Day Fifteen

Question one

This photo shows Santa Claus receiving his pilot’s licence. The seated man holds the very first licence issued by this organisation.
Add alt-text To whom had this first licence originally been offered?

A quick reverse image search shows this other version of the image. The description of the image is as follows:

Santa Claus receives aeroplane pilot’s license from Assistant Secretary of Commerce. Although there may not be sufficient snow for his reindeer sleigh, Santa Claus will still be able to deliver his load of presents on time this Christmas by using the air route. The old saint called at the Commerce Department in Washington today where he is shown receiving an aeroplane pilot’s license from Assistant Secretary of Commerce. for Aeronautics William P. MacCracken, while Clarence M. Young (right) Director of Aeronautics, Department of Commerce, looks on. Airway maps and the assurance that the lights would be burning on the airways Christmas Eve were also given to Santa

Isn’t that cute.

The description of the image gives us a helpful hint that the organisation mentioned in the question is the Commerce Department. Knowing this, I did a search for Department of Commerce aeroplane license history usa and found this article from the FAA.

Under the Safety Certification Begins section of the article we see this:

The Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce began pilot certification with this license, issued on April 6, 1927. The recipient was the chief of the Branch, William P. MacCracken, Jr. Orville Wright, who was no longer an active flier, had declined the honor.) MacCracken’s license was the first issued to a pilot by a civilian agency of the Federal government.

Nice little note there about Orvilla Wright Jr declining it, and that’s our first answer!

Question two

The photo is cropped, and a man is standing on the right.
What is his full name?

We can look at the description of the image from question one and see that the man on the right was Clarence M. Young. I did a search for him and found this article that mentions his full name: Clarence Marshall Young.

Awesome, another day down!