There is real flight history behind our REGISTERED FLYER TRADEMARK. Our founder, chocolatier John Paris, is an aeronaut and holds a commercial hot air balloon license. John Paris and friends constructed their own balloon in 1974. At the time, modern ballooning was in its infancy. The balloon, called "Pie in the Sky", has the FAA registration number N314. John Paris flew his first solo flight just before sunset on October 23, 1974. In 1994, at the annual award ceremony for the Smithsonian National Air & Space Trophy, where the guests eat Flyer bars after a black tie dinner, John Paris met aviaton pioneer and former White House correspondent Fay Gillis Wells. In 1929, Mrs. Wells founded the Ninety-Nines women's flight organization with her friend Amelia Earhart and other pilots. The Ninety-Nines is the oldest and largest association of women flyers in the world. John Paris told Fay Wells about his idea to launch the Flyer Candy Bar Paper Airplane Contests and flight education program for fifth graders, and Wells promptly volunteered to be the Co-chair of the Contests. The inaugural contest was held on May 18, 1996 in Atchison, Kansas, hometown of Amelia Earhart. EXPRESS SHOPPING Copyright 1987-2023 Paris Chocolates, Inc. All rights reserved.