Here's The First Pilot License Ever Issued In The US
The Wright brothers' plane first took off at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903, but it wasn't until 1927 that the first federal pilot license was issued.
License No. 1 went to William P. MacCracken, Jr., the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), MacCracken offered the honor to Orville Wright, who was no longer flying at the time, and declined.
MacCracken served as a pilot during World War I. He helped develop the Dept of Commerce's aeronautics branch and create regulations for operating airplanes safely in the US. The FAA was formed in 1958, and is now responsible for licensing pilots.
Here's what License No. 1 looked like:
Here's what a private pilot license looks like today. It hasn't changed too much:
