Category Archives: Air travel

Corky Meyer, test pilot

Corky Meyer got serious about building and flying model airplanes while a student at Springfield High School in 1936. He had no way to guide his models, though, so he had to chase them by car until they ran out … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Airport, Military, Transportation | Leave a comment

July 4 balloon ascension, 1858

Two balloonists were the talk of Independence Day 1858 in Springfield. The balloons were a traveling show, piloted by the “celebrated aeronauts … Messrs. White and Brooks,” the Illinois State Journal reported on July 6, 1858. “An immense crowd congregated … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Amusements, Celebrations, Lincoln, Abraham, Spectacles | Leave a comment

Louie Mitchell, pioneer aviator

Louis “Louie” Mitchell not only was one of America’s first air pilots; at 210 pounds, he also was the heaviest. Mitchell had no connection to Sangamon County in life, but his final resting place is in Oak Ridge Cemetery’s Abbey … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Transportation | Leave a comment

Southwest Airport

Craig Isbell, who once told Charles Lindbergh he’d never make it across the Atlantic, helped bring Springfield into the age of air. Isbell and a partner, Gelder Lockwood, founded the Springfield Aviation Co., which operated Southwest Airport, on Chatham Road … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Airport, Business, Prominent figures, Transportation | 6 Comments

Earle Baker Perce, Antarctic explorer

Perce Point, a headland on an island on the west edge of Antarctica, commemorates a Williamsville man’s role in exploring some of the last unknown places on earth. Earle Baker Perce (1910-68) was a U.S. Navy radioman and pilot when … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Military, Prominent figures, Science | Leave a comment

John E. Hickey (pioneer aviator)

John E. Hickey (1890-1970), a founder of aviation’s Silver Wings Fraternity, had been a pilot for longer than anyone else in Illinois when he died in 1970. Hickey’s first flight took place in a hot-air balloon in 1908. He told … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Airport, Prominent figures | 6 Comments

Victory Loan Flying Circus, 1919

The Victory Loan Flying Circus, a barnstorming group of World War I pilots using WWI combat aircraft, put on a show for thousands of central Illinoisans in front of the Illinois State Fairgrounds Grandstand on April 15, 1919. An unbilled … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Journalism, Media, Military, Prominent figures, Spectacles, Women | Leave a comment

Adelaide O’Brien Rentschler (aviator)

Adelaide O’Brien (1915-99) of Springfield was the first licensed woman pilot in downstate Illinois. During World War II, O’Brien was a local ground instructor for U.S. Army Air Corps flight cadets. O’Brien also was widely known in central Illinois for … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Airport, Arts and letters, Military, Women | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Opening of Commercial Airport, 1928 (photo)

     

Posted in Air travel, Airport, Business, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Endurance flying record, 1939

Brothers Hunter and Humphrey Moody beat the world record for endurance flying in a light aircraft — nearly 344 hours — in July and August 1939. The brothers, who lived in Dalton City, set the record flying out of Springfield … Continue reading

Posted in Air travel, Airport, Transportation | Tagged , | Leave a comment