In 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed August 19 to be
National Aviation Day. The day coincides with the birthday of Orville Wright,
who piloted the Wright Flyer. He and his brother Wilbur are given credit for
building the world’s first successful airplane with aircraft controls that
enabled them to steer the plane. Orville Wright made the first flight for 12
seconds and 120 feet around the site of Wright Brothers National Memorial on
December 17, 1903. They were not the first to build and fly experimental
aircraft but they are the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed
wing flight possible.
Some of you are not aware that I am fortunate enough to have
three "Dads" the first being my Heavenly Father, God; secondly there
is Thomas "Tom" Eugene Smith my Step-Dad and he was the Dad who
raised me; and thirdly Robert "Bob" Hugh Roberts who was my father by
birth and I want to honor him on this year’s National Aviation Day.
He was a mail-man by profession but he loved to fly. He belonged to the Civil Air Patrol in
Oregon, often flying the Deschutes River canyon when they had to search for
people who were missing who had been out on the river. I admired his ability to do this as he took
me with him on occasion as a spotter (someone who watched the river for the
lost individual). To fly that canyon was
treacherous because it was crossed many times with power and phone lines and as
a pilot you had to know exactly where they were and if there was space to fly
below them all the while searching the river for the lost individual.
Dad and I spent many an afternoon sitting in his truck at the
end of airport runways. As we watched
planes take off and land. He would tell
me what the name and make of each plane was as well as how the plane handled. For instance the Aeronca Chief was a very “forgiving”
airplane because its “wing-over fuselage” gave it more lift with less
thrust. You can put it into a skid and
take amazing pictures from the air. On
the other hand the Air Coup was a faster plane but with its wings coming from
beneath the fuselage it took a lot more thrust to keep it in the air. I share his love of flying and aircraft and
regret that I never took lessons, but I remember him giving me the control
stick on his Aeronca Chief many-a-time flying between Portland and eastern
Oregon.
So this year as I remember National Aviation Day I remember my
Dad, Bob Roberts, who taught me the love of flying.
