List of aviators
Encyclopedia

Major contributors to aviation

While all of these people were pilots (and some still are), many are also noted for contributions in areas such as aircraft design and manufacturing, navigation or popularization.


  • John Alcock
  • Neil Armstrong
    Neil Armstrong
    Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....

  • Ludovic Arrachart
    Ludovic Arrachart
    Ludovic Arrachart was a French officer aviator.He obtained records and raids which made him one of the pioneers of intercontinental aviation...

  • Jacqueline Auriol
    Jacqueline Auriol
    Jacqueline Auriol was a French aviatrix who set several world speed records.-Biography:...



  • Richard Bach
    Richard Bach
    Richard David Bach is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely...

  • Italo Balbo
    Italo Balbo
    Italo Balbo was an Italian Blackshirt leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force , Governor-General of Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa , and the "heir apparent" to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.After serving in...

  • Bernt Balchen
    Bernt Balchen
    Bernt Balchen, , a winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross was a Norwegian native, and later U.S. citizen, known as a pioneer polar aviator, navigator, aircraft mechanical engineer and military leader. His service in the U.S...

  • Mike Bannister
  • Pancho Barnes
    Pancho Barnes
    Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes was a pioneer aviator, the founder of the first test pilots union and the owner of the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a bar and restaurant. She broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record in 1930...

  • Jean Batten
    Jean Batten
    Jean Gardner Batten CBE OSC was a New Zealand aviatrix. Born in Rotorua, she became the best-known New Zealander of the 1930s, internationally, by taking a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world....

  • André Beaumont
    Jean Louis Conneau
    Jean Louis Conneau , better known under the pseudonym André Beaumont, was a pioneer French aviator, Naval Lieutenant and Flying boat manufacturer.-Flying career:...

  • Amelie Beese
    Amelie Beese
    Amelie Hedwig Boutard-Beese , also known as Melli Beese was an early German female aviator born in Laubegast, on the outskirts of Dresden, Saxony.-Youth:...

  • Elly Beinhorn
    Elly Beinhorn
    Elly Beinhorn-Rosemeyer was a German pilot.-Early life:She was born in Hannover, Germany on 30 May 1907....

  • George Bertram Cockburn
    George Bertram Cockburn
    George Bertram Cockburn OBE was a research chemist who became an aviation pioneer. He represented Great Britain in the first international air race at Rheims and co-founded the first aerodrome for the army at Larkhill. He also trained the first four pilots of what was to become the Fleet Air...

  • Jean-Pierre Blanchard
    Jean-Pierre Blanchard
    Jean-Pierre Blanchard , aka Jean Pierre François Blanchard, was a French inventor, most remembered as a pioneer in aviation and ballooning....

  • Louis Blériot
    Louis Blériot
    Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000...

  • John Nicolaas Block
    John Nicolaas Block
    Johan Nicolaas Block was a Dutch aviation pioneer. He was the co-founder of Martinair, founder of Transavia and Air Holland....

  • William Boeing
    William Boeing
    William Edward Boeing was an American aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company.-Biography:Boeing was born to a wealthy German mining engineer named Wilhelm Böing who had made a fortune and who had a sideline as a timber merchant...

  • Arthur Whitten Brown
    Arthur Whitten Brown
    Sir Arthur Whitten Brown KBE was the navigator of the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight.-Life and work:...

  • Miles Browning
    Miles Browning
    Miles Rutherford Browning was an officer in the United States Navy in the Atlantic during World War I and in the Pacific during World War II. A pioneer in the development of aircraft carrier combat operations concepts, he is noted for his aggressive aerial warfare tactics as a captain on the ...

  • The Hon Mrs Victor Bruce
  • Milo Burcham
    Milo Burcham
    Milo Garrett Burcham was an American aviator. He worked as a stunt pilot, airshow pilot, and test pilot.Burcham was born in Cadiz, Indiana, and grew up in Whittier, California in the eastern Los Angeles basin...

  • Beverly Lynn Burns
    Beverly Lynn Burns
    Captain Beverly Lynn Burns is the first woman to captain the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. On the afternoon of July 18, 1984, Burns made her maiden voyage as Captain when she commanded People Express aircraft 604 from Newark International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport.By the time she...

  • Richard Byrd
    Richard Evelyn Byrd
    Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN was a naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics...



  • Artur de Sacadura Cabral
  • Don Cameron
  • George Cayley
    George Cayley
    Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet was a prolific English engineer and one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight...

  • Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi
  • Lagâri Hasan Çelebi
    Lagari Hasan Çelebi
    Lagari Hasan Çelebi was a legendary Ottoman aviator who, according to an account written by Evliya Çelebi, made a successful manned rocket flight.-Account:...

  • Francis Chichester
    Francis Chichester
    Sir Francis Charles Chichester KBE , aviator and sailor, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route, and the fastest circumnavigator, in nine months and one day overall.-Early life:Chichester was born in Barnstaple,...

  • Juan de la Cierva
    Juan de la Cierva
    Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of De La Cierva was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and aeronuatical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of the Autogiro, a single-rotor type of aircraft that came to be called autogyro in the English language...

  • Henri Coandă
    Henri Coanda
    Henri Marie Coandă was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer and builder of an experimental aircraft, the Coandă-1910 described by Coandă in the mid-1950s as the world's first jet, a controversial claim disputed by some and supported by others...

  • Sir Alan Cobham
    Alan Cobham
    Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC was an English aviation pioneer.A member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Alan Cobham became famous as a pioneer of long distance aviation. After the war he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company, and was the first pilot for the newly...

  • Jackie Cochran
    Jacqueline Cochran
    Jacqueline Cochran was a pioneer American aviator, considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation...

  • Bessie Coleman
    Bessie Coleman
    Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.-Early life:...

  • François Coli
    François Coli
    François Coli was a French pilot and navigator best known as the flying partner of Charles Nungesser in the doomed attempt to fly the Atlantic Ocean on the aircraft known as The White Bird....

  • Jean Louis Conneau
    Jean Louis Conneau
    Jean Louis Conneau , better known under the pseudonym André Beaumont, was a pioneer French aviator, Naval Lieutenant and Flying boat manufacturer.-Flying career:...

  • Max Conrad
    Max Conrad
    Maximilien "Max" Conrad, known as the "Flying Grandfather", was a record-setting aviator. In the 1950s and 1960s, he set nine official light plane world records, three of which still stand at the end of 2008. For his efforts, he was awarded the Louis Blériot medal in 1952 and the prestigious...

  • Dieudonné Costes
    Dieudonne Costes
    Dieudonné Costes was a French aviator, well-known for long distance and record breaking flights, as well as being a fighter ace during World War I.-Life:...

  • Gago Coutinho
    Gago Coutinho
    Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho, GCTE, GCC, generally known simply as Gago Coutinho was a Portuguese aviation pioneer who, together with Sacadura Cabral , was the first to cross the South Atlantic Ocean by air, from March to June 1922 , from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro.The Fairey IIIB seaplane used by...

  • Henry Coxwell
    Henry Tracey Coxwell
    Henry Tracey Coxwell , was an English aeronaut. He was the son of a naval officer, educated for the army, but became a dentist. From a boy he had been greatly interested in ballooning, then in its infancy, but his own first ascent was not made until 1844...

  • Albert Scott Crossfield
    Albert Scott Crossfield
    Albert Scott Crossfield was an American naval officer and test pilot.-Biography:Born in Berkeley, California, Crossfield grew up in California and Washington. He served with the U.S. Navy as a flight instructor and fighter pilot during World War II...

  • Glenn Curtiss
    Glenn Curtiss
    Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906...



  • Doru Davidovici
    Doru Davidovici
    Doru Davidovici , was an aviator and writer. Born in Romania in a Jewish family, Doru Davidovici became one of the most loved Romanian fiction writers in the 1980s...

  • Aida de Acosta
    Aida de Acosta
    Aida de Acosta Root Breckinridge was an American socialite and the first female to fly a powered aircraft solo. In 1903, while in Paris with her mother, she caught her first glimpse of dirigibles...

  • B. H. DeLay
    B. H. DeLay
    Beverly Homer “B.H.” DeLay was an American aviator, engineer and actor.DeLay was born in Alameda, California, and educated at the Engineering School of the University of California and at the University of Heidelberg in Germany...

  • Jimmy Doolittle
    Jimmy Doolittle
    General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War...

  • Claudius Dornier
    Claudius Dornier
    Claude Honoré Desiré Dornier born in Kempten im Allgäu was a German airplane builder and founder of Dornier GmbH...

  • Donald Douglas
    Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.
    Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. was a United States aircraft industrialist and founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921 .-Early life:...

  • Douglas Douglas-Hamilton
    Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton
    Air Commodore Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton and 11th Duke of Brandon, KT, GCVO, AFC, PC, DL, FRCSE, FRGS, was a Scottish nobleman and pioneering aviator....

  • Neville Duke
    Neville Duke
    Squadron Leader Neville Frederick Duke DSO, OBE, DFC & Two Bars, AFC, FRAeS,Czech War Cross was a British Second World War fighter pilot. He was the top Allied flying ace in the Mediterranean Theatre, having shot down at least 27 enemy aircraft, and was acknowledged as one of the world's foremost...

  • Hélène Dutrieu
    Hélène Dutrieu
    Hélène Dutrieu , was a cycling world champion, stunt cyclist, stunt motorcyclist, automobile racer, stunt driver, pioneer aviator, wartime ambulance driver, and director of a military hospital.-Biography:...



  • Amelia Earhart
    Amelia Earhart
    Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...

  • Eugene Burton Ely
    Eugene Burton Ely
    Eugene Burton Ely was an aviation pioneer, credited with the first shipboard aircraft take off and landing.-Background:...



  • Henri Farman
  • Charles Fern
    Charles Fern
    Charles J. "Charlie" Fern , a barnstorming Hawaii aviator and newspaper pioneer, was a University of California, Berkeley graduate and a World War I pilot. Fern lived to be 102.- Biography :...

  • Anthony Fokker
    Anthony Fokker
    Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker was a Dutch aviation pioneer and an aircraft manufacturer. He is most famous for the fighter aircraft he produced in Germany during the First World War such as the Eindecker monoplanes, the Fokker Triplane the and the Fokker D.VII, but after the collapse of...

  • Steve Fossett
    Steve Fossett
    James Stephen Fossett was an American commodities trader, businessman, and adventurer. Fossett is the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon...

  • Ramón Franco
    Ramón Franco
    Ramón Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo de Andrade , was a Galician pioneer of aviation, a political figure and brother of later dictator Francisco Franco...



  • Ernest K Gann
    Ernest K. Gann
    Ernest Kellogg Gann was an American aviator, author, filmmaker, sailor, fisherman and conservationist.-Early life:...

  • Roland Garros
  • Sabiha Gökçen
    Sabiha Gökçen
    Sabiha Gökçen was a Turkish aviatrix. First Turkish female combat pilot, aged 23. She was one of the eight adopted children of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.- Early life :...

  • Dagoberto Godoy
    Dagoberto Godoy
    Dagoberto Godoy Fuentealba was a Chilean pilot and the first person to fly over the Andes....

  • Marlon Green
    Marlon Green
    Marlon D. Green was the first African American pilot hired by a major passenger airline in the United States. He was born in El Dorado, Arkansas...

  • Bartolomeu de Gusmão
    Bartolomeu de Gusmão
    Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão , was a priest and naturalist born in the then Portuguese colony of Brazil, noted for his early work on lighter-than-air airship design....



  • Geoffrey de Havilland
    Geoffrey de Havilland
    Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, OM, CBE, AFC, RDI, FRAeS, was a British aviation pioneer and aircraft engineer...

  • Ernst Heinkel
    Ernst Heinkel
    Dr. Ernst Heinkel was a German aircraft designer, manufacturer, Wehrwirtschaftführer in the Third Reich, and member of the Nazi party. His company Heinkel Flugzeugwerke produced the Heinkel He 178, the world's first turbojet aircraft and jet plane, and the Heinkel He 176, the first rocket aircraft...

  • Alex Henshaw
    Alex Henshaw
    Alexander Adolphus Dumfries Henshaw MBE was a British air racer in the 1930s and a test pilot for Vickers Armstrong in the Second World War.-Early life:...

  • Hilda Hewlett
    Hilda Hewlett
    Hilda Beatrice Hewlett was the first British aviatrix to earn a pilot's licence. She was also a successful early aviation entrepreneur. She created and ran the first flying school in the United Kingdom. She also created and managed a successful aircraft manufacturing business which produced more...

  • Bert Hinkler
    Bert Hinkler
    Herbert John Louis Hinkler AFC DSM , better known as Bert Hinkler, was a pioneer Australian aviator and inventor. He designed and built early aircraft before being the first person to fly solo from England to Australia, and the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic Ocean...

  • Bob Hoover
    Bob Hoover
    Robert A. "Bob" Hoover is a former air show pilot and United States Air Force test pilot, known for his wide-brimmed straw hat and wide smile. In aviation circles, he is often referred to as "The pilots' pilot."-Aviation career:...

  • Howard Hughes
    Howard Hughes
    Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...



  • Abbas Ibn Firnas
    Abbas Ibn Firnas
    Abbas Ibn Firnas , also known as Abbas Qasim Ibn Firnas and عباس بن فرناس , was a Muslim Andalusian polymath: an inventor, engineer, aviator, physician, Arabic poet, and Andalusian musician. Of Berber descent, he was born in Izn-Rand Onda, Al-Andalus , and lived in the Emirate of Córdoba...



  • Tony Jannus
    Tony Jannus
    Antony Habersack Jannus, more familiarly known as Tony Jannus , was an early American pilot whose aerial exploits were widely publicized in aviation's pre-World War I period. He flew the first airplane from which a parachute jump was made, in 1912. Jannus was also the first airline pilot, having...

  • Elrey Borge Jeppesen
    Elrey Borge Jeppesen
    Elrey Borge Jeppesen was an American aviation pioneer. He developed manuals and charts that allowed pilots worldwide to fly safely.-Biography:He was born on January 28, 1907....

  • W. E. Johns
    W. E. Johns
    William Earl Johns was an English pilot and writer of adventure stories, usually written under the name Captain W. E. Johns. He is best remembered as the creator of the ace pilot and adventurer Biggles.-Early life:...

  • Amy Johnson
    Amy Johnson
    Amy Johnson CBE, was a pioneering English aviator. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s...

  • Tex Johnston
    Alvin M. Johnston
    Alvin M. "Tex" Johnston was a American jet-age test pilot for Bell Aircraft and the Boeing Company.-Early years:...

  • Hubert Julian
    Hubert Julian
    Hubert Fauntleroy Julian was a Trinidad-born African American aviation pioneer. He was nicknamed "The Black Eagle".-Biography:...

  • Hugo Junkers
    Hugo Junkers
    Hugo Junkers was an innovative German engineer, as his many patents in varied areas show...



  • Sir Charles Kingsford Smith
    Charles Kingsford Smith
    Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith MC, AFC , often called by his nickname Smithy, was an early Australian aviator. In 1928, he earned global fame when he made the first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia...

  • Algene and Fred Key
    The Flying Keys
    Brothers Fred and Al Key became interested in aviation after World War I. They started doing some barnstorming in the 1920s and continued their interest as the managers of the Meridian Municipal Airport, in Meridian, Mississippi....

  • Opal Kunz
    Opal Kunz
    Opal Kunz, also known as Opal van Zandt Giberson Kunz was a noted early American aviator, the first president of the "Ninety-Nines", a women pilots’ organization, that was formed in her living room, and an early feminist. She was married to Dr. George Frederick Kunz.As an aviatrix, Opal Kunz...



  • Raymonde de Laroche
    Raymonde de LaRoche
    Raymonde de Laroche , born Elise Raymonde Deroche, was a French aviatrix and the first woman in the world to receive an aeroplane pilot's licence.-Early life:...

  • Ruth Bancroft Law
  • Bill Lear
    Bill Lear
    William Powell Lear was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, a manufacturer of business jets...

  • Alfred LeBlanc
    Alfred LeBlanc
    Alfred Leblanc was a pioneer French aviator.-Biography:He was born on April 13, 1869 in France. He was assistant to Louis Bleriot and handled the logistics for Bleriot on the morning of his cross channel flight July 25, 1909. In 1910 he set an cross-country flight airspeed record by flying 485...

  • Léon Lemartin
    Léon Lemartin
    Théodore Clovis Edmond Lemartin, known as Léon Lemartin was a pioneer aviator who set a world record on 3 February 1911 at Pau, France when he carried seven passengers in a Bleriot XIII Aerobus...

  • Tony LeVier
    Tony LeVier
    Anthony W. "Tony" LeVier was an air racer and test pilot for the Lockheed Corporation from the 1940s to the 1970s.- Early life :...

  • Otto Lilienthal
    Otto Lilienthal
    Otto Lilienthal was a German pioneer of human aviation who became known as the Glider King. He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful gliding flights. He followed an experimental approach established earlier by Sir George Cayley...

  • Charles Lindbergh
    Charles Lindbergh
    Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

  • Per Lindstrand
    Per Lindstrand
    Per Lindstrand is a Swedish aeronautical engineer, pilot, adventurer and entrepreneur. He is particularly known for his series of record-breaking trans-oceanic hot air balloon flights and, later, attempts to be the first to fly a Rozière balloon around the Earth - all with British entrepreneur,...

  • Ormer Locklear
    Ormer Locklear
    Ormer Leslie "Lock" Locklear was an American daredevil stunt pilot and film actor during and immediately after World War I.-Early life and career:...



  • Eilmer of Malmesbury
    Eilmer of Malmesbury
    Eilmer of Malmesbury was an 11th-century English Benedictine monk best known for his early attempt at a gliding flight using wings.- Life :...

  • Paul Mantz
    Paul Mantz
    Albert Paul Mantz was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.-Early years:...

  • Beryl Markham
    Beryl Markham
    Beryl Markham was a British-born Kenyan aviatrix, adventurer, and racehorse trainer. During the pioneer days of aviation, she became the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west...

  • Marie Marvingt
    Marie Marvingt
    Marie Marvingt was a French athlete, mountaineer, and aviator, and the most decorated woman in the history of France. She won numerous prizes for her sporting achievements and was the first woman to climb many of the peaks in the French and Swiss Alps...

  • Angela Masson
    Angela Masson
    Angela Masson was the first woman to be type-rated on the Boeing 747 on June 30, 1984.-Flying career:Masson began flying lessons at age 15 at Clover Field in Santa Monica, California. Shortly after getting her pilots license, she started air racing...

  • Wop May
    Wop May
    Captain Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, OBE, DFC , was a First World War flying ace and a pioneering aviator who created the role of the bush pilot while working the Canadian west....

  • Frederick McCall
    Frederick McCall
    Frederick Robert Gordon McCall DSO, MC & Bar, DFC was a Canadian air ace during World War I, with 35 confirmed and two unconfirmed victories. After a career in civil aviation, he returned to service in World War II....

  • Mike Melvill
    Mike Melvill
    Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, flight 15P on June 21, 2004, thus becoming the first commercial astronaut and the 434th...

  • Jean Mermoz
    Jean Mermoz
    Jean Mermoz was a French aviator, viewed as a hero by many in both Argentina and his native France, where many schools bear his name...

  • Russel Merrill
    Russel Merrill
    Russel Hyde Merrill was an Alaskan aviation pioneer. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, he became a U.S. Navy pilot during World War I, becoming Naval Aviator No. 469...

  • Billy Mitchell
  • R. J. Mitchell
    R. J. Mitchell
    Reginald Joseph Mitchell CBE, FRAeS, was an aeronautical engineer, best known for his design of the Supermarine Spitfire.-Early years:...

  • Jim Mollison
    Jim Mollison
    James Allan Mollison was a famous Scottish pioneer aviator who set many records during the rapid development of aviation in the 1930s.-Early years:...

  • Ed Musick
    Ed Musick
    Edwin Charles Musick was Chief Pilot for Pan American World Airways and pioneered many of Pan Am's transoceanic routes including the famous route across the Pacific Ocean on the China Clipper....

  • Montgolfier brothers
    Montgolfier brothers
    Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier were the inventors of the montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent, carrying Étienne into the sky...



  • Charles Nungesser
    Charles Nungesser
    Charles Eugène Jules Marie Nungesser, MC was a French ace pilot and adventurer, best remembered as a rival of Charles Lindbergh...

  • Jorge Newbery
    Jorge Newbery
    Jorge "George" Newbery, born Jorge Alejandro Newbery , was an Argentine pilot of North American descent. His father, Ralph Newbery , emigrated from Long Island, to Argentina after the American Civil War...



  • John Lankester Parker
    John Lankester Parker
    John Lankester Parker OBE FRAeS Hon. MSLAE was Chief Test Pilot for Short Brothers from 1918 until his retirement in 1945. He joined Shorts in 1916 as a part-time test pilot and assistant to then Chief Test Pilot Ronald Kemp, having been recommended for the post by Captain, later Admiral Sir,...

  • Ivy May Pearce
    Ivy May Pearce
    Ivy May Pearce was one of the first female pilots in the southern hemisphere and a pioneer of the Gold Coast, Queensland...

  • Richard Pearse
    Richard Pearse
    Richard William Pearse , son of Cornish immigrants from St Columb near Newquay, a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering experiments in aviation....

  • Percy Pilcher
    Percy Pilcher
    Percy Sinclair Pilcher was a British inventor and pioneer aviator who was his country's foremost experimenter in unpowered flight at the end of the 19th Century...

  • Francesco de Pinedo
  • Albert Plesman
    Albert Plesman
    Dr. Albert Plesman was a Dutch pioneer in aviation and founder of KLM, the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name.He was born as the son of an egg trader from The Hague...

  • Wiley Post
    Wiley Post
    Wiley Hardeman Post was a famed American aviator, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. His Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's...



  • Harriet Quimby
    Harriet Quimby
    Harriet Quimby was an early American aviator and a movie screenwriter. In 1911 she was awarded a U.S. pilot's certificate by the Aero Club of America, becoming the first woman to gain a pilot's license in the United States. In 1912 she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel...



  • Bessica Medlar Raiche
    Bessica Medlar Raiche
    Bessica Medlar Raiche was a dentist, businesswoman, and physician, who was the first woman in the United States accredited with flying solo in an airplane...

  • Robert Campbell Reeve
    Robert Campbell Reeve
    Robert Campbell Reeve was the founder of Reeve Aleutian Airways.-Childhood:Bob Reeve was born in Waunakee, Wisconsin on March 27, 1902. He was one of twins, his brother was Richard. Their parents were Hubert and Mae Reeve. Mae died in 1904, and their father remarried, leaving the boys to fend for...

  • Hanna Reitsch
    Hanna Reitsch
    Hanna Reitsch was a German aviator and the only woman awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the Luftwaffe Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds during World War II...

  • Margaret Ringenberg
    Margaret Ringenberg
    Margaret Ray Ringenberg was an American aviator, who had logged more than 40,000 hours of flying time during her career.-Career and accomplishments:...

  • Yves Rousseau
    Yves Rousseau
    Yves Rousseau is credited with some ultralight aircraft FAI world records and has received international recognition for his 13 years of work on human-powered ornithopter flight; Rousseau attempted his first human-powered flight with flapping wings in 1995.In 2005, Rousseau was given the Paul...

  • Mathias Rust
    Mathias Rust
    Mathias Rust is a German aviator known for his illegal landing on May 28, 1987 near Red Square in Moscow. As an amateur pilot, he flew from Finland to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors...

  • Burt Rutan
    Burt Rutan
    Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft...

  • Dick Rutan
    Dick Rutan
    Richard Glenn "Dick" Rutan is an aviator who piloted the Voyager aircraft around the world non-stop with co-pilot Jeana Yeager...



  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award...

  • Alberto Santos-Dumont
    Alberto Santos-Dumont
    Alberto Santos-Dumont , was a Brazilian early pioneer of aviation. The heir of a wealthy family of coffee producers, Santos Dumont dedicated himself to science studies in Paris, France, where he spent most of his adult life....

  • John Stringfellow
    John Stringfellow
    John Stringfellow was born in Sheffield, England and is known for his work on the Aerial Steam Carriage with William Samuel Henson....

  • Blanche Stuart Scott
    Blanche Stuart Scott
    Blanche Stuart Scott , also known as Betty Scott, was possibly the first American woman aviator.-Early life:...

  • Sheila Scott
    Sheila Scott
    Sheila Scott OBE , was an English aviatrix.Born Sheila Christine Hopkins in Worcester, Worcestershire, England in 1922, educated at the Alice Ottley School, she broke over 100 aviation records through her long distance flight endeavours, which included a "world and a half" flight in 1971...

  • Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg
    Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg
    Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, born Melitta Schiller , was a German aviatrix who served as a test pilot for the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II...

  • Igor Sikorsky
    Igor Sikorsky
    Igor Sikorsky , born Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was a Russian American pioneer of aviation in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft...

  • Sir Ross Smith
    Ross Macpherson Smith
    Sir Ross Macpherson Smith KBE, MC & Bar, DFC & Two Bars, AFC was an Australian aviator, who, along with his brother, Sir Keith Macpherson Smith, became the first pilots to fly from England to Australia, ....

  • Sir Thomas Sopwith
    Thomas Sopwith
    Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS was an English aviation pioneer and yachtsman.-Early life:...

  • Katherine Stinson
    Katherine Stinson
    Katherine Stinson was an early female flier. She was the fourth woman in the United States to obtain a pilot's certificate, which she earned on July 24, 1912, at the age of 21 while residing in Pine Bluff, AR...

  • Chesley Sullenberger
    Chesley Sullenberger
    Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III is an American airline transport pilot , safety expert, and accident investigator from Danville, California...



  • Kurt Tank
    Kurt Tank
    Kurt Waldemar Tank was a German aeronautical engineer and test pilot, heading the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931-45. He designed several important aircraft of World War II, including the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.-Early life:Tank was born in Bromberg , Province of Posen...

  • Louise Thaden
    Louise Thaden
    Iris Louise McPhetridge Thaden was an aviation pioneer, holder of numerous aviation records, and the first woman to win the Bendix Trophy.-Birth and education:...



  • Traian Vuia
    Traian Vuia
    Traian Vuia was a Romanian inventor and aviation pioneer who designed, builtand flew an early aircraft. His first flight traveled about 12 m at Montesson, France on March 18, 1906...



  • Patty Wagstaff
    Patty Wagstaff
    Patty Wagstaff is an aerobatic pilot from the United States. Wagstaff traveled all over the world as a child: her father was a pilot for Japan Airlines, and Wagstaff would travel to Southeast Asia, Australia and Alaska to prepare for her own career as a pilot...

  • Arthur Whitten-Brown
    Arthur Whitten Brown
    Sir Arthur Whitten Brown KBE was the navigator of the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight.-Life and work:...

  • Frank Whittle
    Frank Whittle
    Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...

  • Roger Q. Williams
    Roger Q. Williams
    Roger Quincy Williams was an American aviator, born in Brooklyn, New York.In July 1929 Williams, with Lewis Yancey, broke the over-water flying record by making a non-stop flight from Old Orchard Beach, Maine to Santander, Spain. The 3,400 mile flight took 31 hours and 30 minutes...

  • Orville and Wilbur Wright
    Wright brothers
    The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

  • Erich Warsitz
    Erich Warsitz
    Erich Warsitz was a German test pilot of the 1930s. He held the rank of Flight-Captain in the Luftwaffe and was selected by the Reich Air Ministry as chief test pilot at Peenemünde West...



  • Lewis Yancey
    Lewis Yancey
    Captain Lewis Alonzo Yancey was an American aviator and air navigator who toured America, Central America, and the Caribbean in a Pitcairn autogyro.-Biography:...

  • Chuck Yeager
    Chuck Yeager
    Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He was the first pilot to travel faster than sound...

  • Jeana Yeager
    Jeana Yeager
    Jeana Yeager is an aviator. She is most famous for co-piloting a non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager aircraft from 14 to 23 December 1986. The flight took 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds and covered 24,986 miles , more than doubling the old distance record set by...



  • Bernard Ziegler
    Bernard Ziegler
    Bernard Ziegler is the former Airbus senior vice president for engineering. He is well known for his evangelical zeal for the application of the fly-by-wire system in the Airbuses. He is the son of the former Airbus CEO, Henri Ziegler....



Famous military pilots

  • Yuri Gagarin
    Yuri Gagarin
    Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

  • Douglas Bader
    Douglas Bader
    Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.Bader joined the...

  • Francesco Baracca
    Francesco Baracca
    Count Francesco Baracca was Italy's top fighter ace of World War I. He was credited with 34 aerial victories.-Before World War I:...

  • Arturo Merino Benítez
    Arturo Merino Benítez
    Arturo Merino Benítez , was an aviator with rank of Commodore, and the founder of both the Chilean Air Force and LAN Chile the national airline. Chile's largest airport is named in his honour, Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport...

  • Billy Bishop
    Billy Bishop
    Air Marshal William Avery "Billy" Bishop VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace, and according to some sources, the top ace of the British Empire.-Early life:Bishop was born in Owen Sound,...

  • Richard Bong
    Richard Bong
    Richard Ira "Dick" Bong is the United States' highest-scoring air ace, having shot down at least 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. He was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces and a recipient of the Medal of Honor...

  • John Boyd
    John Boyd (military strategist)
    Colonel John Boyd was a United States Air Force fighter pilot and Pentagon consultant of the late 20th century, whose theories have been highly influential in the military, sports, and business.-Biography:...

  • Pappy Boyington
    Pappy Boyington
    Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was a United States Marine Corps officer who was an American fighter ace during World War II. For his heroic actions, he was awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. Boyington flew initially with the American Volunteer Group in the Republic of China Air Force...

  • Roy Brown
  • Pierre Clostermann
    Pierre Clostermann
    Pierre Clostermann was a French flying ace, author, engineer, politician and sporting fisherman. Over his flying career he was awarded the Grand-Croix of the French Légion d'Honneur, French Croix de Guerre, British DFC and bar, Distinguished Service Cross , Silver Star , and the Air Medal .-Early...

  • Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
    Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
    Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. was an American born United States Air Force general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen....

  • Jimmy Doolittle
    Jimmy Doolittle
    General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War...

  • Joe Foss
    Joe Foss
    Joseph Jacob "Joe" Foss was the leading fighter ace of the United States Marine Corps during World War II and a 1943 recipient of the Medal of Honor, recognizing his role in the air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign...

  • Roland Garros
  • Roy Geiger
    Roy Geiger
    General Roy Stanley Geiger was a United States Marine Corps General who, during World War II, became the first Marine to lead an army. Marine Corps base Camp Geiger in North Carolina is named in his honor....

  • Guy Gibson
    Guy Gibson
    Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, RAF , was the first CO of the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, resulting in the destruction of two large dams in the Ruhr area...

  • Erich Hartmann
    Erich Hartmann
    Erich Alfred Hartmann , nicknamed "Bubi" by his comrades and "The Black Devil" by his Soviet enemies, was a German World War II fighter pilot and is the highest-scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare...

  • James Jabara
    James Jabara
    James "Jabby" Jabara was the first American jet ace in history. Born in Oklahoma, he lived in Kansas where he enlisted as an aviation cadet at Fort Riley after graduating high school. Jabara attended four flying schools in Texas before he received his pilot's wings and was commissioned as a ...

  • Tom Landry
    Tom Landry
    Thomas Wade "Tom" Landry was an American football player and coach. He is ranked as one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in National Football League history, creating many new formations and methods...

  • Lydia Litvyak
    Lydia Litvyak
    Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak (Лидия Владимировна Литвяк, (Moscow, August 18, 1921 – Krasnyi Luch August 1, 1943), also known as Lydia Litviak or Lilya Litviak, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II...

  • Lee Lue
    Lee Lue
    Captain Lee Lue was a Laotian Hmong fighter bomber pilot notable for flying more combat missions than any other pilot in the Kingdom of Laos. Lee Lue flew continuously, as many as 10 missions a day and averaging 120 combat missions a month to build a total of more than 5,000 sorties...

  • Frank Luke
    Frank Luke
    Frank Luke Jr. was an American fighter ace, ranking second among U.S. Army Air Service pilots after Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in number of aerial victories during World War I . Frank Luke was the first airman to receive the Medal of Honor...

  • Edward "Mick" Mannock
  • Billy Mitchell
  • Jorge Newbery
    Jorge Newbery
    Jorge "George" Newbery, born Jorge Alejandro Newbery , was an Argentine pilot of North American descent. His father, Ralph Newbery , emigrated from Long Island, to Argentina after the American Civil War...

  • Edward O'Hare
    Edward O'Hare
    Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare was an Irish-American naval aviator of the United States Navy who on February 20, 1942 became the U.S. Navy's first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. Butch O’Hare’s final action took place on the night of November 26, 1943,...

  • Robin Olds
    Robin Olds
    Robin Olds was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force. He was a "triple ace", with a combined total of 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general....

  • Hanna Reitsch
    Hanna Reitsch
    Hanna Reitsch was a German aviator and the only woman awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the Luftwaffe Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds during World War II...

  • Manfred von Richthofen
    Manfred von Richthofen
    Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...

  • Eddie Rickenbacker
    Eddie Rickenbacker
    Edward Vernon Rickenbacker was an American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. He was also a race car driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters and a pioneer in air transportation, particularly as the longtime head of Eastern Air Lines.-Early...

  • Hans-Ulrich Rudel
    Hans-Ulrich Rudel
    Hans-Ulrich Rudel was a Stuka dive-bomber pilot during World War II and a member of the Nazi party. The most highly decorated German serviceman of the war, Rudel was one of only 27 military men to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, and the only...

  • Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon
    Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon
    Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, PVC was an officer of the Indian Air Force. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military decoration, in recognition of his lone defence of Srinagar Air Base against a Pakistani air raid during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971...

  • James Stewart
    James Stewart
    James Stewart was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart may also refer to:-Noblemen:*James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland*James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn James Stewart (1908–1997) was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart...

  • Vang Sue
  • Paul Tibbets
    Paul Tibbets
    Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known for being the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. The bomb, code-named Little Boy, was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima...

  • Stephen W. Thompson
    Stephen W. Thompson
    Stephen W. Thompson was an American aviator of World War I, and the first person in the U.S. Military to shoot down an enemy aircraft .-Early life:...

  • Douglas (Duke) Warren
    Douglas Warren
    Douglas Warren, was a Canadian air force pilot and commander. He shared the nickname "Duke" with his identical twin brother, Bruce Warren, who died in 1951. Douglas was known for participating as a pilot in the Dieppe Raid in World War II, and won the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1945...

  • James White
  • Chuck Yeager
    Chuck Yeager
    Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He was the first pilot to travel faster than sound...

  • Fred Zinn
    Fred Zinn
    Friedrich Wilhelm "Fred" Zinn was a volunteer American aviator who flew with French Armée de l'Air forces in World War I and an early pioneer of aerial photography for wartime reconnaissance and Military intelligence....

  • Muhammad Mahmood Alam
    Muhammad Mahmood Alam
    Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam is a retired Pakistani fighter pilot, North American F-86 Sabre Flying ace and one-star general who served with the Pakistan Air Force...


  • Significant people with an aviation history

    The following is a list of notable people from various professions who are also pilots:

    • David Ascalon
      David Ascalon
      David Ascalon is a contemporary sculptor and stained glass artist, and co-founder of Ascalon Studios.-Biography:Ascalon was born in Tel Aviv, in the British Mandate of Palestine on March 8, 1945...

       (born 1945) – Contemporary sculptor and stained glass artist and co-founder of Ascalon Studios

    • Michael Bloomberg
      Michael Bloomberg
      Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...

       (born 1942) – Current mayor of New York City
      New York City
      New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

    • Richard Branson
      Richard Branson
      Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....

       (born 1950) – Chairman, Virgin Group
      Virgin Group
      Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...

    • Jimmy Buffett
      Jimmy Buffett
      James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...

       (born 1946) – American singer, songwriter, author, businessman
    • Gisele Bündchen
      Gisele Bündchen
      Gisele Caroline Bündchen is a Brazilian fashion model, occasional film actress and goodwill ambassador for the UN Environment Programme.In the late 1990s, Bündchen became one of the first in a wave of Brazilian models to find success...

       (born 1980) – Brazilian model
    • George H. W. Bush
      George H. W. Bush
      George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

       (born 1924) – 41st President of the United States
      United States
      The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    • George W. Bush
      George W. Bush
      George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

       (born 1946) – eldest son of George H. W. Bush and 43rd President of the United States
      United States
      The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    • Maie Casey (1892 - 1983) – Australian pioneer aviatrix, poet, librettist, biographer, memorist and artist, Wife of Richard Casey
      Richard Casey, Baron Casey
      Richard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey KG GCMG CH DSO MC KStJ PC was an Australian politician, diplomat and the 16th Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...

      , Governor-General of Australia 1969-74
    • Roy Clark
      Roy Clark
      Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...

       (born 1933) – American musician
    • Tom Cruise
      Tom Cruise
      Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

       (born 1962) – American actor
    • Roald Dahl
      Roald Dahl
      Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...

       (1916 - 1990) – British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter
    • John Denver
      John Denver
      Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...

       (1943 - 1997) – American country music/folk singer-songwriter and folk rock musician
    • Bruce Dickinson
      Bruce Dickinson
      Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....

       (born 1958) – English singer, TV presenter, airline pilot
    • Michael Dorn
      Michael Dorn
      Michael Dorn is an American actor, and voice artist who is best known for his role as the Klingon Worf from the Star Trek franchise.-Early life and career:...

       (born 1952) – American actor
    • Billie Dove
      Billie Dove
      Billie Dove was an American actress.-Early life and career:She was born as Bertha Bohny in New York City to Charles and Bertha Bohny who were Swiss immigrants. As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired at the age of 15 by Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his Ziegfeld...

       (1903 - 1997) – American actress
    • Clint Eastwood
      Clint Eastwood
      Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

       (born 1930) – American actor, director
    • Hunter Ellis
      Hunter Ellis
      Hunter Ellis is an American television personality. A former naval aviator, he was first noted for his participation in the Survivor Television series before going on to host several television shows for the History Channel, including Tactical to Practical; Man, Moment, Machine; and Digging for...

       (born 1968) – American television personality
    • Noel Edmonds
      Noel Edmonds
      Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...

       (born 1948) – English television presenter and executive
    • Fess Elisha Parker (1924 - 2010) – American actor
    • Craig Ferguson
      Craig Ferguson
      Craig Ferguson is a Scottish American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS...

       (born 1962) – Scottish-American television host
    • Harrison Ford
      Harrison Ford
      Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...

       (born 1942) – American actor
    • Morgan Freeman
      Morgan Freeman
      Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...

       (born 1937) – American actor
    • Rajiv Gandhi
      Rajiv Gandhi
      Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...

       (1944 - 1991) – Prime Minister of India
      India
      India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

       1984-1989, son of India's first female Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
      Indira Gandhi
      Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...

    • David Gilmour
      David Gilmour
      David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...

       (born 1946) – English musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer and a one of the songwriters in the rock band Pink Floyd
    • John Glenn
      John Glenn
      John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...

       (born 1921) – American astronaut and former Ohio
      Ohio
      Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

       senator
    • Hermann Göring
      Hermann Göring
      Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...

       (1893 - 1946) – German politician, military leader and a leading member of the Nazi party
    • Mark-Paul Gosselaar
      Mark-Paul Gosselaar
      Mark-Paul Harry Gosselaar is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Zack Morris in NBC's Saved by the Bell, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and Saved by the Bell: The College Years, Detective John Clark in NYPD Blue, Jerry Kellerman in TNT's Raising the Bar, and more recently Peter...

       (born 1974) – American actor
    • Howard Hawks
      Howard Hawks
      Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...

       (1896 - 1977) – American film director, producer and screen writer of the classic Hollywood era
    • Rudolf Hess
      Rudolf Hess
      Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...

       (1894 - 1987) – Prominent figure in Nazi Germany
      Nazi Germany
      Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

    • Harry Houdini
      Harry Houdini
      Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...

       (1874 - 1926) – Hungarian-American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer
    • Dexter Holland
      Dexter Holland
      Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland is the singer and rhythm guitarist for the California punk rock band The Offspring...

       (born 1965) – Singer and rhythm guitarist for the Californian punk pop band The Offspring
    • Adam Housley
      Adam Housley
      Adam Housley joined Fox News Channel in 2001 as a Los Angeles-based correspondent.-Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami:...

       (born 1971) – American journalist, Correspondent for Fox News Channel
      Fox News Channel
      Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...

    • Angelina Jolie
      Angelina Jolie
      Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...

       (born 1975) – American actress
    • Shahid Kapoor
      Shahid Kapoor
      Shahid Kapoor is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films. He is also a trained dancer.Starting off his career by working in music videos and advertisements, Kapoor made his Bollywood debut as a background dancer in Subhash Ghai's Taal . Four years later, he made his acting debut in Ishq...

       (born 1981) – Indian actor
    • Greg Kelly
      Greg Kelly
      Gregory Raymond "Greg" Kelly is an American broadcast journalist. He is currently the co-host of Good Day New York; previously was the co-host of Fox and Friends and a White House correspondent for Fox News. Kelly is also currently a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps...

       (born 1968) – American journalist, youngest son of NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly, Anchor of WNYW
      WNYW
      WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...

       (Fox 5 New York), anchor of Good Day New York
      Good Day New York
      Good Day New York is a weekday morning news and entertainment feature show which airs on WNYW, the New York City flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company...

    • John F. Kennedy, Jr.
      John F. Kennedy, Jr.
      John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr. , often referred to as John F. Kennedy, Jr., JFK Jr., John Jr. or John-John, was an American socialite, magazine publisher, lawyer, and pilot. The elder son of U.S. President John F...

       (1960 - 1999) – son of assassinated U. S. president John F. Kennedy
      John F. Kennedy
      John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

    • John Kerry
      John Kerry
      John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

       (born 1943) – former Massachusetts
      Massachusetts
      The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

       Lt. Governor
    • Kris Kristofferson
      Kris Kristofferson
      Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

       (born 1936) – American writer, singer-songwriter, actor and musician
    • Veronica Lake
      Veronica Lake
      Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...

       (1922 - 1973) – American actress
    • Rick Leventhal
      Rick Leventhal
      Richard Gary Leventhal , known professionally as Rick Leventhal, is an American reporter. He is a senior correspondent for Fox News Channel since June 1997. Before joining FNC he spent 10 years in local news, reporting and anchoring in markets including Columbia and Spartanburg, West Palm Beach and...

       (born 1960) – American journalist, Senior Correspondent for Fox News Channel
      Fox News Channel
      Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...

    • Cory Lidle
      Cory Lidle
      Cory Fulton Lidle was an Americanright-handed baseball pitcher who spent nine seasons in the major leagues with seven different teams. His twin brother Kevin Lidle also played baseball, as a catcher for several minor league teams...

       (1972 - 2006) – former American baseball player
    • Shane Lundgren
      Shane Lundgren
      Shane Christopher Lundgren is an American aviator, commercial aviation businessman, entrepreneur and adventurer.A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and member of the Explorers Club Lundgren has led a number of aviation focused expeditions....

       (born 1961) – American aviator and commercial aviation businessman and entrepreneur
    • Dean Paul Martin
      Dean Paul Martin
      Dean Paul Martin was an American entertainer, noted as a tennis player, a singer and actor, and a military pilot.-Early life and career:...

       (1951 - 1987) – American singer and actor
    • Soong May-ling
      Soong May-ling
      Soong May-ling or Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang was a First Lady of the Republic of China , the wife of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek. She was a politician and painter...

       (1898 - 2003) – Former first lady of China
      China
      Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

    • John McCain
      John McCain
      John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

       (born 1936) – senior United States
      United States
      The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

       senator from Arizona
      Arizona
      Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

      , 2008 US presidential candidate
    • Phil McGraw
      Phil McGraw
      Phillip Calvin McGraw best known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality, author, former psychologist, and the host of the television show Dr. Phil, which debuted in 2002...

       (born 1950) – American television personality, Host of Dr. Phil
      Dr. Phil (TV series)
      Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...

    • Paul Moyer
      Paul Moyer
      Paul Moyer is a veteran television news broadcaster in Southern California. He co-anchored the 5 PM and 11 PM weekday editions of KNBC-TV's Channel 4 News with Colleen Williams. Moyer has worked primarily in the two major television markets—New York and Los Angeles—in addition to briefly working...

       (born 1941) – American journalist, Veteran television news broadcaster in Southern California
      Southern California
      Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

    • Thurman Munson
      Thurman Munson
      Thurman Lee Munson was an American Major League Baseball catcher. He played his entire 11-year career for the New York Yankees...

       (1947 - 1979) – former American baseball player
    • Miles O'Brien
      Miles O'Brien (journalist)
      Miles O'Brien is a broadcast news journalist specializing in aviation, space and technology.-Early life:...

       (born 1959) – American journalist, Former CNN
      CNN
      Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

       correspondent
    • Vivek Oberoi
      Vivek Oberoi
      Vivek Oberoi is an Indian actor. He is the son of Bollywood actor Suresh Oberoi and Yashodhara Oberoi.- Early life :Vivek attended Mayo college in Ajmer. At an actors' workshop in London he was spotted by the director of New York University who took Vivek off to New York, where he completed his...

       (born 1976) – Indian actor
    • Susan Oliver
      Susan Oliver
      Susan Oliver was an American actress, television director and aviator.-Early life and family:Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child...

       (1932 - 1990) – Emmy-nominated American actress, television director and aviator
    • Brad Pitt
      Brad Pitt
      William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

       (born 1963) – American actor
    • Dave Price
      Dave Price
      For the American publisher with the same name see Dave Price .Dave Price was a reporter and weatherman for CBS's The Early Show until he and Maggie Rodriguez were let go in an effort to boost last place ratings.Before his broadcasting career, Price spent eight years as a corporate human resources...

       (born 1966) – American journalist, reporter and weatherman for CBS
      CBS
      CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

      's The Early Show
      The Early Show
      The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...

    • Dennis Quaid
      Dennis Quaid
      Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

       (born 1954) – American actor
    • Kangana Ranaut (born 1987) – Indian actress
    • Katherine Rawls
      Katherine Rawls
      Katherine Louise Rawls was a multiple United States national champion in swimming and diving in the 1930s.-Swimming career:...

       (1917 - 1982) – the multiple United States national champions in swimming and diving in the 1930s
    • Christopher Reeve
      Christopher Reeve
      Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...

       (1952 - 2004) – American actor, director, producer and writer
    • Earl W. Renfroe
      Earl W. Renfroe
      Earl Wiley Renfroe was a history-maker in the field of orthodontics and in breaking down the barriers of racism....

       (1907 - 2000) – History maker in the field of orthodontics
      Orthodontics
      Orthodontics, orthodontia, or orthodonture is the first specialty of dentistry that is concerned with the study and treatment of malocclusions , which may be a result of tooth irregularity, disproportionate jaw relationships, or both...

       and in breaking down the barriers of racism
    • Charles Rolls
      Charles Rolls
      Charles Stewart Rolls was a motoring and aviation pioneer. Together with Frederick Henry Royce he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in a flying accident, when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display near Bournemouth,...

       (1877 - 1910) – British aviation pioneer
    • Michael of Romania (born 1921) – the last King of Romania
      King of Romania
      King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....

      , and one of the last still living leaders of World War II
      World War II
      World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

    • James Stewart
      James Stewart
      James Stewart was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart may also refer to:-Noblemen:*James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland*James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn James Stewart (1908–1997) was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart...

       (1908 - 1997) – American film and stage actor
    • Chuck Scarborough
      Chuck Scarborough
      Charles Bishop "Chuck" Scarborough III is an American television journalist and author. Since 1974 Scarborough has been the lead male news anchor at WNBC-TV, the New York City-based flagship station of the NBC Television Network, and has also appeared on NBC News. He currently co-anchors with...

       (born 1943) – American journalist, Veteran television news anchor for WNBC
      WNBC
      WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...

       (Channel 4 New York)
    • Jon Scott
      Jon Scott
      Jon Scott is an American television news anchor, co-hosting Happening Now from 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. ET with Jenna Lee on Fox News Channel.-Personal life and education:...

       (born 1958) – American journalist, anchor for Fox News Channel
      Fox News Channel
      Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...

    • Nevil Shute
      Nevil Shute
      Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...

       (1899 - 1960) – Popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer
    • J. R. D. Tata
      J. R. D. Tata
      Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was a pioneer aviator and important businessman of India. He was awarded India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1992 and the Legion of Honour from the French government in 1954.-Early life and education:J. R. D...

       (1904 - 1993) – Indian industrialist
    • Ratan Naval Tata (born 1937) – Indian industrialist
    • Norman Tebbit
      Norman Tebbit
      Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment...

       (born 1931) – British Conservative politician
    • John Travolta
      John Travolta
      John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...

       (born 1954) – American actor
    • Dieter F. Uchtdorf
      Dieter F. Uchtdorf
      Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf is a German former aviator and airline executive. He currently serves as the Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is the eleventh most senior apostle in the ranks of the Church.-Early life and education:Uchtdorf...

       (born 1940) – Second Counselor in the First Presidency
      First Presidency (LDS Church)
      The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...

       of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)
    • Gore Vidal
      Gore Vidal
      Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...

       (born 1925) – American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, short story writer, actor and politician
    • Bonny Warner
      Bonny Warner
      Bonny Warner is an American luger who competed from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. She later competed in women's bobsleigh from 1999 to 2002...

       (born 1962) – American luger
    • Prince William (born 1982) – Duke of Cambridge
    • Ted Williams
      Ted Williams
      Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...

       (1918 - 2002) – left fielder in Major League Baseball
      Major League Baseball
      Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

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