FIRST MAN TO FLY IN AN AIRPLANE?
Always interested in mechanics and inventing, Jacob Brodbeck tried––apparently without success––to build a self-winding clock while he was teaching school in his native Württemberg, Germany. In 1847 he arrived in Fredericksburg to serve as the second teacher at the Vereins Kirche and then taught at other schools in Gillespie County. He married one of his […]
WOMEN PILOTS OF WWII
When the United States entered World War II, the top brass, including General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF), had doubts about women’s ability to pilot large aircraft. In the summer of 1941 even before the United States entered the war, two famous women aviators Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran and […]
Bessie Coleman, Aviator
When flight schools in the United States refused to accept African Americans, Elizabeth Coleman sought aviation training in France. She became the first black female to earn a pilot’s license and the first black person in the world to earn an international pilot’s license. One of thirteen children born to sharecroppers in 1892, Bessie grew […]
Women Pilots of WWII Trained in Texas
When the United States entered World War II, the top brass, including General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF), had doubts about women’s ability to pilot large aircraft. In the summer of 1941 even before the United States entered the war, two famous women aviators Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran and […]
The Royal Air Force Trains in Texas
In March 1941 the United States and Great Britain established a secret operation to train Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots in six civilian U.S. aviation schools. The plan was instituted in order to locate the RAF pilots out of danger of constant aerial attacks during their training and the scheme remained a secret because of […]
Bessie Coleman, Aviator
When flight schools in the United States refused to accept African Americans, Elizabeth Coleman sought aviation training in France. She became the first black female to earn a pilot’s license and the first black person in the world to earn an international pilot’s license. One of thirteen children born to sharecroppers in 1892, Bessie grew […]
Lindbergh’s Texas Visits
In 1923, before Charles Lindbergh became famous, like all barnstormers of his day, he wanted to boast that he had flown in Texas. When he bought his first World War I surplus Jenny in Georgia, he flew it to Texarkana. The following year, on a trip to California, Lindbergh mistook the Nueces River for the […]