Jul 14, 2015 2 min read

When you consider that we can now leave New York at breakfast, traverse the continent at 30,000 feet and get to San Francisco by lunch – well, brunch more likely, considering the time zones you would cross along the way – it’s hard to appreciate just how daring it once was to soar into the clouds or beyond.

Washington’s DeLloyd Thompson was one of the aviation pioneers who helped pave the way for the air travel that has expanded the boundaries of the world for everyone. In August 1914 – not all that long ago in the grand scheme of things – Thompson pushed a rickety wooden plane up to 15,600 feet over a Kansas City suburb, breaking the previous record by 3,000 feet. He had nothing more than an altimeter with him on the perilous journey.

Thompson was also the second flier to pilot his aircraft while upside down. Depending on your perspective, he was either deeply courageous or wildly reckless. In reality, he might have been a little bit of both.

Thompson died in 1949 at age 60 after leading a fairly uneventful life in the Washington area his flying days were done. Bronze plaques honoring his exploits had been fixtures for years at Washington County Airport, but they were shuffled aside in an airport expansion in the late 1960s and eventually ended up in the hands of Washington County Historical Society. On Monday, however, the plaques were rightly restored to a place of honor within the airport.

They can serve as a reminder of the area’s rich heritage and how people like Thompson helped create our modern world.

David Molinaro-Thompson, one of Thompson’s grandchildren and a history and humanities teacher at Bethlehem-Center High School, put it well during the ceremony: “History does not survive on its own. Like democracy, it is a human construct that requires our attention, our time and care to keep it alive. Otherwise it dies, and the fact of the matter is once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.”