This program is funded in part by the following.

For almost a century, St.

Louis has been associated with the romance of flight, but our region was a hub for aviation long before Charles Lindbergh flew nonstop to Paris.

St.

Louis was the fourth largest city in America, and Lambert thought that it should be the centerpiece of aviation in the Midwest.

And continued to be long after men flew to the moon.

Today, the St.

Louis region has five major airports, and they and their tenants have a combined annual economic impact that exceeds $10 billion and employ over 36,000 people.

When you think about the economic engine that aerospace is to Missouri, it's substantial.

And more than 330,000 people are employed in aerospace manufacturing and the industries that support it.

For every pilot, there's at least 10 people on the ground that are needed to get that plane up in the air.

In 2024, the St.

Louis Regional Aerospace and Aviation Task Force was formed as a way for airports, manufacturers, and educators to collaborate as they work towards common goals.

We need to tell that story about how robust this industry is and about these really great jobs.

At one point, the world was this big.

Now it's this.

The sky's the beginning.

That's a playground.

Just hiring people doesn't get the results.

You must invest in the people, and that's what we're doing.

It's bringing back some of what St.

Louis was.

The applauding shouts of the people reached our ears for some time after we left the earth, growing fainter and fainter as we receded.

Objects became less clearly defined.

Finally, the city faded into a spot.

The balloon afforded an extended view of the Mississippi River, the Missouri and Illinois Rivers.

I had an opportunity to realize the meaning of poetic dreams when attempting to portray the silver, glittering sheen of the water produced by the rays of the declining sun.

Nothing could be imagined more gorgeously beautiful.

William Hyde, reporter for the Missouri Republican.

Hyde was one of three passengers to ride along with aeronautic pioneer Professor John Wise.

in a massive hot air balloon called Atlantic all the way from St.

Louis to New York in 1859.

He was trying to prove there was a stream of air across the North American continent from the west to east.

And it's really quite amazing the scientific endeavors that went along with this ballooning in that pre-Civil War era.

The Atlantic measured 50 feet in diameter and 60 feet in height, and its Chinese silk balloon was filled with hydrogen gas from the St.

Louis Gaslight Company.

Below the Atlantic's wicker basket dangled a small boat, just in case they had to make a water landing, which they almost did in Lake Ontario during a severe storm.

Weiss managed to maneuver the balloon to the shore, where it instead crashed into a tree.

But all four men survived and set a distance record that would last until 1900.

By the time the Atlantic went soaring out of earshot of St.

Louis, the city had already been a hub for aeronauts for decades, a gathering place for passionate pioneers who pushed the boundaries of flight.

And it was into this age of courage and innovation that Albert Bond Lambert was born.

He is the person, the center point for understanding why aviation became so critical and important to the St.

Louis region.

His father was the founder of Lambert Pharmacal Company, the developer of Listerine.

A.B.

Lambert went to University of Virginia.

He quit school at about age 20 to become president of the company.

And he's the one who took them international.

On his travels to France and Germany, A.B.

Lambert met aviation pioneers and began to develop an enthusiasm for flight, first in hot air balloons and then in aircraft after training with the Wright Brothers organization back in the States and became the first person to obtain an airplane pilot's license in St.

Louis.

So Albert Lambert was part of a group that picked out what became Kinloch Field.

In 1910, held a very famous air meet that October.

Had the right organization come, brought six airplanes in, and to demonstrate flight, in fact, Lambert himself flew and had these little, called little bombs, he dropped on a plywood battleship, showing possibilities of using aerial bombardment.

- Former President Theodore Roosevelt turned up and became the first president to ride in an airplane.

- And it made all kinds of headlines, to have that kind of publicity, what was going on there at Kinloch.

And remember too, that St.

Louis was the fourth largest city in America.

It was a very important center for finance, for transportation, the steamboats, railroads.

It was the gateway to the West.

And Lambert rightfully thought that it should be the centerpiece of aviation in the Midwest.

Kinloch Field's lease expired and it was returned to farmland.

But Lambert's vision of an aviation hub wasn't over.

Lambert traveled all over the region, searching for the perfect place to build his dream.

Twelve miles outside of downtown St.

Louis, Lambert found what he was looking for, 60 acres of farmland way out in what was still the country.

He created an airfield and hangars with his own money and opened it up to the aviation community, free of charge.

- That would become the genesis of the St.

Louis Lambert International Airport.

And he had all the connections.

He knew all the major players that he would bring together the community to have manufacturing, to have pilot training, the mechanics in more of a modern sense, when I think of it as a logistics hub, not just an airport.

- When the post office decided to privatize the airmail, one of the residents at Lambert, Robertson Aviation, won the contract for the St.

Louis to Chicago route.

- And their chief pilot was Charles Lindbergh.

Lindbergh was a unknown.

He was a young man from Minnesota who had come 1923 air races in St.

Louis.

He had trained in the army.

He'd come back and he was tapped to be the one to fly that first route.

As Lindbergh flew the mail back and forth between the two cities, he mulled over the $25,000 reward that had been announced for the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris.

Confident he had the skill to complete the mission solo, Lindbergh just needed some backing to build the right plane.

He went to A.B.

Lambert and Lambert said, "If you believe in it, I'll believe in it too, and I'll put the first $1,000 towards your endeavor."

And others then quickly came on board.

Charles Lindbergh then had aircraft developed in San Diego, California, and he named it the Spirit of St.

Louis in honor of his financial backers, and then made his epic flight all the way to Paris, France, probably the most famous flight in all of world history.

And while Lindbergh's historic flight forever linked the name of St.

Louis to the romance of aviation, it was Lambert and his airfield that built its legacy.

- Really the 1920s and '30s is the maturity of aviation and carrying passengers also for wartime purposes.

And St.

Louis was really the centerpiece of that.

The manufacturing of airplanes at what would become Lambert Airport started in 1928 with F.B.

Mahoney Company.

So, Robertson began to build airplanes, Curtis Wright, and so it had almost a century of continuous airframe manufacturing at Lambert.

And one of those manufacturers would have a seismic impact on the St.

Louis region.

Boeing's history in St.

Louis traces its roots to McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, which was founded here in 1939 by James McDonald.

And because it was 1939, his thought was, if the United States gets involved in a war, the defense companies that are located on the coasts are going to be able to fall under attack more easily.

So he wanted his company to be located somewhere in the center of the country so it would be safer.

And he lands on St.

Louis because St.

Louis was a very aviation-minded city.

And it ultimately grew into a huge successful corporation that built fighter jets, spacecraft, weapon systems, lots of different things to support the United States, especially throughout the Cold War.

After building the space capsules for the successful Mercury and Gemini programs in the first half of the 1960s, McDonnell merged with the Douglas Airplane Company, creating the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which in turn merged with Boeing in 1997.

The James S. McDonnell Prologue Room was built as a way for Boeing to pay homage to its heritage companies.

We have a field trip program that we run throughout the school year called the Mystery of Flight.

It's a great tool to help build that next generation of innovators.

Today, I meet people who work at Boeing who had come to the Prologue Room as a student, and they say, "Oh, I remember seeing this or that aircraft or, you know, looking at the space capsule," and that was part of what inspired them to become an engineer.

So it's neat to see those seeds that were planted long ago and to imagine the seeds that are still being planted today.

- Albert Bond Lambert's concept of a multi-use airport and his infectious enthusiasm for the aviation industry cleared the runway for our region to take flight over the next century.

In 1928, the city bought out Lambert, issued $2 million in bonds for infrastructure, and created one of the nation's first municipal airports.

Between 1929 and 1998, the Bi-State area gained four more major airports that adopted Lambert's multi-use approach.

If you think about where these major aerospace manufacturing companies are, they're all strategically located at these airports.

And so you've got this ecosystem that's really robust.

It's allowed us to continue to grow that industry.

There are a number of large corporations that have really had an influx into this area, Boeing being one of the biggest partners.

They have a footprint over at Lambert.

They have a new footprint here at Mid-America St.

Louis Airport.

We are growing.

Boeing St.

Louis is a critical hub for Boeing Defense and, quite frankly, the nation.

And when you look at St.

Louis Downtown Airport, they have Gulfstream.

You look at St.

Louis Regional, they have Westar Aviation.

So when you look at those corporations, there is a huge influx just from those alone.

Contractors and consultants throughout the bi-state region, they're contributing about 300,000 jobs to those aerospace companies.

And if you put a map and you looked where all those individuals actually live, it's covering like the 14 county region.

And so that's where when we're talking about these investments at this airport or at St.

Louis Lambert, or when Boeing makes an announcement for $2 billion of expansion, that impacts the bi-state region and all of those counties throughout our area.

And that's the value if you are looking for a place to expand your manufacturing.

You've got that confidence that if I come to the St.

Louis market, it has the diversity of all these different companies.

But for all the industry growth, there was something missing in St.

Louis on the aviation side.

Direct flights.

We knew that intuitively.

You know, this is not new to St.

Louis.

I mean, this is a community that used to have those direct flights to London and to Rome and to Paris.

After becoming TWA's primary domestic hub in 1974, St.

Louis-Lambert experienced a time of rapid expansion, increased passenger traffic, and the addition of nonstop flights to Europe.

It peaked really in year 2000, 30 million passengers per year coming through.

American Airlines bought TWA in 2001.

Then 9/11 happened, and the hub at St.

Louis was no longer seen as important and something to be retained.

Half of the flights were eliminated.

And it was a real psychological blow, I think, to St.

Louisans who enjoyed amazing connections internationally.

Though for the next two decades, St.

Louis didn't really feel like the gateway to anywhere, especially not to Europe.

And this lack of connectivity made it much harder for international businesses looking to invest in our region, and our businesses looking to invest abroad.

To hear it from the business community, that they need this.

They need it for ease of travel, to look after and care for and grow their investment.

So for us, it became a business imperative.

Transatlantic travel returned to Lambert in 2022 with nonstop Lufthansa flights to Frankfurt, Germany.

I mean, it was such a momentous moment for us.

We had lost that international service back in 2001 to 2003, and it was hard.

It was hard living for 20 years without European nonstop markets.

And so that was a huge win.

I think today is probably the proudest moment of my career.

When I first took this job, you know, over 16 years ago, the business community came and they said, Rhonda, you have one priority.

It's to get London service back.

And I thought, okay, well, that won't, that won't be that hard, right?

16 years later, we've answered that plea.

All of a sudden, people looked at the airport again with pride, and that's what's important to me, you know, making sure that people have pride in our airport.

It's bringing back some of what St.

Louis was.

We have the companies that are doing trade, we have universities that attract talent and students from all over the world.

Part of it is really recognizing it and now these flights legitimizing just exactly who we are.

That is St.

Louis being a globally competitive city.

After 16 years as the director of St.

Louis Lambert International Airport, Ronda Homnybrugge is set to retire in the summer of 2026.

Her tenure has seen not only the return of the airport's international status, but also the first stages of a dramatic reimagining of Lambert itself.

This is not taxpayer dollars, so this multi-billion dollar project, whatever the cost, end up being 90% of that is funded by the airlines, and that is through the bonds that we sell to be able to do the program, and then those bonds are charged back to our airlines through their rate base.

So on the landing fees and the terminal rental rates.

From the airline side, they really want to see cost effective.

Are you building an airport that's efficient from a cost perspective?

So in this new proposed terminal, the consolidated checkpoint, today we have four separate checkpoints between the two terminals.

That's manpower intensive.

It's also equipment intensive.

The new terminal will create one consolidated checkpoint.

And then the new terminal is designed with a lot more revenue opportunity.

We'll have about 60 percent more space for that food, beverage and retail.

Our new parking garage will go from eighteen hundred spaces upwards of seven thousand.

But the one feature that won't change is the iconic original domes.

That 1956 terminal designed by Minoru Yamasaki was truly path-breaking.

The previous terminal built in 1933 looked more like a railroad station, which it was patterned after.

Yamasaki had the idea that it should be a grand entrance to a grand city.

The windows, all the lights, it very much represents the air age.

But the structure of it and the massiveness of it still works in today's environment.

Being able to keep that small piece of history and tie it into what literally can survive another 50 years is just an architectural dream.

While the region's oldest airport leans into its legacy to build its future, one of its youngest is enjoying success after a few false starts.

So in 1998 is when we became operational.

Really the driving factor was the potential of Scott Air Force Base being part of the base realignment enclosure.

So the thought process was, well, if we can build a runway on this side and we can bring missions to Scott Air Force Base, the community could assist with keeping the Air Force Base open.

Airfield was built, 10,000-foot runway was built.

But while Scott Air Force Base was able to utilize the longer runway, the loss of the TWA hub at Lambert also meant MidAmerica wasn't seeing the stream of overflow passengers it had been counting on.

After millions of taxpayer dollars were spent to build MidAmerica, for years it sat mostly empty after multiple false starts.

The cargo movement didn't really take off because we couldn't compete with Chicago.

So then air passenger movement became our focus.

Allegiant came, Allegiant left, and then Allegiant came back in 2012 and we've had a great relationship with them since that time frame.

The past few years have seen MidAmerica transform into the vacation airport.

With a recent terminal expansion that now includes a variety of amenities, as well as a legions addition of more nonstop flights to a wider variety of destinations.

Due to the capacity they laid in in 2025, we had 25% growth in the number of passengers that come through this airport.

Mid-America travelers now have the option of taking the Metrolink after a station was added directly across from its terminal.

And the track expansion provided the final five miles needed to connect Mid-America and Lambert.

I see us as kind of a symbiotic relationship with Lambert.

The business traveler doesn't come to this airport.

We really focus on leisure travel.

The facility that we're hoping to open in the summer of 2027 will be a federal inspection station so we can bring in international air carriers, large passenger aircraft.

So that's something we're very excited about for our future.

Airport expansions and enhancements like those happening at MidAmerica and Lambert are just one aspect of growth in our region's aviation and aerospace industries.

Regional employment in aerospace manufacturing grew by approximately 7% over the past five years, almost 3% more than the national growth rate.

And with Boeing, Gulfstream and Westar all expanding their operations, 1,000 more new jobs will soon need to be filled in the bi-state area.

In response to this, the St.

Louis Regional Aerospace and Aviation Task Force was formed.

So the task force includes representatives from our five major airports, our three major aerospace manufacturing companies, Westar, Boeing and Gulfstream, and then representatives for the educational institutions, all working collectively together to find ways that we can build awareness of these high-paying jobs.

- The Center for Academic and Vocational Excellence, or the CAVE, is a part of the Belleville Township High School District, and its aviation program gives students a chance to explore what a career in the industry might look like.

We do hands-on actual activities like flight planning and things we're actually going to use in the field.

I've wanted to be a pilot since I was a young age.

You know, when I get on that flight simulator, it kind of inspires me a lot more to get out there and try to fly as much as I can.

We have our advanced aviation program for students that are interested in the path of becoming a pilot.

And then here in the lab that we're standing in currently is our aviation maintenance program.

What we're doing is we're learning how to install rivets.

And then once we're done, we have to extract them without damaging the base layer metal.

One of the big partners that we have is Gulfstream, a company that has a facility that's local to us here.

And they spent a lot of time coming to help our students.

They provide apprenticeship opportunities for our students.

It's been very valuable.

I'm an aircraft maintenance technician at Goldstream.

So I took their class that they had last year here at the cave.

And then I did an interview and got the apprenticeship.

So I go in the mornings before I come to school.

It's kind of like a shortcut into the aviation field because once you graduate, you have a job.

And I think a lot of the companies that we do work with understand the value of the investment.

That pouring into these kids is advantageous for the community, but then also helps to kind of feed that group of young, talented individuals that are needed to kind of step in to the industry.

Plans after this, I'm going to get my A&P, which is airframe and power plant certification.

I'm going to college for aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle.

I'm going to do flight training out there and just hopefully keep going to the airlines.

We need to tell that story about how robust this industry is and about these really great jobs.

So the first thing we did is we launched AeroSTL.org.

And they list scholarships and opportunities to figure out what job you want, how much will it make, and what education you need to get it.

Just hiring people doesn't get the results.

You must invest in the people, and that's what we're doing.

We are partnering, a 20-year partnership, with the St.

Louis Community College, a paid apprenticeship program.

They've actually developed 1,000-plus folks who became Boeing teammates that are working on our line today.

For every pilot, there's at least 10 people on the ground that are needed to get that plane up in the air.

- Retired United States Air Force Major and Task Force Member Yolandea Wood has been connecting young people with aviation for years.

As the Director of the Organizational Black Aerospace Professionals ACE Academy in St.

Louis, she partners with the United States Air Force and Commercial Airlines to take middle and high schoolers behind the scenes of the industry.

We are poised in the bi-state region to make a difference and make careers happen.

Yolandea is also the Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated National Youth Chairman and uses history to encourage participation in these summer programs.

I like sharing the parables of the Tuskegee Airmen.

My favorite is Mama's Rules.

Mama has a couple rules.

If I tell you to clean your room, I mean now.

And you say, "Mama, I can't do this."

Mama might respond, "Try.

"Always, always try and do it now."

Wendell Pruitt, a St.

Louis native and a Tuskegee Airman was flying home for one of his missions in World War II.

He saw a German destroyer, but he had dropped all his bombs.

All he had was 50 caliber bullets, about this big around, isn't that long?

Not very big.

But Mama said, "Always, always try and do it now."

So he attacked that ship, an impossible, or seemingly impossible task.

How do you sink a ship that big with a little bitty bullet?

Well, unfortunately, the Germans didn't pay attention to their mamas.

Nope.

They had probably received some ammunition in wooden boxes, and they said, "We'll put it away later."

They left it on deck.

One of those hot bullets hit that ammunition on deck.

What should have been a small boom, a small hole, became a big boom in a big hole.

And because one man listened to his mama, history was made.

That St.

Louis native, Wendell Pruitt, is the only man in history who gets credited with sinking a destroyer with a 50-caliber bullet.

So what else can you do?

What seems impossible until you try.

The choice is yours, and you have more choices than you know.

All you have to do is reach for them, apply for them, and then make the most of them.

♪♪ The Spirit of St.

Louis Air Show and STEM Expo connects tens of thousands of people to the magic of flight, as well as potential careers within the aviation and aerospace industries.

The air show is an entertainment venue, but really, it's to let people know the assets that we have, what we're capable of, the history of aviation in St.

Louis, and to honor veterans, and to get these young people turned on about a possible future in either STEM or aviation.

Spirit Airport is also home to the Red Tail Cadet Program, a six-week immersive course that teaches students from the Ferguson-Florissant School District how to fly.

That was a no-brainer, the Red Tail Cadet Program, and the history of those aviators who were in situations where people didn't think they could make it, kind of like Ferguson.

Frustrated by the negative cloud surrounding Ferguson, Pastor Anthony Myers decided to create a transformative experience for its young people.

He connected with the owners of Elite Aviation, John and Donna Tipton, and together they created the program naming it in honor of the United States' first black military pilots.

We know that the stack is going to be right off our wing.

We keep following this river all the way down.

I mean, they're here six weeks flying planes every day and we start ground school or information sharing about a couple months ahead of time for four weeks.

So it's intense.

It's not a scale down program.

It's not an abbreviated program.

Either you can do it or you can't, and these kids can do it.

I didn't think I was going to get into the program, but I applied anyway and I got in, made it through each part, and I've done really well with it.

I flew a plane before I drove a car.

Now that I've experienced it and I've done it, I just want to continue.

I want to continue flying.

Mentors from the industry support the cadets as they go through this challenging program, while also encouraging them to be a team and hold each other accountable.

You know, we've all competed to get to this spot and get to be a cadet in the first place.

It's no longer just the I, you know, it's a we thing.

It's a team.

They walk out of this program and they have a different concept of what they can do, and there's no wall that's going to stop them.

Nobody's going to tell them you can't do this.

They did something that most people never can do.

It gives you a little different confidence level when you're looking at other things in life, right?

I want to go to college.

I'm going to study medicine, pre-med for surgery.

That's the track I want to do.

But I'm also going to continue getting my private pilot license and I want to get my instrument flight rules part of the license, which means I'll be able to fly in the clouds.

I'll be able to fly at night.

At one point their world was this big.

Now it's this.

We've got cadets who are working at Boeing right out of high school.

Got two in the military, one in the Navy, one's a Marine.

The sky's the beginning.

That's their playground.

It really is.

My parents would love to see this.

I'm immensely proud of the Spirit of St.

Louis Airport and the true gem it is to this region.

But one of the favorite things in my 38-year career is the Red Tail Cadet Program.

It's so satisfying because it's a group of people coming together and doing this.

When Anthony had that vision, these kids in Ferguson grew up in the shadow of an international airport.

Most of them have never been on an airplane.

They've become ambassadors, the leaders that walk back into the school districts and say, "Let me tell you what I did this summer."

First day of school, they're in their jumpsuits high-fiving third graders because their posters are in their schools.

And so that's who kids ought to want to be.

- Thinking about final.

- All right.

- You'll surprise yourself, 'cause I surprised myself.

♪♪ - From intrepid balloonists on a scientific mission to Albert von Lambert's belief in a young pilot, early aviation in St.

Louis only had success thanks to the daring individuals and collaborative community that were determined to see it grow.

Today, the aviation and aerospace industries in our region continue to build on this proud legacy by investing in the next generation who will determine its future.

Straight ahead runway 21.

♪♪ >> This program is funded in part by the following.