THIS DAY IN AIRPOWER HISTORY: On July 14, 1911, Harry Atwood lands Wright Model B plane on White House South Lawn

Three months after learning to fly at the Wright Flying School, Huffman Prairie, Ohio, Harry Nelson Atwood flew from Boston to Washington, D.C., a distance of 576 miles (927 kilometers) over 14 days, and completed the final leg from College Park, Maryland, by landing his Wright Model B airplane on the South Lawn of the White House. President William Howard Taft and his secretary, Charles Dewey Hilles (former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury), were watching from the south portico.

President Taft presented Atwood with a gold medal from the Aero Club of Washington. Atwood’s mother was also present at the ceremony. Read more at This Day in Aviation.