Soar through MIA’s history this National Aviation Day

Did you know that when the original Miami International Airport terminal opened in 1928, it was the first U.S. airport designed to serve passengers only? Or that the building costed a whopping $50,000 to construct? Or that before Pan American Airways (Pan Am) established its headquarters at what is now MIA, it was originally based 160 miles south in Key West? 

You can take a trip through time and learn more MIA trivia this National Aviation Day with History of Miami International Airport. The updated 23-page e-book, filled with images of notable milestones from the airport’s storied past, is now available in a digital flipbook format. 

In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt designated August 19 as National Aviation Day, to commemorate the birthday of Orville Wright. Orville and his brother Wilbur are credited with building the world’s first successful airplane with controls that enabled them to steer the plane. Orville Wright’s first flight lasted 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet on December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Who was the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane? Franklin Roosevelt’s adventurous fifth cousin Theodore, who flew in a Wright Flyer in 1910.