I don’t believe I had a choice but to love airplanes as a child, it was either that or to attempt to block out all of the animated aviation talk around me. The most important men in my life are aviators. I’m glad the passion for flight is in my blood; it has brought me so many places, connected me with unforgettable people and has taught me life lessons that are simply irreplaceable.
My mother’s side had some inspirational flyers and romantic ones at that! On Thanksgiving of 1949, my grandfather, Bill, took my grandmother on a memorable first date. He flew her over her farm and over a family member’s home in Canada in a Stinson. The years flew by to include many flights to Mackinac Island and all around Michigan. She recalls that day as if it were yesterday, filled with excitement, smiling even though he couldn’t see it in the tandem aircraft, “it was cold as all get out!” she told me. He had a share with two other gentlemen in the Stinson, based in Detroit City. They eventually added another airplane to the mix as well.
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| Great Uncle Jack |
Bill was part of a Navy flying program that was discontinued as the end of the war grew closer. He ended up serving his time on a Navy subchaser. Once out of the service he went back to pursue his pilot certificate at Kalamazoo College (now Western Michigan University) in Kalamazoo, MI.
One of his four daughters, Amanda, recalls him pulling “stunts” such as steep turns and dives that would always make her sick. When my grandmother came home with one of their newborn children, he even took the babysitter for a quick flight who was there for a few weeks to help out; she loved it. Money became tight and the flying club fizzled, but not before he successfully passed on the flying bug on to one of his children, Bill Jr. They spent many days flying around together and Bill Jr. continued flying for some years after.
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| Jack |
My grandfather would have been unable to serve as a pilot in the war, for the Sullivan Law had been passed and his brother Jack was serving in the Marine Corps. Jack was in a program training combat pilots before Pearl Harbor. When America entered the war, Jack became an Ace flying in the Pacific theater. He had three victories in the F4F Wildcat and two and a half in the F4U Corsair. He received three Distinguished Flying Cross medals, a Bronze Star and several single mission medals. He even knew the famous Pappy Boyington of the Black Sheep Squadron. Upon retirement, he managed the KEZF, Shannon Airport in Virginia then became the Executive Director of the Marine Corps Aviation Association in Quantico. He had four children, including a daughter that is a pilot who happened to marry one as well!
Switching over to my father’s side is my other grandfather, Harlan. When he was “young and daring” he flew a Piper Cub under a fellow engineer’s instruction regularly between Madison, WI and Milwaukee, WI while working on an advanced servo project. He recalls, “I landed several times without breaking a thing!” He later joined a flying club to keep the passion going, training in a stripped down T-6. He ended up only logging around eight hours, “I was lucky I didn’t kill myself,” he remembers. Harlan gave up flying when his career “became more interesting.”
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| Harlan: Center bottom |
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When I was a child, my room had two unique decorations hanging from the ceiling. One was an airplane and when you turned it on it will fly around in circles, I believe that to be my father’s influence. On the opposite end of the room was an inflatable astronaut, where that ‘becoming an astronaut’ dream was brought on completely by my grandfather. Harlan’s work became more interesting because it brought him straight to the ultimate flying machines at NASA. He headed the engineering group in mission control for all of the Apollo missions as well as Skylab, the first manned space station launched by the United States.
“We had designed and manufactured G&C equipment in partnership with M.I.T Cambridge Mass. We were responsible for the guidance and navigation equipment (GNC) on both the LEM and the Command module,” my grandfather tells me, “whenever we heard G & C from mission control; my group had better get it right!”
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| Harlan |
His most tense moments in the program were when trouble began on the Apollo 13 mission. “We had to shut off the power because the explosion wiped out the fuel cell. By shutting this elegant guidance system off, we weren’t certain what it would do because they required such a delicate balance. However, we didn’t have a choice but to shut it off because they were running out of power. We were worried about what would happen with trying to turn back on these systems. All our science told us it was unlikely.
What we didn’t know was that the spacecraft was kept in a BBQ mode; it rotated really slowly, exposing its surfaces to the sun. It turned out there was enough heat convection from having done these rotations that this compartment the gyros and accelerometers were in was kept warm enough to get started again.
As we approached the earth we had one shot at turning everything on and finding out that the instruments would reactivate and work properly. When they fired it all up it again, everything came up right on the money. Upon reentry the spacecraft was surrounded by a plume of fire from the disintegrating heat shield that disrupted communication entirely. So for ten minutes we didn’t hear anything and then eleven and twelve and it finally came on. There were several moments there that we were all pretty shook up. That took all the luck I ever had,” he retold me emotionally.
Harlan now enjoys visiting local schools and flying clubs to share his exciting experiences during such a historical time for NASA. He continues to indulge in aviation through building and flying the R/C aircraft I remember filling his entire basement when I was younger. He is very involved in a local R/C flying club and has served as the president.
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| Harlan's Basement | |
Although I always wanted to be a pilot, the dream seemed out of reach. I have my father to thank for seeing that it was possible. Before I even had my driver’s license, he signed me up for ground school and we took it together. I always looked forward to those weeknights; I was a young teenager, in a room full of grown men learning about airplanes with my father. Upon completion of the ground school course, my father hopped in the back seat as I took the controls for my discovery flight. He recalls my steep ascent; all I recall is the exhilaration of flying an aircraft on my own and how I kept accidentally bumping the very attractive instructor’s knee.
I am my father’s daughter, through and through. I am his female clone. I recall walking into the FBO where he helped out with the computer system from time to time and the receptionist exclaimed, “You must be Paul’s girl!” That was the day of my first “official” flight lesson. Even when I didn’t have a lesson and he had to work on their computers, I would join him and hang out in the pilot’s lounge with large sweeping windows that provided an amazing view of the runway.
My father completed his private pilot’s certificate at the very same FBO in the 1980’s. He started flight lessons because he knew that, “Flying offers a freedom like no other,” but insists that, “real flying is flying a hang glider or ultralight.” He has done both!
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| Dad |
He still remembers the tail number of the first plane he flew, a Cessna 172, N5310D, which had previously crashed and the wing was remounted on crooked. He had quite an “exciting” first solo experience.
“While doing touch and goes during training, my instructor said I was ready to continue touch and goes on my own. I reluctantly went along with the idea. He departed the plane and I started to do additional touch and goes while he was lighting fire crackers along the runway. I saw him doing this while flying by. On one landing, I forgot to raise the flaps and powered up the aircraft to full power to take off again. The plane became unstable and started to veer off the runway and head for a pylon. To avoid the pylon, I turned off the runway in-between 27L and 27R and was running in the grass at about 60mph. So, I turned back to 27R and over corrected and went off the other side. Then I corrected back to the runway and went off the left side again of 27R. I did this a couple of times until I got the plane under control and taxied back to the instructor. He hopped in and said, ‘let’s try some more.’”
My father’s solo cross country offered him some lessons as well. “I went to Mackinac Island; however, there were a few problems. I got confused where I was in the Lake Higgins area because the two airports along the way have very similar names and their runway numbers were transposed, like runway 21 and 12. Also, my altitude was creeping higher and a twin engine plane flew right over me at about 100ft or less. On approach to Mackinac, I thought my approach was going fine until the runway jumped up at me. Apparently the first 100 feet or so go up a hill. So I did a go around and was ready for that next time. Then I forgot to check in at the facility at Mackinac and close my flight plan. But it was fun!”
Despite all these flying incidents, N5310D is still in the air today. I’d love to see my dad fly it again! Even when he stopped flying due to financial constraints, he kept aviation in my life with ultralight lessons and many trips to airshows including Oshkosh several times. We have several videos of him asking me what kind of plane I was in front of. I never knew, I usually said something silly like, “a red one!” My dad enjoys flying smaller aircraft now, the radio controlled kind, alongside his father. “It’s a lot safer and it is just as fun watching a plane fly as it is flying one.”
The stories my flying relatives have told me make me smile tremendously, for I have been touched by that joy of flight myself. I thank these excellent role models for getting me where I am today. Here is the proof that flying is in my blood. Even if I didn’t have this excellent and inspiring background, I know deep within my heart that I would have found my path to aviation some other way.
A video created by my dad during training
