Aviation in Indiana in Indiana Indiana HistorianThe ... Lenormand, influenced by accounts from China, is the first Westerner to use a parachute (Hellemans and Bunch, 233)

Aviation in Indiana

Indiana HistorianTheA Magazine Exploring Indiana History

Aviation in Indiana

2 The Indiana Historian, June 1998 © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1998

Focus

The Indiana HistorianJune 1998

ISSN 1071-3301Order Number 7044

EditorPamela J. Bennett

Lead ResearcherPaula A. Bongen

DesignerDani B. Pfaff

Contributing EditorsCarole M. Allen, Janine Beckley,

Alan Conant, Dani B. Pfaff,Virginia Terpening

The Indiana Historian provides re-sources and models for the study of localhistory to encourage Indiana’s citizens ofall ages to become engaged with the his-tory of their communities and the state ofIndiana.

The Indiana Historian (formerly TheIndiana Junior Historian) is issued quar-terly from September through June.

It is a membership benefit of the Indi-ana Junior Historical Society. One compli-mentary subscription is provided to Indi-ana libraries, school media centers, andcultural and historical organizations.

Annual subscriptions are available for$5.00 plus tax. Back issues are availableat individual and bulk pricing.

This material is available to visuallyimpaired patrons in audio format, cour-tesy of the Indiana History Project of theIndiana Historical Society. Tapes are avail-able through the Talking Books Program ofthe Indiana State Library; contact the Talk-ing Books Program, 317-232-3702.

The Indiana Historian is copyrighted.Educators may reproduce items for classuse, but no part of the publication may bereproduced in any way for profit withoutwritten permission of the Indiana Histori-cal Bureau.

Cover illustration: View ofLafayette, Indiana on August 16,1859 with the balloon Jupiter ofProfessor John Wise preparing fora flight to New York that would bethe first delivery of U.S. Post Officemail by air. An accident delayedthe flight until August 17. Wiseonly reached Crawfordsville,Indiana, but it was the first officialairmail (see p. 4).Photograph provided by IndianaDivision, Indiana State Library.

Indiana’s aviation historyincludes many firsts—some areprovided throughout this issue.Hoosiers have been part of manyother significant events andactivities.

This issue provides an intro-duction to the rich aviation historythat exists in communitiesthroughout the state. “You be thehistorian,” at the bottom of thispage, suggests some ways thatstudents—and other readers—canexplore and document their localaviation history.

On page 3, two maps providea 1944 snapshot-view of the effectof aviation in Indiana. The mapsare part of a report that resultedin the creation of the AeronauticsCommission of Indiana in 1945.

On page 4, a three-partapproach is begun in presentingaspects of Indiana’s story. At thebottom of the page is a national/international timeline to providecontext for the Indiana story; itcontinues through page 14. U.S.entries are in blue in order todistinguish the national storymore easily. On pages 4-8, anIndiana timeline is printed abovethe national/internationaltimeline. It highlights some ofIndiana’s aviation history. Itprovides page references to related

articles in this issue. At the top ofthese pages, several topics havebeen covered in more depth.

On pages 9-14, six Indianahistorical markers relating toaviation history have been high-lighted. The Indiana HistoricalBureau administers the historicalmarker program. Six communitieshave commemorated and cel-ebrated their local history withthese markers. Readers are en-couraged to inquire about theprogram. A complete list of mark-ers is available on the HistoricalBureau Web site(www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/ihb.html).

On page 15, “Selected Re-sources” is provided. Readersshould note additional sourceswith individual articles through-out the issue. Readers are alsoencouraged to explore theInternet. Several Web sites arecited in this issue. Web sites werealso located that expand on topicscovered—or not able to be cov-ered—in this issue.

The back cover illustration ofHoosier astronaut David Wolfseems to be an appropriate closeto this issue, which starts with thefirst airmail in 1859. Aviation inIndiana will continue to makehistory far into the future.

• Investigate which airport(s) andaviation industry(ies) have been im-portant in your community or area.Gather available resources for preser-vation.• Begin an oral history project tocollect information from individualsinvolved in past and present aviationactivities—pilots, engineers, mechan-ics, executives, etc. Include the expe-riences of people who flew as passen-gers in the early years of commercialservice; explore similarities with anddifferences from present-day flight onairlines.

You be the historian• Produce materials to make othersaware of the history that you haveresearched: for example, articles forlocal publications, exhibits for localinstitutions, or videos or oral tapes forlocal media.• Work with your public library—orother repository—to preserve andmake available to others the resourcesthat have resulted from your investi-gations.• Select a significant site or event inyour local aviation history and applyto obtain an Indiana historical markerto celebrate your local history.

© Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1998 3The Indiana Historian, June 1998

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Indiana aviation 1944

The report from which these two maps aretaken examines the large economic impact ofaviation and recommends legislation to assureits future success. The map above left indi-cates fifty points at which approximately175 plants and industries are manufac-turing aircraft and aircraft parts with adollar value of approximately$2,373,000,000 (p. 20).The map on the right was prepared bythe Indiana Economic Council to showthe effect of the national plan released by the CivilAeronautics Administration on November 28, 1944(pp. 9-10). “Airports [in 1944] are classed from oneto five, according to size of runways and otherfeatures. No. 1 is the smallest and No. 5 is thelargest and best equipped” (p. 9).Source: Survey, Findings and Recommendations withrespect to Indiana’s Aviation Problems (Indianapolis:Governor’s Commission on Aviation, 1944).

Existing airport with classsize indicated in circle.

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Existing airports to be ex-panded: present class size indi-

cated in circle, proposed class sizeindicated by number of circles.

Proposed new airports:proposed class indicated

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1232Chineseuse kites tosendmessagesduring war(HellemansandBunch, 81).

ItalianLeonardo daVincidescribes aworkableparachute(HellemansandBunch, 97).

Leonardo daVinci drawshisconception ofa flyingmachine(HellemansandBunch, 99).

Leonardo daVinci designsthe firsthelicopter,but it is neverbuilt(HellemansandBunch, 101).

1480 1492 1500Frenchman L. S.Lenormand,influenced byaccounts fromChina, is the firstWesterner to usea parachute(Hellemans andBunch, 233).

1783August 27In France,physicist JacquesAlexandreCharles builds thefirst hydrogenballoon(Hellemans andBunch, 233).

Frenchmen JeanFrancois Pilâtre deRozier and FrancoisLaurent are the firsthumans to fly using ahot-air balloon. Theyare airborne for 25minutes (Hellemansand Bunch, 233).

Vincent Lunardiis the firstEnglishman toascend in ahydrogenballoon(HellemansandBunch, 235).

First successfulparachute jumpis made from ahot-air balloonby FrenchmanJean-PierreBlanchard(Hellemans andBunch, 243).

1783 1783 1784 1793

Indiana aviation timelineNOTE: Unless otherwise indicated the source of the followinginformation is A Salute to Indiana’s Aviation History compiledby the Aeronautics Commission of Indiana, circa 1956.References to (see p. . . .) are to this TIH issue.

1859 Professor John Wise completes first airmaildelivery via balloon from Lafayette, Indiana (see pp.1, 2, 4).

1867 Wilbur Wright is born in a farm home nearMillville, Indiana on April 16 (see p. 9).

1894 Lawrence D. Bell, founder of Bell HelicopterCorporation, is born in Mentone, Indiana (see p. 13).

1896 Octave Chanute—“The Father of Aviation”—conducts glider experiments over Indiana’s sand dunes(see p. 4).

1910 World’s first public airplane flight by a woman;Blanche Stuart Scott appears as a wing walker in FortWayne, Indiana.

1910 First licensed aviation meet in the U.S. at India-napolis Motor Speedway (see p. 5).

1912 Pioneering air mail “hops” begin in Connersville,

Rushville, Evansville, and Rockport, Indiana.1918 U.S. air mail service begins between Washing-

ton, D.C. and New York City. Hoosier Bob Shank isone of the first pilots on this route.

1920 Aerodynamics is an option for seniors in me-chanical engineering at Purdue University, WestLafayette, Indiana (Knoll, 345) (see pp. 6-7).

1921 Indiana’s 113th observation squadron is orga-nized, first National Guard air unit of any state.

1927 Bob Shank and Harold Brooks open the firstprivate airstrip in Marion County, the Hoosier Airport

The first airmailJohn Wise, a nineteenth-cen-

tury professional balloonist fromLancaster, Pennsylvania, knew up-per air currents in the Midwest blewfrom west to east. He believed that hecould carry light mail and passengersin a balloon from the Midwest to theeast coast.

The citizens of Lafayette, Indi-ana invited Wise to prove his theory.On August 16, 1859, thousands ofpeople gathered to watch. The pro-gram for the day (at left) indicates thepreparations and the showmanship.

An accident delayed the trip untilAugust 17. Finally, Wise ascendedwith official U.S. Post Office mail—123 letters and 23 pamphlets. Wise’sdestination was New York City. Hedescended in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

The U.S. Post Office issued acommemorative stamp on the cen-tennial of the trip, August 17, 1959.Sources: Lafayette Journal and Courier,August 15, 1959; Richard B. Wetherill,“The First Official Air Mail,” Indiana Maga-zine of History, 35:4 (December 1939),390-99.

Gliders in the dunesOctave Chanute was born in France in 1832. His family

moved to America when he was seven. He was one of America’sforemost civil engineers when he retired in 1889 and madeChicago his home. Chanute became interested in flight andresearched and published an important book Progress inFlying Machines (1894).

Convinced that he could build a more stable, safer glider,Chanute and several other enthusiasts went to Miller Beach,in what is now the northeastern part of Gary, Indiana. There,in June 1896, they conducted test flights using several typesof gliders.

On August 20, the group went to Dune Park, severalmiles east of Miller Beach, and tested three new gliders. Theresulting Chanute biplane glider was the model for the Wrightbrothers’ successful designs for their machines.

A bronze plaque placed in 1936 remains in MarquettePark, Gary to commemorate Chanute’s aviation accomplish-ments.Sources: Powell A. Moore, “Octave Chanute’s Experiments with Glid-ers in the Indiana Dunes, 1896,” Indiana Magazine of History, 54:1(December 1958), 381-90. See also David Lester, “Bird Men of theDunes,” Outdoor Indiana, 48:8 (October 1983), 4-6; Web site (http://www.crown.net/~sspicer/chanute/chan_ind.html) containing manydocuments and images relating to Chanute.

Testing OctaveChanute’s biplaneglider in Indiana’s

dunes in 1896.

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Program from newspaper with endpulled out and enlarged. LafayetteDaily Journal, August 15, 1859.


Englishman George Cayleydevelops an instrument tomeasure air resistance;begins building a series ofgliders setting the basicprinciples of aerodynamics(Hellemans andBunch, 255).

1804First aerialphotograph istaken fromballoon Nadirover Paris,France(HellemansandBunch, 329).

First glider to usebird-like archedwings is developedby Germanaeronauticalengineer OttoLilienthal(Hellemans andBunch, 351).

Clement Alder’sEole is first full-size aircraft toleave theground under itsown power(Hellemans andBunch, 371).

1858 1877 1890DavidSchwartzbuilds anairship with arigid aluminumframe(HellemansandBunch, 387).

Russian physicistKonstantinTsiolkovskyproposes thatliquid-fueledrockets can propelvehicles intospace (Hellemansand Bunch, 387).

1895 1895U.S. astronomerSamuel PierpontLangley tests hissteam-drivenmachine, flying.75 mile beforecrashing(Hellemans andBunch, 389).

1896July 2German CountFerdinand vonZeppelinconstructs his firstdirigible and fliessuccessfully(Hellemans andBunch, 397).

1900

on the Indianapolis westside (Indianapolis Star, July18, 1976).

1928 Curtiss Flying Service of Indiana is organizedat the Mars Hill airport in Indianapolis by H. WeirCook. Chief pilot of the women’s division is JeanLaRene. Capital investment is $250,000.

1930 Jennings County, Indiana is first county inU.S. to have a complete soil survey taken by air-plane.

1930 First U.S. airline stewardess is Ellen ChurchMarshall of Terre Haute, Indiana.

1931 Weir Cook Municipal Airport opens in India-napolis. Construction cost is $724,000, and the airportterminal building is completed for $125,000.

1936 Amelia Earhart brings her twin-engine Electra toPurdue University to be outfitted for her round-the-world flight (see p. 7).

1937 Willa B. Brown, previously a teacher in Gary,Indiana, receives her pilot’s license. Also in 1937, sheco-founds the National Airmen’s Association ofAmerica to promote African-American aviation. WithCornelius R. Coffey, she starts the Coffey School of

Aeronautics, which trains over 200 pilots, some ofwhom become part of the 99th Pursuit Squadron atTuskegee Institute, also known as the “TuskegeeAirmen” (http://www.netsrq.com/~dbois/brown-wb.html) (see p. 12).

1940 “The Indiana Plan” for training airplane me-chanics for national defense is implemented at theState Fair Grounds in Indianapolis, training up to1,000 mechanics every 6 months.

1941 Over 1,500 Works Projects Administrationworkers begin improving 6 state airports, with

Aviation at IndianapolisMotor Speedway

Carl Fisher, who built the India-napolis Motor Speedway, was a balloonenthusiast. In June 1909, Fisher hosted,at the Motor Speedway, the first na-tional balloon race sponsored by theAero Club of America.

As the photograph above shows,nine balloons were in the race. Fisher’sballoon was the Indiana. He and hispartner were aloft forty-nine and a halfhours and landed in Tennessee. Theballoon New York won the race.

A year later, the Motor Speedwaywas the site of the first licensed aviationmeet in the U.S., June 13-18, 1910. Thebig news was the presence of Orvilleand Wilbur Wright and their team of sixplanes and expert pilots. Orville Wrightwas the first pilot to take off, his planelaunched from a monorail. He circledthe track twice and landed, impressingobservers with his mastery. The featsaccomplished in the days that followedled the newspaper to call the pilots “air

wizards.” One of the Wrightpilots, Walter S. Brookins,rose to 4,384.5 feet, breakingthe world altitude record.

Other flyers competingincluded Indianapolis nativeMelvin Marquette, an airplanebuilder and pilot. There werethirty-five events, with pilotstrying to set records in alti-tude, distance, and speed.Sources: Jane Fisher, FabulousHoosier: A Story of AmericanAchievement (New York: RobertM. McBride & Company, 1947);Indianapolis News, June 13,1910; Indianapolis News articles,June 10-15, 1910.

Excerpts from IndianapolisNews, June 13, 1910.

Nine balloons from across theU.S. gather at Indianapolis Motor

Speedway, June 1909, for thefirst national balloon race.

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G. Whiteheadperforms thefirst flight on amotor-drivenairplane(HellemansandBunch, 399).

Wilbur andOrvilleWright of theU.S. fly theirfirst glider(HellemansandBunch, 399).

First practicalairship, LeJaune, islaunched inFrance by theLebaudybrothers(Hellemans andBunch, 401).

First airplanefactory is startedin France byGabriel Voisin,ErnestArchdeacon, andLouis Blériot(Hellemans andBunch, 407).

Orville Wrightmakes firstairplane flightthat lasts anhour(HellemansandBunch, 413).

1901 1901 1902 1904 1908English aviatorHenri Farmanmakes firstairplane flightof 100 miles(HellemansandBunch, 415).

AmericanEugene Ely isfirst person totake off in anairplane fromthe deck of aship (HellemansandBunch, 417).

U.S.aeronauticalengineer IgorSikorsky buildsand flies amulti-engineairplane(Hellemans andBunch, 425).

Fokker aircraft arefirst airplanesequipped withmachine guns thatcan fire betweenthe blades of amoving propeller(Hellemans andBunch, 429).

1909 1910 1913 1915

$2,500,000 in federal awards and 441 student flyersin 17 Indiana colleges. Federal contracts with Indianaindustry for aviation products total $4,000,000,000.

1941 Herold Marting of Indianapolis is first Hoosieron active duty in World War II with an American EagleSquadron in Great Britain.

1943 Freeman Field, Seymour, Indiana is named forCaptain Richard S. Freeman from Winamac, Indiana(see p. 12).

1943 On December 7, Republic Aviation’s IndianaDivision in Evansville delivers its 1000th P-47 Thun-

derbolt (Republic Aviation Corporation Annual Re-port, 1943, p. 3) (see p. 11).

1945 Indiana General Assembly creates AeronauticsCommission of Indiana, with a full-time director and 5commissioners appointed by the governor.

1946 World’s first radar-equipped control tower forcivilian flying is installed at Weir Cook MunicipalAirport in Indianapolis.

1947 Allison-powered P-80-R Lockheed airplane isthe world’s fastest at 623 mph. Allison produces over90 percent of all production-type jet engines in the

U.S.1947 First U.S. airborn class is scheduled by Purdue

University.1947 Major F. M. Cassell, Jr. of Indianapolis flies a

Sikorsky B-5A to new world’s altitude record forhelicopters, 18,850 feet.

1948 Indiana’s first independent air passenger line,Roscoe Turner Aeronautical Corporation, Indianapo-lis, is granted flights on two routes.

1948 First U.S. marked air route for private flying isa part of the Transcontinental Skyway I (or

The Purdue University Airport was laid out on afarm field west of the campus on November 1,1930. To meet federal government regulations

at the time, a circle of light-colored limestonewas used to identify the landing area, and a

required windsock was hung from a dead tree.In 1934, this hanger-laboratory was built, and“the airport was officially opened for business

as a going concern” on September 4 (Knoll,348-49).

Aviation atPurdue University

A survey of aviation in Indianawould be incomplete without noting theaccomplishments of Purdue University,West Lafayette, Indiana as an aviationpioneer. A few items have been includedin the general Indiana timeline at thebottom of pages 4-8 of this issue. Allparenthetical page references herein areto Knoll; Web site refers to the PurdueUniversity Aeronautical and Astronau-tical Engineering site (http://aae.www.ecn.purdue.edu/AAE.html).

1910 Students organize the Purdue AeroClub “to build an airplane and toassemble a collection of books onaeronautics” (341).

1911 Purdue Aero Club helps AlumniAssociation and Lafayette MorningJournal organize Aviation Day duringGala Week. Aviators Lincoln Beacheyand C. C. Witmer, employed by Glenn H.Curtiss Exhibition Company, thrill17,000 spectators on June 13 (341,342).

1921 An Aerodynamics Laboratory isestablished; Mechanical Engineeringseniors can choose Aerodynamics (with

four courses offered) as an option (345).1928 Two aviation courses are offered for

graduate students, and the universityowns three planes (346).

1928 Shambaugh Airport opens inLafayette. Some Purdue students gothere independently for flight training(346).

1930 In the summer, Purdue offers itsfirst flight training to students. Techni-cal instruction is given at Purdue; theflying lessons are given by Curtiss-Wright Flying Service (349).

1930 Purdue University Airport is createdin November. The landing area ismarked with a ring of limestone, and awindsock is hung on a dead tree—meeting federal requirements (348).

1934 A hanger-laboratory is built atPurdue University Airport; it is “offi-cially opened for business as a goingconcern” on September 4, the firstcollege-owned airport (349, Web site).

1935 Amelia Earhart is on staff at PurdueUniversity as the “Counselor on Careersfor Women” (351).

1935 Wiley Post, a famous U.S. aviator,makes an emergency landing atPurdue’s airport on April 14. Post is

impressed with Purdue’s facilities (350,351).

1935-1936 Purdue offers a credit coursein flying called “Limited CommercialPilot” (353).

1938 Because of the growing unrest inEurope, the Civil Aeronautics Authorityestablishes the “Civilian Pilot Training”program at educational institutions toensure a pool of trained pilots fornational defense. Purdue, already wellestablished, is a leader and trains morethan 500 pilots over two years (353,354).

1942 Purdue Aeronautics Corporation isorganized for better control of the manymilitary flight-training programs thathad been brought to the airport (354).

1942 Purdue’s oldest school of engineer-ing is named the School of Mechanicaland Aeronautical Engineering (354).

1943 In August, twenty-three studentsgraduate with the new Bachelor ofScience degree in Aeronautical Engi-neering (355).

1945 In the fall, Purdue’s new School ofAeronautics holds its first registration(355). Two chief branches are Aeronauti-cal Engineering and Air Transportation

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Charles A.Lindbergh of theU.S. makes firstnonstop soloflight across theAtlantic in 33.5hours(Hellemans andBunch, 449).

Robert H.Goddard of theU.S. suggeststhat a smallvehicle canreach the moonby using rockets(Hellemans andBunch, 435).

Robert H. Goddardlaunches first liquid-fuel propelledrocket which goes184 feet into the air,reaching a speed of60 miles per hour(Hellemans andBunch, 447).

1919 1926 1927Robert H. Goddardlaunches firstinstrumentedrocket, carrying asmall camera,barometer, andthermometer(Hellemans andBunch, 455).

BritishengineerFrankWhittlepatents thejet engine(HellemansandBunch, 457).

Auguste Piccard ofSwitzerland becomesfirst human to enter thestratosphere in aballoon, reaching aheight of 53,158 feet(Hellemans andBunch, 461).

1929 1930 1932GermanengineerHeinrich Fockedevelops firstpracticalhelicopter(HellemansandBunch, 473).

Germany workson constructionand testing ofliquid-fueledrockets(Hellemans andBunch, 475,477).

1936 1937

Wrightway) from Indianapolis to Dayton, Ohio.1948 Indiana aeromagnetic survey reveals possible

oil and gas fields.1949 Indiana State Police purchases its first air-

plane (see p. 8).1950 Dr. Abe Silverstein, native of Terre Haute, is

chief of space-travel plans for NASA.1954 Indiana’s Early Bird pilot, Roderick M. Wright,

flies in a jet plane (Air Training, September 1954,p.14) (see p. 10).

1955 Allison T-56 turbine propelled engines power

Lockheed’s C-130 Hercules—first turboprop aircraft toroll from an American production line.

1956 Indiana aerial applicators spray 1 out of every 185acres in the state.

1958 First automatic computer to be placed in operationby the Civil Aeronautics Administration begins serviceat Weir Cook Municipal Airport in Indianapolis (India-napolis News, September 9, 1958).

1959 Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines announcenon-stop jet service between Indianapolis and NewYork City and Indianapolis and Miami, Florida, respec-

tively, to begin within a year (Indianapolis Star,December 31, 1959).

1960 Indiana University Medical Center workswith collaborators to plan emergency use of heli-copters for ambulances throughout the state (In-dianapolis Star, December 19, 1960).

1962 Purdue graduate Neil Armstrong and FrankBorman, Gary, Indiana, are named to nine-mem-ber group to be first men on the moon (Indianapo-lis News, September 17, 1962).

1967 On January 27, Virgil I. Grissom and 2 other

Amelia Earhart (second from left) went to PurdueUniversity in November 1935 as the “Counseloron Careers for Women.” She was the firstappointee to a newly formed department to helpguide young women in their academic careersand toward the workforce. Earhart was paid$2,000 a year to spend two weeks out of eachsemester on campus to give lectures, classes,and conferences and to advise universityofficials on courses and programs. In addition,she was “chief consultant for the University workin aeronautical engineering.” She stayed in theWomen’s Residence Halls and was extremelypopular with women students. When Earhartdecided in 1936 to attempt a flight around theworld, the Purdue Research Foundation throughprivate benefactors supplied the money withwhich she purchased a Lockheed Electra,naming it the Flying Laboratory. Purdue gave hera leave of absence from her duties andunrestricted use of its flight and engineeringfacilities to prepare her airplane for the flight.Earhart and her navigator, Captain Fred Noonan,disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937(Todd A. Fruehling, “The Spirit of Amelia EarhartLives On . . .,” The Purdue Alumnus, 63:3[December 1975], 12-13).

(356). More women are drawn toaeronautics engineering (357).

1947 In February, two men are the firstto graduate from Purdue with thedegree Master of Science in Aeronauti-cal Engineering (357).

1947 First forty-one students graduatewith Purdue’s Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Air Transportation (356).

1950 First Purdue Ph.D. in AeronauticalEngineering is granted to CommanderRichard L. Duncan, U.S.N. (357).

1960 Name of school is changed toSchool of Aeronautical and EngineeringSciences (Web site).

1973 Name of school is changed toSchool of Aeronautics and Astronautics(Web site).

1995 School celebrates its golden anniver-sary with publication of One Small Step:The History of Aerospace Engineering atPurdue University (Web site).

In 1984, Purdue University adopteda special logo depicting the Challengerspace shuttle and the saying “Purdue,touching tomorrow today.” PresidentSteven Beering noted that the logo “viv-idly illuminates our university’s mission.”In addition, it was designed to “heightenpublic awareness of Purdue’s major con-tribution in educating astronauts andmission specialists for the nation’s spaceprogram” (Indianapolis News, February8, 1984).

Twenty-one Purdue “alumni havemade pioneering contributions to thenation and the world as astronauts.”The Purdue Web site provides thenames and information about all ofthem. The Indianapolis Star Magazine,March 15, 1981 noted that “PurdueUniversity has contributed more as-tronauts than any institution exceptthe Naval and Air Force academies.”

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Pan Americaninstitutes firstregularcommercialflights acrossthe AtlanticOcean(Hellemans andBunch, 479).

FrankWhittle ofGreat Britainbuilds firstworking jetengine(HellemansandBunch, 475).

Germanysucceeds inproducing arocket thattravels 11miles(HellemansandBunch, 477).

1937 1938Germanengineer Pabstvon Ohain’s jetengine is firstsuch engineactually to fly anairplane(Hellemans andBunch, 481).

1939 1939Igor Sikorskyconstructsfirst helicopterdesigned formassproduction(HellemansandBunch, 481).

Germany begins touse jet-propelledbombs controlledby an autopilotmechanismagainst the UnitedKingdom(Hellemans andBunch, 487).

1939 1944First airplaneflies atsupersonicspeed in theU.S.(Hellemans andBunch, 501).

1947October 4Soviet Unionlaunches firstartificial satellite,Sputnik I; laterSputnik II islaunched carryinga dog (Hellemansand Bunch, 526).

January 31Explorer I, firstU.S. satellite,weighing 30.8pounds, islaunched(Carruth, 581).

1957 1958

astronauts are killed in Apollo 1 capsule (Carruth,645) (see p. 14).

1969 TWA jet flight to California carrying Hoosiersamong its passengers is highjacked after India-napolis stop. After landing in Havana, Cuba, theplane and passengers return safely to Miami, Florida(Indianapolis Star, August 1, 1969).

1970 More than 50 Indiana crop dusters help Hoo-sier farmers fight European corn borer (IndianapolisNews, July 11, 1978).

1985 Indianapolis helicopter pilots set 15 world

records in a commercial helicopter with an Allisonengine (Indianapolis Star, April 16, 1985).

1986 U.S. Department of Commerce grants ForeignTrade Zone status to Michiana Regional Airport atSouth Bend (http://sbnair.com/timeline.htm).

1992 In November, South Shore rail service begins atMichiana Regional Airport making it the only U.S.airport with air, intercity rail, and interstate bus servicein one location (St. Joseph County Airport AuthorityPress Release, March 19, 1998).

1994 On October 31, American Eagle Flight 4184

crashes into a soybean field south of Roselawn,Indiana, killing 64 passengers and 4 crew members(Indianapolis News, November 1, 1994).

1995 Air traffic control for Indiana consists of anetwork of 12 air traffic control towers and 9 radar-equipped facilities (Indiana State Aviation SystemPlan, 1995, p. 15).

1997 September 28 marks the official start of India-napolis native David A. Wolf’s 119 days aboardRussian space station Mir (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/wolf.html).

Aviation andlaw enforcement

The Indiana State Police AviationSection was formed in 1947 when “Thetraffic at the Indianapolis Motor Speed-way . . . was becoming troublesome andit was thought that if someone couldobserve traffic from the air, alternateroutes could be used to increase trafficefficiency.” After renting a Navion air-craft to help with 1947 race traffic, theIndiana State Police purchased its ownNavion in 1949.

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Over the years the Indiana StatePolice Aviation Section fleet has grown.Its responsibilities now include servicesto government, citizens, and law en-forcement: “flying the Governor alongwith other state officials, conductingmedivac flights and premature babytransportation, traffic enforcement,marijuana eradication, criminal surveil-lance and assisting State Emergency

The first plane of the IndianaState Police Aviation Section,

a 1949 Navion.

Management during state wide disas-ters.”

Today, the Aviation Section in-cludes eight helicopters, two twin-en-gine aircraft, and four single-engine air-craft.Source: Sergeant Richard Kirk, “IndianaState Police Aviation Section” (Indianapolis:Indiana State Police Aviation Section, 1998).


Soviet Union, trying to reach the moon,launches Lunik I, which misses butgoes into orbit around the sun; Lunik IIcrashes onto the moon’s surface,becoming first manmade object toreach the surface of the moon; Lunik IIIpasses the moon, but its camera givesfirst view of the far side of the moon(Hellemans and Bunch, 532).

April 12Sovietcosmonaut YuriGagarin is firsthuman being toorbit Earth(HellemansandBunch, 534).

1959 1961May 5Alan B. Shepard,Jr. is first U.S.astronaut in space,making a suborbitalflight in Mercury 3capsule Freedom 7(Hellemans andBunch, 534, 536).

July 21Astronaut Virgil I.Grissom is secondAmerican in spacemaking a suborbitalflight in Liberty Bell 7capsule (Hellemansand Bunch, 536).

Sovietcosmonaut G.Titov orbitsEarth 17times in 25.6hours(Hellemans andBunch, 536).

1961 1961 1961Soviet Unionlaunches firstattempted Marsprobe, butcontact with theprobe is lost(Hellemans andBunch, 538).

U.S. space probeMariner 2 is firstobject made byhumans to voyage toanother planet,reaching the vicinityof Venus (Hellemansand Bunch, 538).

1962 1962

Wilbur Wright was born onan Indiana farm near Millville,Henry County on April 16, 1867.In the spring of 1869, the familymoved to Dayton, Ohio, whereOrville was born on August 19,1871.

In 1892, the Wright brothersopened a bicycle shop in Dayton.They began to manufacture theirown bicycle brand there in 1896.

By 1897, the brothers wereseriously pursuing research onflight by writing to the Smith-sonian, the U.S. Weather Bureau,and Octave Chanute, an engineerliving in Chicago. In the period1899-1903, the Wrights builtflying models, performed experi-ments, flew gliders, and con-structed a wind tunnel. Theycontinued seasonal experimentsat Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

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The 1903 Flyer on December 17, 1903“piloted by Orville Wright, has justtaken off from the monorail” (angledline at left) on “man’s first flight in apower-driven, heavier-than-airmachine” at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.Wilbur Wright (on the ground at right)“had held the wing to balance themachine until it left the rail.” This is theonly picture of this flight (Kelly,opposite 116).

They finally achievedsustained, controlled, pow-ered human flight in theirwood-framed and fabricbiplane on December 17,1903. Their principal contri-butions included a lightmotor, strong frame, and theability to control wing edges (wing-warping) during flight. The broth-ers had applied for a patent con-cerning wing-warping on March23, 1903, and it was issued May22, 1906.

Moving their experiment backto Dayton, they made the firstflights of their 1904 plane, theWright Flyer II. In June 1905, theyran flight tests of the 1905 FlyerIII—the world’s first practicalairplane.

In 1905, in an effort to mar-ket their plane, the Wrights offered

Indiana Historical Bureau. (33.1966.1)

to demonstrate the plane for theU.S. War Department, whichdeclined. However, the U.S. SignalCorps signed a contract for deliv-ery of a Wright plane in 1908. In1911, a Wright Model B-1 hydro-plane was delivered to the U.S.Navy.

Wilbur died on May 30, 1912in Dayton. Orville died on January30, 1948. The 1903 Flyer nowhangs in the National Air andSpace Museum, SmithsonianInstitution, Washington, D.C.Source: Historical Marker file33.1966.1, Indiana Historical Bureau.

Henry County


February 20John H. Glenn,Jr. is firstAmerican to orbitEarth in Mercury6 capsuleFriendship 7(Hellemans andBunch, 538).

May 15L. Gordon Cooperof the U.S.completes 22orbits of Earth in34-hour flight inMercury capsuleFaith 7 (Hellemansand Bunch, 542).

1962 1963June 16Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolayeva of theSoviet Union is firstwoman in space,making 48 orbits ofEarth in 78 hours(Hellemans andBunch, 542).

March 23Virgil I. Grissom andJohn W. Young areAmerica’s first two-man crew, orbitingEarth 3 times in aGemini spacecraft(Hellemans andBunch, 548).

July 15Mariner IVreaches theneighborhood ofMars, passingwithin 7,500 milesof the planet(Hellemans andBunch, 548).

1963 1965 1965August 21L. Gordon Cooper andCharles Conrad, Jr. ofthe U.S. begin 190-hour, 120-orbit missionto demonstrate thefeasibility of a lunarmission (Hellemansand Bunch, 550).

December 4Frank Borman and James A. Lovell,Jr. of the U.S. are launched for a 13-day mission in Gemini 7 spacecraft;they perform first space rendezvouswith Walter M. Schirra and ThomasP. Stafford, who are launched onDecember 15 in Gemini 6(Hellemans and Bunch, 550).

1965 1965

Members of theEarly Birds of Aviation,Incorporated were menwho flew solo between1903 and 1916. Thesepilots hold a specialplace in the history ofaviation in the United

States. The SmithsonianInstitution’s National Air andSpace Museum Archives in Wash-ington, D.C. serves as the officialrepository for documents concern-ing the Early Birds.

Indiana’s only Early Birdpilot, Roderick M. Wright, wasborn on March 24, 1887 on afarm in Daviess County, nearWashington. He grew up fullyexpecting to be a farmer and

became an agriculturalstudent at PurdueUniversity, WestLafayette, Indiana.

Wright, however,read about the effortsof Orville and WilburWright as pioneers inflight. In June 1911,Wright attended hisfirst air exhibition inEvansville, Indiana. Hewas so excited by theevent that he decidedto become a student atthe flight school oper-

Indiana’s Early Bird Pilotated by Orville and Wilbur Wrightin Dayton, Ohio.

He later enrolled in the flightschool and earned his license onJuly 26, 1913—Number 254issued by the FederationAeronautique Internationale. Thisinternational group precededUnited States federal aviationagencies, which started in 1926and evolved into the FederalAviation Administration in 1958.Wright was the first licensed pilotin Indiana.

Wright utilized his flying skillsand experience as mechanic, testpilot, flight instructor, and passen-ger/transport pilot. He returned tothe family farm in 1933, bought anairplane, and built a private air-strip and hanger. He taught familymembers to fly and took occasionalcontract work. During World WarII, he tested parachutes over hisproperty.

From 1953 to 1957, Wrightrepresented Daviess County in theIndiana General Assembly. In1954, he flew for the first time in ajet plane. On October 13, 1960,Wright died. He is buried near hisfamily farm.Source: Historical marker file14.1997.1, Indiana Historical Bureau.There is no known kinship betweenRoderick M. Wright and Orville andWilbur Wright.

Roderick M. Wright in 1954, wearing the black andwhite checkered cap of the Early Bird pilots.

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Soviet spaceprobe Luna XIIIlands on themoon andreturnsphotographsand soil data(Hellemans andBunch, 554).

AugustSoviet spaceprobe LunaXI goes intoorbit aroundthe moon(HellemansandBunch, 554).

1966U.S. spacecraftLunar Orbiter Isends backdramaticphotographs ofthe moon’ssurface(Hellemans andBunch, 554)

1966 1966April 19U.S. spaceprobeSurveyor IIIsoft-lands onthe moon(HellemansandBunch, 558).

January 27Launch pad fire duringApollo tests at CapeKennedy, Florida, killsastronauts Virgil I.Grissom, Edward H.White II, and Roger B.Chaffee(Carruth, 645).

19671967July 20American astronautNeil Armstrong isfirst human to standon the moon; BuzzAldrin is rightbehind him(Hellemans andBunch, 564).

1969December 21-27Frank Borman,James A. Lovell,Jr., and William A.Anders orbit themoon 10 times infirst mannedSaturn V flight(Carruth, 661).

1968December 31First supersonicairliner, theSoviet TupolevTU-144, isdemonstrated(Hellemans andBunch, 561).

1968First of the“jumbo jets,” theBoeing 747,goes intoservice acrossthe AtlanticOcean(Hellemans andBunch, 565).

1970

On December 8, 1941, theUnited States declared war onJapan as the result of the Japa-nese bombing of Pearl Harbor,Hawaii. There was an immediateneed for war-related materials.

World War II had a majoreffect on the economy of Evans-ville, Indiana. By the end of thewar, fifty of its companies wereinvolved in war-related productionwith three-quarters of its indus-tries having defense contracts.

On April 7, 1942, the Repub-lic Aviation Corporation ofFarmingdale, New York brokeground for a factory to manufac-ture P-47 Thunderbolts in Evans-ville, Vanderburgh County.

The factory produced its firstplane, named the “Hoosier Spirit,”on September 20, 1942. By

P-47 Thunderbolt FactorySeptember 27, 1945, 6,242Thunderbolts had been manu-factured at the Evansvilleplant. The factory providedemployment for over 5,000people; a high percentage ofthe employees were women.

The P-47 Thunderbolt wasthe star of World War II fighterplanes. There were 15,683 Thun-derbolts produced between May1941 and December 1945 in threeU.S. factories—more than anyother fighter bomber. It wasreliable, durable, and fast. P-47sserved U.S. efforts in all geo-graphical locations of the war andlogged 1,350,000 combat hours.

A P-47 weighed almost seventons, had a wing span of nearlyforty-one feet, and was more thanthirty-six feet long.

This image of the P-47 Thunderbolt is on a ground identifier card—one of a set—usedby ground spotters during the war to assure that enemy planes were not passing

overhead. The reverse side gives the silhouette views that a spotter might see.

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The Thunderbolt plant inEvansville was a large-scaleoperation. The primary structurewas 972,909 square feet, and thegrounds covered seventy-oneacres. In 1946, InternationalHarvester purchased the facility; itis presently owned by WhirlpoolCorporation.Source: Historical marker file82.1995.1, Indiana Historical Bureau.

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First U.S. Skylab missionis launched May 25 andlasts 28 days; the secondSkylab is launched July 29and lasts 59 days; the thirdSkylab is launchedNovember 16 and lasts 84days (Hellemans andBunch, 572).

During the U.S. Apollo14 lunar mission, crewmembers Alan B.Shepard, Jr. andEdgar D. Mitchellcollect 98 pounds ofmoon rocks(Hellemans andBunch, 566).

David R. Scottand James B.Irwin of theU.S. drive theLunar Rover onthe moon’ssurface(Hellemans andBunch, 568).

November 13The U.S. Mariner9 spacecraft isthe first human-built object toorbit anotherplanet by orbitingMars (Hellemansand Bunch, 568).

SovietspacecraftVenera 8 soft-lands onVenus(HellemansandBunch, 570).

U.S. spaceprobe Pioneer10 is launched,first human-created objectto leave thesolar system(Hellemans andBunch, 570).

1971 1971 1971 1972 1972 1973Sovietspaceprobelands onMars(HellemansandBunch, 574).

July 20U.S.Viking I Lander landson Mars, first spacecraftto soft-land on a planetother thanEarth (Hellemans andBunch, 578; http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking.html).

1974 1976

On December 8,1941, the United Statesdeclared war on Japanin response to theJapanese bombing ofPearl Harbor, Hawaii.Manpower and materi-

als were needed quickly.On May 6, 1942, the War

Department announced itsintention to build a pilot trainingschool and air field southwest ofSeymour in Jackson County. OnDecember 1, 1942, the Seymourair field was activated.

The U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers oversaw the construc-tion of the structures, runways,

Freeman Fieldand roads. There were 413 build-ings and four 5,500-foot runwayslocated on 2,560 acres. It was astate-of-the-art facility.

In March 1943, the field wasofficially named the FreemanArmy Air Field. Richard S. Free-man was born on June 22, 1907in Winamac, Pulaski County. Hegraduated from West Point andwas assigned to the Army AirCorps. He earned the Distin-guished Flying Cross. He died onFebruary 6, 1941 when his planecrashed in Nevada.

Also in March 1943, the firstcadets arrived at this advancedtwin-engine training school. Manyof the graduates went on to flybombers, such as B-17s and B-24s. The last graduation wasFebruary 1, 1945. A total of 4,245pilots graduated from the FreemanField aerial training base. Twenty-four instructors and cadets werekilled during training.

In January 1946, the facilitywas declared to be surplus. It wasdeactivated in November 1948.The War Assets Administrationdetermined the post-war use ofthe land and structures: 2,241acres for a municipal airport forSeymour; more than 240 acres foragricultural training in theSeymour Community Schools; andthe Seymour Industrial Associa-tion received more than sixtyacres to develop an industrialpark.Source: Historical marker file36.1997.1, Indiana Historical Bureau.

Registration at FreemanField in 1944. Black

aviators, including a groupof Tuskegee Airmen,

trained at Freeman Field.In April 1945, black officers

tried to integrate anofficers’ club resulting in amajor incident. See James

C. Warren, The FreemanField Mutiny (Vacaville,

Calif.: The ConyersPublishing Co, 1996) and

Ray Boomhower,“ ‘Nobody Wanted Us’:

Black Aviators at FreemanField,” Traces of Indianaand Midwestern History

(Summer 1993), pp. 38-45.

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French-EnglishConcorde is thefirst supersonicairliner to operatea regularlyscheduledpassenger service(Hellemans andBunch, 579).

U.S. spaceprobes Voyager1 and 2 arelaunched on ajourney toJupiter and theouter planets(Hellemans andBunch, 580).

GossamerAlbatross is firsthuman-poweredaircraft to crossthe EnglishChannel(Hellemans andBunch, 583).

1976 1977 1979May 12First nonstoptranscontinental balloon flightis completed by AmericanMaxie Anderson and his sonKris. Aboard the Kitty Hawk,they travel 3,100 miles fromCalifornia to Quebec in fourdays (Carruth, 747).

November 12U.S.Voyager Iflies bySaturn(HellemansandBunch, 586).

April 12First flight of the U.S.space shuttle Columbiabegins; its landing April14 at Edwards Air ForceBase, California is thefirst wheels-downlanding by any spacecraft(Carruth, 753).

December 14Dick Rutan and JeanaYeager of the U.S. pilotthe airplane Voyageraround the world in 9 dayswithout refueling(Hellemans andBunch, 599).

1980 1980 1981 1986

Bell was born in 1894 in theIndiana farming community ofMentone, Kosciusko County. TheBell family moved to SantaMonica, California in 1907 whenLawrence was thirteen. Lawrencesaw his first airplane at the 1910Air Show at Los Angeles, with hisolder brother, Grover. At home, heand his brother built their ownflying airplane model.

After graduating from SantaMonica High School in 1912,Lawrence became a mechanic forexhibition pilots Lincoln Beacheyand Grover Bell with their Curtissairplane.

In 1913, Bell became afactory manager at Glenn L.Martin’s factory in Santa Ana,California and later in Cleveland,Ohio. A year later he was superin-tendent. In 1928, Bell went towork for Consolidated Aircraft inBuffalo, New York, reaching therank of vice-president.

In 1935, Bell founded hisown company, Bell Aircraft Corpo-ration, also in Buffalo. Manyadvanced aircraft were producedthere. These included the first jetplane of the U.S., the P-59; theBell X-1 jet aircraft, and the Bell47G helicopter. The X-1 was thefirst plane to break the soundbarrier earning Bell, CharlesYeager, and designer John Stackthe Collier Trophy. In addition, thefirst commercial helicopter licenseof the Civil Aeronautics Adminis-tration was granted to Bell AircraftCorporation. Lawrence Bell died in

Lawrence D. Bell

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October 1956.Two related companies

still exist. Bell HelicopterTextron is the world’s largesthelicopter manufacturer.Bell Aerospace Textronproduces component partsfor space vehicles. Twopresidential helicopters preservedin the National Air and SpaceMuseum, Washington, D.C., andin the Air Force Museum, Dayton,Ohio, are Bell products.

The Lawrence D. Bell Air-craft Museum in Mentone wasdedicated in 1982. It houses anddisplays, with associated aircraft,the collection given by Bell to hishometown.Source: Historical marker file43.1995.1, Indiana Historical Bureau.Contact: Lawrence D. Bell AircraftMuseum, Inc., Box 411, Mentone,Indiana 46539 (Web site: http://www.livingweb.com/bell).

This Bell 47helicopter was thefirst helicopterpurchased by theIndiana State Police.It is pictured at StoutField, Indianapolis in1953.

Indiana Historical Bureau. (43.1995.1)

Kosciusko County


January 28U.S. space shuttle Challengerexplodes 74 seconds after liftoff atCape Canaveral, Florida, killing allseven astronauts aboard, includingChrista McAuliffe, a NewHampshire schoolteacher and thefirst private citizen chosen for aspace shuttle flight (Carruth, 787).

Soviet cosmonautYuri V.Romanenkoreturns to Earthfrom Mir stationafter 326 days inspace, a newrecord (Hellemansand Bunch, 602).

May 4U.S. unmannedspacecraft Magellan islaunched by spaceshuttle Atlantis to begina voyage to Venus. Itreaches Venus orbit onAugust 10, 1990(Carruth, 819).

April 25Hubble SpaceTelescope islaunched bythe U.S.space shuttleDiscovery(Carruth, 827).

July 9U.S. Columbiaends the longestspace shuttle flight,after circling Earth221 times andtraveling 5,760,000miles in 2 weeks oforbit (Carruth, 851).

July 6U.S. Mars Pathfinder’sSojourner Rover rolls ontothe surface of Mars andsends pictures and sensordata to Earth until September27 when all communication islost (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mesur.html).

January 16NASA names 77-yearold former astronautJohn H. Glenn, Jr. to thecrew of space shuttleDiscovery, due to launchin October 1998 (NASAPress release, January16, 1998).

1986 1987 1989 1990 1992 1997 1998

Virgil I. Grissom wasborn April 3, 1926 inMitchell, LawrenceCounty, Indiana. Hegraduated fromPurdue University,West Lafayette,Indiana in 1950.

Grissom served in the U.S.Army Air Corps as an aviationcadet in 1944. He reenlisted aftercollege and earned his pilot wingsin early 1951. He served in Korea;he was an instructor pilot after thewar. In 1957, he became a fightertest pilot. He was selected in 1959by the National Aeronautics andSpace Administration as one of theseven astronauts in the first phaseof the U.S. Space Program.

In a speech on May 25, 1961,U.S. President John F. Kennedy

Virgil I. Grissompledged to support a program toland a man on the moon by 1970.This program was to be accom-plished in a process that includedthe Mercury, Gemini, and Apollomission programs.

Grissom flew the secondproject Mercury sub-orbitalmission on July 21, 1961. He flewas the command pilot in theGemini III flight, March 23, 1965,with John Young. They orbited theearth three times and were thefirst astronauts to maneuver aspacecraft in orbit.

Grissom, Roger B. Chaffee,and Edward H. White, werechosen to pilot the first Apollomission, with Grissom as thecommand pilot. They begantraining for a planned sixteen-daymission scheduled to launchFebruary 14, 1967. On January27, 1967 a flash fire in the Apollo 1capsule killed all three men.

Grissom was buried atArlington National Cemetery.Bunker Hill Air Force Base, MiamiCounty, Indiana was renamedafter him in 1967. There is amemorial with exhibits at SpringMill State Park, near Mitchell,including Grissom’s helmet fromthe Mercury mission and theGemini III capsule and space suit.Source: Historical marker file47.1966.1, Indiana Historical Bureau.Contact: Indiana Department ofNatural Resources for Virgil I.Grissom: Teacher Packet (Indianapo-lis: Department of Natural Resources,[1987]).

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Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom is suited upand ready to climb into the Liberty Bell 7spacecraft on August 9, 1961 for NASA’sMercury-Redstone 4 mission. Backuppilot John Glenn is in the right cornerbehind Grissom (http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/MR4/10073558.htm).

Lawrence County


Selected ResourcesA Note Regarding Resources: Items are listed on this page that enhancework with the topic discussed. Some older items, especially, may includedated practices and ideas that are no longer generally accepted. Resourcesreflecting current practices are noted whenever possible.

Bibliography

• Carruth, Gordon. The Encyclope-dia of American Facts and Dates.New York: Harper Collins Publish-ers, 1993.

Comprehensive, easy-to-readtimeline of American history.• Hellemans, Alexander, and BryanBunch. The Timetables of Science.New York: Simon and Schuster,1988.

Contains chronology of most sig-nificant achievements in sciencehistory.• Historical marker files, IndianaHistorical Bureau.

The Historical Bureau maintainsan individual file for each Indianastate format historical marker. Filesvary, but may contain copies of re-sources, application materials, andresearch papers.• Knoll, H. B. The Story of PurdueEngineering. West Lafayette: PurdueUniversity Studies, 1963.

Very informative, easy-to-readand understand chapter on Purdueand aviation.• A Salute to Indiana’s Aviation His-tory. [Indianapolis]: AeronauticsCommission of Indiana, [circa 1956].

Brochure; place to start for fur-ther research.

Additional Resources

• Ball, Edmund F. Rambling Recol-lections of Flying and Flyers. Muncie:Edmund F. Ball, 1993.

Gives personal insight into manyof Indiana’s early pilots.• Cassutt, Michael. Who’s Who inSpace: The First 25 Years. Boston:G. K. Hall & Co., 1987.

Good general information.• Encyclopedia of Aviation. NewYork: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1977.

General, but informative and com-prehensive in its topics.• Glines, Carroll V. Roscoe Turner:Aviation’s Master Showman. Wash-ington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institu-tion Press, 1995.

Provides insight into a fascinat-

ing Hoosier.• Hallion, Richard P., ed. The WrightBrothers: Heirs of Prometheus.(Washington, D.C.: SmithsonianInstitution Press, 1978.

Very good timeline and bibliogra-phy.• Indiana Challenger Centers forSpace Science Education

Contact for more information:Brownsburg Community SchoolCorporation, Harris ElementarySchool, 725 South Green Street,Brownsburg, IN 46112, telephone317-858-4106; and Purdue Univer-sity-Calumet, 2200 169th Street,Hammond, IN 46323-2094, tele-phone 219-989-2323 (opening pro-jected January 1999).• Thumma, William. Early Aviationin Indiana. Elwood, Ind.: WilliamThumma, 1989.

Useful resource for further re-search.• Tipton, Richard S. They Filled theSkies: Arthur Young . . . Maker of theBell, Larry Bell . . . Aviation Trail-blazer. Fort Worth, Texas: Bell Heli-copter Textron, Inc., 1989.

Very useful for research on Bell.

Suggested student resources

• Aust, Siegfried. Flight! Free As aBird. Minneapolis: Lerner Publica-tions Company, 1991.

Traces the history of human flightfrom Greek mythology to the spaceshuttle. Related activities are in-cluded in easy-to-read language.• Berliner, Don. Before the WrightBrothers. Minneapolis: Lerner Pub-lications Company, 1990.

Historic photographs and docu-ments are included; for intermedi-ate readers. Ideas and experimentsthat led to the first powered flight in1903 are described.• Bredeson, Carmen. Gus Grissom:A Space Biography. Springfield, N.J.:Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1998.

An easy-to-read biography focus-ing on the training and career of thisIndiana native.

• Briggs, Carole S. At the Controls:Women in Aviation. Minneapolis:Lerner Publications Company,1991.

Includes profiles of four femaleaviators; the Ninety-Nines, an as-sociation of female pilots; and therecord-setting flights of AmeliaEarhart and other female aviationpioneers. For intermediate readers.• Challoner, Jack. Flight. New York:Thomson Learning, 1995.

Illustrated projects, demonstrat-ing the properties of flight. Appro-priate for any age reader. Make itWork series.• Jefferis, David. Flight: Fliers andFlying Machines. New York: FranklinWatts, 1991.

Traces the evolution of the air-plane from the first flying machineto supersonic jets; wonderful illus-trations. Timelines series.• Nahum, Andrew. Flying Machine.New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

Wonderful photographs trace thehistory and development of aircraftfrom hot-air balloons to jetliners.An excellent resource for any age.Eyewitness Books.• Weiss, Harvey. Strange and Won-derful Aircraft. Boston: HoughtonMifflin Company, 1995.

This easy-to-read work detailsearliest attempts at flight; includesillustrations and projects to dem-onstrate flight principles.

Special thanks to the followingindividuals:

• Mary Anthrop, Archivist,Tippecanoe County Historical As-sociation.• Deb Taylor, Indianapolis MotorSpeedway Museum.• Sergeant Richard Kirk, FieldEnforcement Division, Aviation Sec-tion, Indiana State Police.• R. Troy Allen, “Project Takeoff,”Aviation Division, Indiana Depart-ment of Transportation. ContactAllen at 317-232-1494 for informa-tion on school aviation programs.

Indiana Historical Bureau140 North Senate Avenue • Room 408 • Indianapolis, Indiana • 46204-2296 • 317-232-2535 • TDD 317-232-7763

IndianaHistorical

BureauServing Indiana

Since 1915

NASA mission specialist, David A. Wolf, in preflight activities forMission STS-86 on the space shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis docked withthe Russian space station Mir on September 28, 1997. Wolf spent119 days aboard Mir and returned to Earth on January 31, 1998.Wolf is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana. He received a Bachelor ofScience degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University

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and a doctorate of medicine from Indiana University. Informationabout Wolf, the mission, letters from Wolf from space, etc. areavailable on the NASA Web site (http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/mission/sts-86/mission-sts-86.html) and by searching for David A.Wolf.

Documents

Aviation in Indiana in Indiana Indiana HistorianThe ... Lenormand, influenced by accounts from China, is the first Westerner to use a parachute (Hellemans and Bunch, 233)