The event takes place in the Seattle area September 28 starting at the Museum of Flight located at King County International Airport/Boeing Field (KBFI). Additional events and celebrations are planned for Magnuson Park, the location of the former Sand Point Naval Air Station, where the four highly modified Douglas World Cruisers took off on April 6, 1924.

Each of the four aircraft was named for a U.S. city—the Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle, and Boston—and each was manned by two U.S. Army Air Service aviators. Since aircraft lacked modern day avionics, navigation was done by pilotage and dead reckoning.

The Chicago and the New Orleans were the only aircraft to complete the itinerary, landing at Sand Point Naval Air Station on September 28, 1924. The crew was awarded the National Aeronautic Association’s Mackay Trophy.

Celebrating the Centennial

Weather permitting Saturday, aircraft will launch from KBFI around 2 p.m. PST, heading east to overfly Magnuson Park. In the 1940s the property was known as Sand Point Naval Air Station and utilized as a training and supply facility until it was decommissioned in 1970. The runways and several buildings were demolished.

In 1975 a large portion of the property was given to the city of Seattle and named for U.S. Senator Warren Magnuson, a former naval officer from Seattle. When overflying the park, outlines of the runways are still visible.

Although it is no longer an airport, a celebration of the world flight centennial is also scheduled  Saturday at Magnuson Park. 

Participating Aircraft

The majority of the aircraft taking part in the flyover celebration have also completed around-the-world flights, said Museum of Flight spokesperson Ted Huetter. Those aircraft include:

• Gulfstream Turbo Commander 900, piloted by Robert DeLaurentis, who in 2020 flew pole-to-pole around the world. On September 29 there will be a screening of Peace Pilot, a documentary about DeLaurentis’ journey, with the aviator on hand to answer questions.
• Bonanza P35 V-tail, flown by Adrian Eichhorn, who made the trip around the world flying eastbound and performed a solo flight over the North Pole.
• Homebuilt Lancair IV flown by Bill Harrelson, who set a speed record in class C-1/D, a world record for distance 8,114 sm, solo circumnavigated over the North and South poles, and flew westbound around the world.
• Lancair Columbia 300, piloted by Harry Anderson, who has flown around the world twice —once heading west, once heading eastbound—and flown solo over the North Pole as well as to all seven continents.
• Homebuilt Long E-Z of Patrick Elliot and Linda Walker. The pair have flown to six continents.
• Mooney M20J flown by CarolAnn Garratt and Carol Foy, who have made the around-the-world flight three times and set a speed record for this class of airplane.
• Homebuilder RV-9A flown by John Koehler, who made the trip around the world eastbound.
• Cessna 210 Centurion flown by Ed Galkin, who has made the journey around the world four times.

A fair amount of vintage aircraft will be taking part in the flyover. They include:

• Bellanca CH-400 Skyrocket Miss Veedol flown by Tim Moomaw and Greg Brizendine. In 1931, pilot Clyde Pangborn and copilot Hugh Herndon were the first to cross the Pacific nonstop. The pair flew the Miss Veedol from Misawa, Japan, to Wenatchee, Washington.
• Cessna 180, like the one used by Jerrie Mack in 1964 when she became the first woman to fly around in the world.
• Piper Apache. In 1964,  Joan Merriam Smith flew a Piper Twin equatorially, and solo, around the world.
• Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser. In 1947, pilots Clifford Evans and Geroge Truman circled the earth twice in their Piper Super Cruisers, covering 22,436 miles and becoming the first pilots of light aircraft to make the journey.

The Commemorative Air Force B-29, FIFI, which is one of two airworthy Superfortresses left in the world, will also be participating in the flyover. The large bomber has been visiting Seattle this week.

It is a homecoming of sorts for this particular B-29 as it rolled out of the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington—justy over the hill from Boeing Field—in 1945.

The post Around-the-World Flight Centennial Celebrations Planned appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Nearly 11,000 Stearmans were built, but only around 1,000 are still flying. Earlier this week, a handful of these biplanes descended on Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for a special mission.

Founded in 2011, a charity called Dream Flights provides veterans with the “adventure of a lifetime” flying in a Stearman biplane. The nonprofit organization conducts these flights all around the U.S. free of charge.

• READ MORE: Two Legendary Ace World War II Pilots Return to the Skies

The group’s visit to DFW was even more special, flying its 7,000th participant in 99-year-old WWII veteran Carlyle Hayes, who joined three other senior veterans.

“I’ve never ridden in an open cockpit aircraft, so this will be [the] first time,” U.S. Air Force veteran Jerry Brown told KTVT-TV.

The flights lasted around half an hour, arriving and departing from DFW, which is the world’s third-busiest airport. Both American Airlines and the Allied Pilots Association (APA) sponsored the event.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

The post World War II-Era Aircraft Visit World’s Third-Busiest Airport appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

• READ MORE: Why Aren’t Cessna 140s/150s Considered Light Sport Aircraft?

Answer: The biplanes you mention—Stearmans, Kaydets, and Navy SNJs—were mostly likey trainers.

They were yellow because if they went down on a training mission—as they often did—they were easier to spot from the air.

• READ MORE: How Can an Aircraft Get Struck by Lightning Without a Close Thunderstorm?

Often the trainees made unscheduled off-airport landings in hayfields, swamps, forests, and the desert. Having an aircraft painted to look like terrain would have made it more difficult to find them.

The post Why Are Some Military Airplanes Gold? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to Ninety-Nines historians, Josephine Wood and her sister Francis took flying lessons in Santa Monica, California. After Josephine earned her private pilot certificate, she received a letter from famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart asking her to join an organization that was forming to promote and encourage women pilots. 

At the time, 117 women in the U.S. held private pilot certificates—and Earhart reached out to all of them. After 99 women responded favorably by the cutoff date, the group had its name: The Ninety-Nines.

In 1930 when Wood was interviewed by a newspaper reporter, she declared that flying was not her hobby—it was going to be her profession. She continued to fly, then just after she earned her commercial certificate, the Great Depression hit. Wood hung up her wings to take care of her mother and sister. She eventually married Frederic Wallingford and settled in Texas.

According to Bill Wallingford’s recollections, his mother rarely talked about flying but considered the letter from Earhart to be one of her most prized possessions. She was a member of the Houston Ninety-Nines chapter until her death in 2004.

Wallingford died in 2023, and as he had no heirs, he decided to leave his money to organizations he considered the most meaningful. The Ninety-Nines topped the list.

The Ninety-Nines are happy to honor both mother and son with the bequest, said Kristin Smith, a researcher with the organization.

“While this is not the first bequest that we have had, it certainly is the largest and most unexpected….to the Ninety-Nines,” Smith said.

According to Smith, the funds will be used to increase education outreach and leadership programs that support The Ninety-Nines chapters and sections around the world. In addition, some of the windfall will be used to address some building maintenance at the organization headquarters and the Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma City.

The post Ninety-Nines Receive $1M Donation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The idea resulted in the famous “Mercury 13,” led by Jerrie Cobb and formed in 1960. Yet many in the U.S. believed that space was no place for a woman, and Russia would become the first country to produce a female astronaut. For many of the Mercury 13, an elite group of women aviators, their hopes were dashed. Yet one would touch space, albeit nearly 60 years later—Wally Funk. 

Mary Wallace Funk was born in 1939 in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Flying was on her mind from an early age, and at 8 she attempted her first flight by jumping off her parents’ roof wearing a Superman cape. While this obviously didn’t work, her mother knew Funk had the grit needed to be a pilot, and at 9 she took her first flying lesson. 

By the time Funk reached high school, mechanics and aviation had captured her heart. She attempted to enroll in courses such as mechanical drawing yet was redirected to more “appropriate” subjects such as home economics. For Funk, this simply wouldn’t do, and she left high school to enroll at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. While there, she became a member of the “Flying Susies” and graduated first in her class of 24 pilots. Funk would go on to become a civilian flight instructor at 20, teaching U.S. Army officers. 

At 21, Funk volunteered for NASA’s “Woman in Space” program. Despite being younger than the recommended 25-40, she was selected and would go on to be a part of the elite Mercury 13. The rigorous tests were both physical and mental, and in some of them Funk scored even higher than John Glenn. Despite their success, however, the prevailing idea was that women didn’t belong in space, and the program would be canceled after two years.

Funk would go on to become the 58th woman to earn an airline transport pilot rating, yet could not find work with a carrier due to her gender. Not to be deterred, in 1971 she became the first female FAA flight inspector. In 1973, Funk was promoted to the FAA Systems Worthiness Analysis Program, and in ’74 she was hired by the National Transportation Safety Board as its first female air safety investigator. Funk would spend 11 years in that position until her retirement in 1985. Even in retirement, she kept herself busy as an FAA safety counselor. 

It was in 1995 that the first space shuttle to be piloted by a female (Eileen Collins) was launched. Funk was on hand with several other members of the Mercury 13 to watch their dreams come to fruition.

Yet for Funk, that wouldn’t be the end of her journey to space.

In 2021, Funk finally saw space on the first New Shepard mission, part of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin project. At the time, the trip made Funk the oldest (82) to fly to space, a record she took from Glenn (77) but was surpassed later that year by William Shatner (90). 

Funk has received countless honors and awards, including from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Smithsonian Institution, and alma mater Stephens College. Her time in aviation has included 7,000 students soloed, with 3,000 achieving a multitude of ratings.

Funk, now 85 and residing in Grapevine, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has logged more than 18,600 flight hours in her career. So it’s little wonder why her biography,  Higher, Faster, Longer: My Life in Aviation and My Quest for Spaceflight, remains an inspiring read for flying and space enthusiasts.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

The post Wally Funk: Breaking the Glass Ceiling, All the Way to Space appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

And if you are lucky and you become a docent at an aviation museum, you get to share your knowledge with people from all walks of life. Most, if not all, are volunteers who donate their time and expertise to educate the public about aviation. Museums simply could not function without them.

They may volunteer at a museum once a week (or more) or work alternate weekends. They often wear a uniform of sorts, such as a polo shirt with the museum logo or a jacket or vest and have a museum ID lanyard around their neck. A great many also wear a “fun meter” button with the needle pegged to maximum.

• READ MORE: Earhart Museum to Explore Evidence Related to Aviatrix’s Disappearance

The reason? They love what they do.

As someone who spends a great deal of time at aviation museums, I can tell you they all have their own character and energy, and they all rely on volunteers to operate. Some of the volunteers bring special skills and restore airplanes to their former glory. But many more are the faces of the museum to the public—the docents. You don’t necessarily have to be a pilot, mechanic, engineer, or retired from an aviation career to be a docent—you just need to bring your enthusiasm.

EAA Aviation Museum (Oshkosh, Wisconsin)

“Storytellers are the best docents,” says Chris Henry, manager at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. “They can help make the planes pop to life and make you inspired

to learn more at home. A good docent should lead you to wonderful stories, leaving you wanting to know more and wanting to go home and research further.”

Henry notes the museum has a large cross section of society as docents coming from different walks of life and age ranges.

• READ MORE: New Museum of Flight Exhibit Explores Living in Space

“We have everything from WWII veterans to current high school kids,” he says. “It’s helpful if the docent has a passion to keep learning, and they are passionate about sharing what they learn, and they just enjoy showing people new things that they have never seen or heard before.”

Museum of Flight (Seattle)

The larger the museum, the more docents it has.

According to Brenda Mandt, docent programs supervisor at the Museum of Flight (MOF) in Seattle, the docent cadre is made up of 162 volunteers.

“Most of them work one day a week, and they work the same day and shift each week,” says Mandt.

To become a docent at the MOF, a person must take a 12-week basic training class that acquaints them with museum policy and procedures and teaches how to build a tour.

• READ MORE: Michigan Flight Museum Sells Centerpiece B-17 ‘Yankee Lady’

“Docents have a great deal of freedom to create tours that interest them most,” says Mandt.

Many of the docents either have or have had careers in aerospace or the military and often build tours around their experience.

For example, docents Jim Frank and Dave Cable are retired Navy aviators who served aboard aircraft carriers, so they know about “landing on a postage stamp.” Frank’s talk on the history of carriers is informative and entertaining, and Cable’s tour of the A-6E Intruder, the airplane that brought him home many times, and the F-14 Tomcat are quite moving and bring a smile to the face of museum visitor Jack Schoch, a retired Navy chief who served on five different carriers, including a war cruise during Vietnam aboard the USS Enterprise.

That’s one of the best parts of these tours—the docents are able to make them relatable to visitors.

Palm Springs Air Museum (California)

Requirements for docent training vary by museum.

At the Palm Springs Museum in California, the applicants are required to go through a background check and approximately 40 hours of training, “most of which can be done online,” says spokesperson Ann Greer. They also undergo on-the-job training in one of the 10 different areas of the museum.

“We have over 300 docents, and the museum is run with military precision,” says Greer. “They work four-hour shifts, [and] they may be in one of the hangars or on the hot ramp [where aircraft move] or in the library or gift shop. In the hangars we have a crew chief who keeps an eye on things, and if we want to talk to a particular docent, we have to ask the crew chief. There is a chain of command as the docents’ main job is to interact with the visitors and keep an eye on exhibits and airplanes.”

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum (McMinnville, Oregon)

At the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, docents in training will spend at least 50 hours under the wing of Don Bowie, a retired Air Force aviator who has been with the gallery for 26 years.

Although the facility is most famous as the location of the Howard Hughes HK-1, the flying boat famously known as the “Spruce Goose,” according to Bowie, there is a lot more going on besides that popular exhibit.”

The museum features two buildings—one houses the HK-1, and the other is devoted to the Space race. Bowie works the floor, helping visitors and docent candidates learn about the aircraft and spacecraft on display.

“You are a volunteer here, and the job has to be fun and you have to be a people person,” he says. “You meet people from all over the world.”

Bowie says the best part of being a docent is when someone comes in and asks about a specific aircraft that is special to them, and there is a docent who shares their interest.

Docent Schedules

Because docents are volunteers, they aren’t required to put in massive amounts of hours on the job, but many do because it is a labor of love. Most museums ask for a commitment of at least one day a week, and often the docents rotate working weekends.

The docent’s typical day often begins with a crew briefing before the museum doors open. This is when they learn about special events at the museum, such as school tours or corporate meetings, and when exhibits are being installed or removed.

This column first appeared in the Summer 2024 Ultimate Issue print edition.

The post Ultimate Issue: Being Aviation Docent Simply Labor of Love appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Jessen was born in 1937 and raised in Chicago. As a teenager she joined the Civil Air Patrol, where she had her first opportunity to fly an airplane. Her interest in aviation continued at University of Oklahoma (OU) where she joined the school’s flight club, known as the Air Knockers. She was a skilled pilot and earned several flight trophies. She also became the first woman to work as a flight instructor at OU.

In the summer of 1961, when Jessen was 24, another woman flight instructor in Oklahoma, Wally Funk, told her about an opportunity to join an experiment to see if women pilots could become astronauts. Jessen applied, was accepted, and quit her job as a flight instructor to become part of the “Mercury 13” experimental program based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jessen passed the tests and was preparing to go to Florida with the rest of the trainees, but the program was canceled.

Jessen was always modest about her role in the space program. However, she served as a role model for several women who became flight crew for space shuttle missions. She received notes from them thanking her for her part in the space program.

In 1962, she was hired at Beech Aircraft in Wichita, Kansas, as a sales demonstration pilot.  She added additional ratings as she became qualified to fly everything Beech Aircraft produced.

She gained prominence as one of the “Three Musketeers,” a promotional event that involved Jessen and two other pilots flying formation across 48 states in 90 days to promote the new Beech Musketeer. She would later write about this experience in her 2009 book, The Fabulous Flight of the Three Musketeers.

It was at Beech that she met her husband Bob, who had been a B-29 pilot during World War II. Aviation was a key part of their relationship as the pair moved to Idaho in 1967 and started a series of aviation businesses while raising a family.

Jessen loved to fly and promote aviation. She served as President of The Ninety-Nines, the international organization of women pilots, and was skilled at research. She was determined to chronicle the feats and accomplishments of the first women pilots. This led to her book, The Powder Puff Derby of 1929, published in 2001. She also penned Amelia Was Right, and Sky Girls: The True Story of the First Woman’s Cross-Country Air Race. In addition, she was a regular contributor for The Northwest Flyer and The Idaho Statesman.

Perhaps inspired by what she found during her research, Jessen began air racing herself and continued to fly until health challenges prompted her to hang up her wings in 2017.

While no memorial plans have been announced, those who wish to remember Jessen are invited to make a donation in her name to The Ninety-Nines, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports women pilots.

The post Remembering the Legacy of Gene Nora Jessen appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Anderson, a “triple ace” who shot down 16 enemy aircraft during World War II, died at his home in Auburn, California, on May 17. He was 102.

Anderson’s aviation career spanned 30 years. After WWII, he became a test pilot, flying more than 130 different aircraft, and was in the cockpit at the birth of the jet age. Some of his test flights involved a small fighter being carried aloft by a Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber, which was released from the larger aircraft.

• READ MORE: Two Legendary Ace World War II Pilots Return to the Skies

He served at the Pentagon and in the Pacific as the wing commander of the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing on Okinawa and later the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing based in Thailand.

When he retired from the military in 1972, he held the rank of colonel. He was heavily decorated, having earned five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals, two Legions of Merit, a Bronze Star, and a Commendation Medal. In 2022, the Air Force promoted him to the honorary rank of brigadier general.

Anderson was a favorite on the airshow and fly-in circuits. He often spoke at events held by the Commemorative Air Force and was inducted into the CAF’s American Combat Airman Hall of Fame in 2001.

Anderson is probably best remembered for flying his P-51 Mustang Old Crow. Prior to flying the P-51, Anderson flew a P-39 Airacobra.

According to the CAF, with the blessing of Anderson and his family, the Central Texas Wing was able to add the Old Crow name and livery to the CAF’s P-39 in July 2022. The P-39, a P-51B, and a P-51D, all bearing the Old Crow livery, served as a backdrop for a special Warbirds in Review presentation with Anderson as the guest of honor.

The post Remembering the Late WWII Triple Ace Bud Anderson appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The late Kohn, from Brookfield, Wisconsin, spent his life behind a camera and immersed in aviation. He authored several books that were filled with his photography. Among the titles still available are The Story of the Texan (American Flight Manuals), Pilot’s Handbook for Model YB-49 Airplane, and the Armchair Aviator series. If you couldn’t make it out to the airport, curling up with one of these books could be the next best thing.

The photos and the documentation provided on each image span decades of work. The Hall of Fame is seeking to raise approximately $65,000 for the project, which includes hiring a professional preservation company to digitize the entire collection in order to make it accessible to the public through an online archive. In addition, the funds will be used to create a searchable website, educational materials, outreach activities, and museum exhibits to showcase the collection’s significance.

According to the WAHF, the aviation community has already contributed approximately 33 percent of the necessary funds as of May 10.

“We are excited to embark on this fundraising campaign to ensure that the legacy of Leo Kohn lives on,” said Dan Silvers, WAHF’s historic image preservation chair. “The digitization of this collection will not only preserve these priceless images but also make them accessible to aviation enthusiasts, historians, and researchers worldwide.”

Organizers note that special care will be taken to ensure that each image is properly identified, and described. This will include the documentation of key details such as the date, location, aircraft type, engine, and color scheme, as so many of the photographs are in black and white.

For those who would like to learn more about Kohn, who died in 2014 at age 86, there is an exhibit of his work opening at the Kelch Aviation Museum in Broadhead, Wisconsin, on June 9.

The post Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame Launches Photo Digitization Campaign appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

With a lengthy lifespan comes a colorful history. And while we are able to peruse our aircraft logbooks for clues or even easily access decades of ownership and registration records from the FAA, gaps abound. So we’re often left without much background or context regarding their past lives. The grand adventures, close calls, and colorful circumstances through which our airplanes endured typically elude us as we daydream about their past lives. 

I considered myself fortunate when, from out of the blue, an individual from my airplane’s past contacted me via email. Her name was Phyllis, and when browsing this column, she recognized my Cessna 170 as the airplane she and her husband, Al, used to own between 1970 and 1981. She explained that although Al had passed away in 2017, she still kept in touch with Dick, the gentleman to whom they had sold to and from whom I had purchased the airplane.

• READ MORE: Navigating the Aircraft Ownership Learning Curve Through Type Clubs

It was a pleasure to make contact with Phyllis. I learned a few things about the 170 and told her the whole story about meeting Dick and buying it from him. Recognizing it was a long shot, I asked her if she happened to have any old photos from the days she owned it. She said she did, and a couple of weeks later, I received some color photocopies of my airplane, wearing a different tail number and frolicking among the beaches of the Pacific Northwest. 

As someone with a soft spot for bygone eras and forgotten times, I was immensely grateful to receive these glimpses into my airplane’s history. I shared them with Dick, as well. He was able to provide some additional context to the photos, explaining what beach was likely visible in one of the photos and pointing out how Al chose the former tail number (N170AL) to display his initials. 

Last month, I had the unexpected opportunity to give my friend Jim a glimpse into his own airplane’s history. While aimlessly scrolling through eBay listings for old airplane slides and scanning for any particularly interesting slices of aviation history, I spotted a Cessna 170 with a paint scheme that looked familiar. The listing was for a set of 10 old slides taken at an unnamed fly-in sometime in the early 1980s, and the 170 pictured appeared to have the exact same paint scheme as Jim’s 170.

• READ MORE: Going to the Birds, And How Not To

This was quite the coincidence. Jim’s airplane had been repainted in its original factory paint scheme but with nonstandard colors. In place of the standard primary reds, yellows, or blues, his plane sports a color palette nearly identical to that of the A&W burger chain, a tasteful pairing of orange and brown. The likelihood that these slides showed a doppelganger was miniscule…but I had to be sure.

Of course, the tail number was inconveniently cut off in every photo, making a positive identification impossible. But a closer look and some methodical detective work eventually resulted in certainty beyond a reasonable doubt. The airplane in the slides sported the exact same Horton STOL kit and the same engine modification, but the deciding factor was the presence of a unique decal on one wingtip but not on the other. It had to be Jim’s plane.

I went ahead and spent the $12 for the set of slides. When they arrived, I had them professionally scanned and printed, and I placed the two best shots in a small frame for Jim to hang on the wall of his hangar. Sure, they were relatively unremarkable photos in the grand scheme of things, but they captured a scene showing his airplane in a time well before he bought it. Best of all, it showed his airplane wearing a set of wheel pants. Having only ever known his airplane with a big set of Alaskan Bushwheel tundra tires, it was both amusing and comical to see.

• READ MORE: When It’s Better to Have It and Not Need It

Since making this aviation-related archeological discovery, I now keep an eagle eye out for any old photos or articles featuring any of my friends’ airplanes. I even went so far as to enter a handful of their tail numbers as “saved searches” in eBay so that I’ll be alerted if and when any items, such as photos, slides, or logbooks, are listed for sale with those tail numbers in the descriptions. 

In this way, I hope to once again pair forgotten memories with the present day, filling in vacant gaps in history with context that would otherwise be lost forever. I think anyone who considers themselves to be caretakers of aviation history, rather than just owners, would greatly appreciate the effort.

The post Seeking Out Ghosts of Your Airplane’s Past appeared first on FLYING Magazine.