airmarking

In the early days of aviation, pilots lacked the sophisticated navigation and communication radios that are commonplace today. To help pilots be sure of where they were, and where they were going, a program was instituted to encourage cities and towns to paint their town's name on the largest and most prominent building in their city. Many airport names were also painted on airports. The National website has a very interesting page on the history of air marking, and on the woman who led the program.

Today, Ninety-Nines members continue the tradition by volunteering their time to paint compass roses, airport names, airport identifications, and other pertinent aeronautical information at airports around the country.