National Aviation Day

Long-time aviation advocate Jennings Randolph (D-WV) constantly pushed for programs to advance air travel and airport development. He sponsored the 1938 Civil Aeronautics Act. A year later, he spoke at the National Aviation Forum on February 20, 1939. His remarks, entitled Aviation and American Welfare included, “We must be alert to take every advantage of the air, to fill the heavens with pilots and with planes, to provide the factories and the technicians which we need, to inform our people of the myriad purposes which aeronautics may serve, to encourage them to use and to enjoy the benefits of flight.” 

Jennings convinced President Franklin Roosevelt to proclaim August 19 National Aviation Day. The date coincides with Orville Wright’s birthday. National Aviation Day – is a day where aviation is to be celebrated. Our National Aviation Day celebration includes recognizing those Wisconsin aviators who have been awarded the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award or the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award.

Selected for the Master Pilot Award are:
William Bancroft, Poynette (05/2008) WAHF member/supporter
Gerald Beekman, Oconto (01/2005)
William Buettner, West Bend (09/2009)
Donald Burritt, La Crosse (01/2006)
Gene Chase, Oshkosh (03/2005)
George Cudahy, Anthony NM (10/2009) WAHF inductee
Daniel Donovan, Brookfield (08/2007) WAHF member/supporter
Walter Embke, Marshfield (10/2009)
Glenn Gauger, Delavan (04/2005)
David Harmon, Greendale (02/2008)
James Igou, West Bend (12/2007)
Vilas Krueger, Clintonville (02/2009)
David Lau, Oconomowoc (07/2008)
Donald Mosher, Neenah (02/2009) WAHF member/supporter
Wallace Partlow, Jr., Hayward (02/2008)
Charles Pollard, Tomah (10/2005) WAHF member/supporter
Roland Schable, Janesville (09/2006)
William Stoeckmann, Rock Springs (04/2006)
Wilmer Tews, Cascade (09/2006)
Gunter Voltz, Milwaukee (02/2008) WAHF inductee
William Wenkman, Wisconsin Dells (06/2005) WAHF member/supporter
Richard Wixom, Janesville (09/2005) WAHF inductee

Master Mechanic recipients include:
Gerhard Buettner, Oshkosh (unknown)
Robert Converse, Hager City (unknown)
Dean Crites, Waukesha (unknown) WAHF inductee
Walter Embke, Marshfield (10/2009)
William Frisbie, Hortonville (unknown)
Raymond Goss, West Bend (unknown)
Eugene Hackbarth, Milwaukee (unknown)
Bernard Harrington, Appleton (unknown)
Frank Holbus, Greendale (unknown)
James Igou, West Bend (unknown)
Glen Krohn, Brookfield (unknown)
Donald Mosher, Oshkosh (unknown) WAHF member/supporter
Donald Nelson, Knapp (unknown)
Edward Pietrzak, Greendale (unknown)
Richard Porter, Franklin (unknown)
Roy Reabe, Waupun (unknown) WAHF inductee
Bruce Rintlemann, Milwaukee (unknown)
Nick Quint, Janesville (4/2010)

Congratulations to these gentlemen who serve as a foundation for aviation as we know it.

Celebrating a Century of Flight in Wisconsin

While firsts happen every day, becoming the first to fly an airplane in a state, while making your first solo on that same flight, is noteworthy. Being the first person to buy an airplane and the 11th person to fly in this country makes the story even more remarkable.  All that happened on November 4, 1909 in Beloit, Wisconsin.

Those aviation firsts are just some of the many firsts that Arthur Pratt Warner  experienced during his long and storied life. Those firsts, the man, and the 100-years of Wisconsin aviation history since are what the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame (WAHF) will be celebrating in Beloit during the next few days.

Warner-Curtiss model and Centennial of Flight display

Commemoration of Warner’s flight begins at 9:00 AM at the Morgan Elementary School, 1811 Lee Lane (adjacent to Highway 81), on Beloit’s east side. The school sits on the original Morgan farm, site of Warner’s first flights. Weather allowing, festivities include a reenactment of Warner’s flight and a flyover by Wisconsin Air National Guard aircraft. A one-quarter scale replica of Warner’s aircraft and a Centennial of Flight display will be available for public viewing in the school’s gymnasium until 1:00 PM.

Wednesday festivities continue at the Beloit Historical Society’s Lincoln Center, 845 Hackett Street, at 5:00 PM. Wisconsin historian and WAHF board member Michael Goc will present “AP Warner, an Appreciation.” WAHF will then present the Warner-Curtiss model, on long-term loan, to the Beloit Historical Society. Recognition of EAA Chapter 60 Beloit-Janesville, builders of the model, will follow. Refreshments available following the presentations.

Smithsonian Senior Curator, Dr. Tom Crouch, will present “Aviation in 1909 and Wisconsin’s AP Warner” on Saturday, November 7. The presentation will take place in Eaton Chapel on the Beloit College campus beginning at 3:00 PM. A reception will follow the presentation.

There is no charge for these events and the public is encouraged to participate.

Warner speaks again

Arthur Pratt (A.P.) Warner was the first individual to purchase  an aircraft in the United States, the first to fly in Wisconsin, and the 11th to fly an aircraft in this country. He was a successful businessman and engineer; he was a loving husband and father. He lived in a simpler time, a time when things moved at a slower pace. He provides us, in his self-published autobiography, Making Things, reflections of that simpler time.

About the legal system
“The patent system is all wrong. Patent judges should be engineers as well as lawyers. There are

AP Warner ca 1950

often points involved in a patent that a lawyer who is not an engineer cannot understand.”

Marketing
“The more I learned about advertising, the more valuable I thought it was, but I did not think it should be confined to magazine advertising alone.”

Read more of the A.P. Warner story. Join us as we celebrate Wisconsin’s Centennial of Flight recognizing Wisconsin’s first pilot – A.P. Warner.

Madison Air Scouts

At the age of 12, I joined the Madison Air Scouts sponsored by Truax Field, a US Air Force Base in Madison, Wisconsin. The base was also known as Madison Municipal Airport, today it is known as the Dane County Regional Airport.

Madison Air Scouts ca 1954

It was 1954, I grew up on Madison’s east side, between the Yahara River and East High School. My home was right under the flight path for Truax’s Runway 36. All the neighborhood boys playing baseball or football would stop and watch the military jets whenever they flew overhead.

I had three uncles that served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and they were my mentors. Every aviation magazine or book that I came by was read over and over. I spent hours studying the missiles and aircraft they covered.

I don’t recall how I found out about the Air Scouts, but when the opportunity presented itself, I joined. I was never in the Boy Scouts so this was my first uniform and I was pretty proud of it. We would get briefings from Air Force staff and I recall seeing many movies on life in the Air Force and of course airplanes. The movies with airplanes were my favorites.

Several months back, I was given a photo that I had completely forgotten about. It’s an official Air Force photo taken of the Madison Air Scouts in 1954. We are assembled in front of a Convair F-102, Delta Dagger. I am standing in the back row, seventh from the left, under the ‘C’ in Air Force.

My dream of flight began early in my trip on this planet and has just continued to grow over the years. At that time, in 1954, I never thought I’d be able to fly fighter jets at my home airport, Truax Field. Providence and persistence paid off and I was able to do just that. I flew the A-37 Dragonfly and the A-10 Warthog with the Wisconsin Air National Guard throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

My life-long involvement in aviation and flying only goes to prove – Where there is a will, there is a way. The dream of flight lives on…

Tom Thomas, Ram 88

Happy Birthday Steve Wittman

Celebrating SJ “Steve” Wittman’s 105th birthday, the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame provides the following report, just as it was written by Steve.

Steve Wittman ca 1940 (WAHF archives)

A Summary of Mr. S.J. Wittman’s Activities at the
Winnebago County Airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

“I came to Oshkosh in 1931 to manage the airport. From 1931 to 1940 I ran a Flying School, built racing ships, did a great deal of racing, and also built a conventional two-place experimental airplane.

Between 1940 and the month of November, 1943, one hundred three War Training and Civil Pilot Training students were given 35 to 45 hours of flight test and received their pilot’s license at my flight school.

Beginning in May, 1943, I started an Army Indoctrination Course which was given to 699 students. Each student received 10 hours of flight instruction. In addition to the C.P.T., W.T.S. and the Army Indoctrination students, the school had 103 private students, of which eleven received their Flight Instructor Rating.

Since 1940 I have been a Flight Examiner for the Civil Aeronautics Administration. I gave flight tests to all of the C.P.T. and W.T.S. students and to all the private students that took enough flight instruction to qualify for a private or commercial license. In addition, I gave 26 Flight Tests for private pilot licenses to students who received their flight training at other airports.

In giving this training we flew 17,365 hours, which is equivalent to 1,339,857 miles, with only four minor accidents and no personal injuries.

During the War Training Service and Civil Pilot Training programs, I was obliged to furnish my own ships, and assume all responsibility as to maintenance and insurance. Our school had six training ships, and five instructors were employed up to the time the Army Indoctrination Course started.

When the Army Indoctrination Course started in May, 1943, I was obliged to rent training ships from the government and was forced to dispose of my own ships to make room for the government ships, of which there were eighteen. I assumed all responsibility for the maintenance of these ships and any damage to them. In the winter of 1942, I was obliged to give up my four-passenger Cessna airplane to the government for advanced training.

During the Army Indoctrination program I employed fourteen flight instructors, one licensed airplane & engine mechanic besides myself, five mechanics helpers and three line men. During the Army Indoctrination four hundred eighty-nine students were given 10 hours of flight instruction each. In addition, we also trained fifty-two private pilots, twelve flight instructors and eight students from other airport received their private pilot license. During this period of training we flew 5,640 hours, which is equivalent to 423,000 miles, with no accidents whatsoever. The Army Indoctrination Course closed May 1944.

Since the war, Wittman Flying Service has gone back to a normal airport routine of Flight Instruction, Charter Work, Aircraft and Engine maintenance, Recertification of Aircraft, Racing and Air Show Work.”

Warner-Curtiss model construction

This evening, my husband, John, and I flew to Beloit, Wisconsin, to visit with Archie Henkelmann and members of EAA Chapter 60, who are building a quarter-scale model of the Warner-Curtiss aircraft. The model will be nearly identical to the first airplane that flew in Wisconsin in 1909. We were impressed!

EAA Chapter 60 members begin component assembly

What I particularly enjoyed was seeing helping hands and minds coming together to help troubleshoot individual projects. This is what I read of nearly every day in my job as an editor in EAA’s publications department; how when men and women are building airplanes they know they always have a resource in their fellow chapter members. What I also enjoyed was seeing such fine artisanship. Though this model is not intended to fly, the members are putting the same quality and thought into the building process as if they were to actually fly the airplane. When finished, it will be an honorable example of the first flying machine in Wisconsin, one that A.P. Warner, Wisconsin’s first aviator, would be proud to see.

White in 1909, the tires on the 2009 model will be black

About a dozen chapter members started construction of this model in January, and their progress is remarkable. Members have been working hard on individual components, often working at home throughout the week. They then bring completed parts on Wednesday “build” nights to show and share in their progress. Construction continues as the calendar closes in on the May 4 deadline. The model will be unveiled at the Wisconsin Aviation Conferencein Eau Claire.

As May is just a bit over a month away, I’m getting excited about seeing the completed model, but more excited that WAHF members and aviation and history enthusiasts throughout the state will have the opportunity to see it, too. I recently learned that the model, along with an informational exhibit, will be displayed in the EAA AirVenture Museum during AirVenture Oshkosh this summer. Along with this exhibit, the model will be at several Wisconsin fly-ins and other events throughout the summer. Check the WAHF website often for updates.

Rose Dorcey
President, WAHF

AP Warner speaks

The Wisconsin Centennial of Flight celebrates our state’s first powered, heavier-than-air flight. The flight occured in Beloit, Wisconsin, on November 4, 1909. Arthur Pratt (AP) Warner was at the controls of the third airplane Glenn Curtiss built.

AP Warner ca 1940

Warner wrote a short autobiography entitled Making Things. We will share details from the book in this blog. Here are two statements A.P. made about life in the first half of the 20th century.

Overcoming adversity
“Serious difficulties can be surmounted sometimes if one is anxious enough to do it.”

Education verses experience
“I have often thought ever since that businessmen are too much inclined to pay attention to newly educated boys, and not enough to men with experience.”

Join us as we celebrate our Centennial of Flight.

Hello world!

A couple of facts about history according to your blogger:

• History is being made everyday. What you or I may find insignificant today may well be in tomorrow’s history books.
• Time clouds the memory, bias may change the perspective, but historical facts never change.
• For every story recorded in history there are many more to be told.

We look forward to sharing Wisconsin’s aviation stories; we look forward to hearing even more.