This 4.25" x 5.75" (11 x 14.5 cm) pilot's certificate was issued to Frank P. Lahm on May 24, 1911 by the Aero Club of America in association with the Federation Aeronautiqe Internationale of France. The three-page document was only the second such certificate issued to a pilot in the United States. Lahm first received the No. 2 certificate in 1909; this 1911 re-issue includes both a photograph and a signature. Lacking any federal organization to oversee the training and flight requirements to operate aircraft the organization began issuing licenses to the ever-growing number of amateur aviators. The first five certificates were issued to Glenn Curtiss, Frank P. Lahm, Louis Paulhan, Orville Wright, and Wilbur Wright.

Frank P. Lahm (1877-1963) of Mansfield, Ohio made his first powered flight with Orville Wright in 1909 while serving the U. S. Signal Corps as a representative to the Wright Brothers' military test flights at Fort Myer. He later became the first person rated as a pilot in the U. S. military. Lahm held both aviator's and balloon pilot's licenses while he served with the signal corps. Until the beginning of World War I, he investigated aviation developments in Europe and was responsible for the signal corps aviation schools. Lahm served in the Army Expeditionary Forces in France and commanded both balloon and aero squadrons. Lahm was promoted to brigadier-general in 1930 and served in a variety of organizational positions until his retirement in 1941.