Florida in Flight: An Aviation History

By: Nick Wynne and Joe Knetsch and Robert J. Redd

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Synopsis: Join a trio of Florida historians on this exploration of Florida by air. Few states can claim an aeronautical heritage as rich as Florida's. From early flights in tiny cloth-covered planes to the latest rocket ships, and from the first passenger flights to journeys that span the globe, Florida skies have seen the most primitive forms of aviation evolve into the most technologically advanced. In 1910, Lincoln Beachey won $1500 at the Orange County Fair for staying in the air for five minutes, just three years before Domingo Rosillo made the 90-mile flight across the Florida Strait in two hours and eight minutes, setting world records for both distance flown over water and altitude attained. A couple decades later, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan left Miami on the first leg of their around-the-world flight that ended in disaster.