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Contrails: The Epiphany
By Steve Weaver
It must seem to newcomers in our world of aviation that the pilots who were flying back in “the day,” must be conspiring to weave a universal tall tale about how aviation was in the old days. Then they take turns telling the tale while the rest of the codgers nod in solemn assent.
In these times of six and seven dollar avgas and single engine piston aircraft pushing three quarters of a million dollars, it’s hard to visualize a world of 40 cent fuel and affordable airplanes, which the factories were pumping out like popcorn. Imagine a time when we had the freedom to fly just about anywhere in almost anything and when almost anyone who was working could afford an airplane of some kind.
To those of us who lived and flew during those halcyon days, it seemed normal at the time because we hadn’t known anything else. Most of us thought that it would continue this way always and that was just the way it was supposed to be. It also seemed to us, to me anyway, that aviation was probably about the same in every progressive country. I had no clue what an oasis of aeronautical privilege we were living in.
The Man, The Myth and The Legend: Author John F. Ross’s new book on Eddie Rickenbacker Celebrates the Life and Times of America’s First Aviation Hero
By Mark Rhodes
Eddie Rickenbacker’s natural charisma helped forge the public image of military aviation as a glamorous, albeit risky profession. (National Archives)Eddie Rickenbacker is a major figure in U.S. Military History, becoming America’s first flying Ace in World War I and subsequent Medal of Honor winner. After the war, his work as a businessman and aviation advocate with Eastern Airlines helped pave the way for sustainable, safe and reliable commercial aviation in post World War II America. Add to this his dashing exploits as an early pioneer of auto racing and his many escapes from death (the publicity material for Enduring Courage lists eight separate incidents, including a horrific Pacific Ocean crash where he and several others were stranded on rafts for 24 days in 1942) and you have a great example of American Heroism taken to the nth degree.
Despite this, Eddie Rickenbacker, while not an obscure figure is not exactly the household name he was in the first half of the 20th century. John F. Ross’ brilliant new biography Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed (St. Martin’s Press) is a welcome corrective to this, placing Rickenbacker’s contributions in a variety of fields in proper context in 20th century American history. Mr. Ross paints a picture of a tough-as-nails, complex man whose quick thinking, physical skills, hard edged charisma and instinct for survival helped make him one of America’s most influential and admired men of the first half of the 20th century. Mr. Ross was nice enough to correspond via email about his work and the man, the myth and the legend of Eddie Rickenbacker.
Déjà vu All Over Again
By Steve Weaver
Without question, the U.S. aviation fleet is growing long in tooth. While new aircraft are being built, their numbers are infinitesimally small when compared to the huge number of aircraft the industry pumped out in the 60s, 70s and very early 80s. The bulk of those earlier aircraft still exist, most of them on U.S. registry and the average age of registered aircraft goes up yearly. Today, those old aircraft actually make up the largest percentage of the aircraft population in our country.
Yet it seems like I’m always taken by surprise when I run into an airplane that I’ve known from the past, and especially if it’s from a much earlier time in my life.
Sometimes it’s a familiar registration number that sparks recognition, and other times an examination of the logs reveals an event that I remember. Once in a while I even come across my own name in the aircraft log books, a younger me signing off an item of maintenance.