On July 14, 1911, daring aviator Harry Nelson Atwood accomplished a historic aviation milestone by landing his fragile biplane directly on the South Lawn of the White House. Completing a grueling, 14‑day, 576‑mile cross‑country flight from Boston to Washington, D.C., Atwood was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd and presented with a prestigious gold medal by President William Howard Taft.
The frightening layer of Atwood’s White House landing was how close the stunt came to ending in disaster. Contemporary accounts describe his aircraft dipping dangerously toward the tree line as he approached the Executive Mansion, forcing Atwood to cut his engine early and glide in without power. He cleared the south fence and missed the White House portico by mere yards, delivering a historic arrival that was far more harrowing than the jubilant photographs suggest.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US
