# Aviation in Alabama

Alabama's first aeronautical event was on 10 March 1910 with the flight of a Wright biplane flown by Orville Wright in Montgomery, Alabama.

## Events

* 1909: E.T. Odum brings an aircraft to the Alabama State Fair.
* 15 March 1910: Orville and Wilbur Wright establish the nation's first civilian flying school in Montgomery, Alabama.
* 1931: Steadham Acker starts the National Air Carnival series of air shows at Birmingham Municipal Airport.
* 10 July 1991: L'Express Airlines Flight 508 crashed at Birmingham Municipal Airport.

## Aircraft Manufacturers

* Boeing manufactures the Delta IV rocket in Decatur, Alabama.
* Continental Motors, Inc., Mobile, Alabama 1929- Major producer of aircraft engines for general aviation aircraft.
* Airbus builds aircraft in the A320 family at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley industrial complex.

## Aerospace

73,000 jobs are based in Alabama in support of aerospace.
* National Space Science and Technology Center a joint research venture between NASA and the seven research universities of the state of Alabama.
* Continental Motors Services provides final assembly of the CD-135 and CD-155 engine in Fairhope, Alabama.

## Airports

* List of Airports in Alabama

## Colleges and universities

* Auburn University is home to the nation's oldest continually operated flight school and is the only 4-year aviation degree in the State of Alabama. In 2022, Auburn University built the Delta Air Lines Aviation Education Building that included an Airbus 320 commercial airline simulator.

## Commercial Service

* Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport provides air service with 1.4 million operations annually.

## Government and Military

* All flight operations in Alabama are conducted within FAA oversight.
* Maxwell Air Force Base is the headquarters of Air University (United States Air Force).
* The Redstone Arsenal supports missile and space operations.
* The Marshall Space Flight Center supports NASA operations.
* The U. S. Army Air Corps' Tuskegee Airmen were trained at Tuskegee, Alabama
* The Alabama State Trooper Aviation Unit was formed in 1975 using four Bell H-13 Sioux and one Cessna 182. The unit currently operates one Bell 206L, one Bell 407, seven OH-58 helicopters and three Cessna 182’s, a Piper Navajo and King Air 200.
* Cullman City Police Department operates two OH-58, Dale County Sheriff's Office operates 3 OH-58's, Etowah County Sheriff's Office operates one OH-58 and one Cessna 172, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office operates two OH-58's, Limestone County Alabama Sheriff's Office operates one OH-58, Morgan County Sheriff's Office operates one OH-58, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Aviation Unit operates two OH-58's, Tuscaloosa Alabama Police Department operates two OH-58's

## Museums

* The Southern Museum of Flight is located in Birmingham, Alabama and houses the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame.
* The United States Army Aviation Museum is located on Fort Novosel near Ozark, Alabama.
* The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is located in Huntsville, Alabama

## Gallery

* James Meissner, World War I flying ace and Birmingham resident
* A group of Tuskegee Airmen posing with a P-40 during World War II
* Aircraft at the Redstone Army Airfield in Huntsville
* Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport
* Lockheed A-12 at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham
* Wernher von Braun posing with the Saturn V's S-IC engines in Huntsville
* Space Shuttle Pathfinder at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville