine would be exploited by a foreign power - these were only two of the frustrations suffered by a handful of Wright supporters while the brothers were in Europe, seeking contracts from France, England and Italy. How could this national indifference be overcome? For supports of the Wrights in this country, the answer was only by action that would attract national attention. Among the leaders of this support movement were many notable civilian and military figures, many of whom met in July 1908 to discuss the founding of a scientific aeronautical organization. Cooperation of the Smithsonian Institute, the United States Weather Bureau and other government agencies was obtained. Further impetus was added on August 22, 1908, at a banquet honoring Thomas Scott Baldwin’s completion of the acceptance flights of his dirigible by the U.S. Signal Corps at Ft. Myer. Jerome Fanciulli, the toastmaster, called upon Augustus Post, Secretary of the Aero Club of America, who offered his assistance in founding an aero club in the nation’s capital. A committee was formed to develop a program, but it was not until January 23, 1909, that an organizational meeting was held in the office of General Allen, Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army. Two days later, Articles of Incorporation were drawn and filed with the office of the Recorder of Deeds in the District of Columbia on the 25th of January 1909. |
| Aero Club of Washington |