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Two
Blue Angel F/A-18 Hornets manoeuvre for a gear down “mirror”
pass during a four-day air show to celebrate the Centenary
of Powered Flight.
Photo by Robert Beyne
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A
HUNDRED years ago the first aircraft was about to fly. A hundred
years ago, two brothers in Dayton, Ohio, were busy designing,
building and perfecting the machine that finally allowed mankind
to defy gravity and take to the sky at will.
Sometimes it is hard to believe that the Air Force owes its existence
to events that took place only 100 years ago.
Wilbur and Orville Wright were those two brothers whose invention
brought incredible change to the world. From those first 12 seconds
of flight in 1903, it only took 66 years for Neil Armstrong to
step foot on the moon. Our own Air Force’s birth was a mere
18 years after the first flight.
Astronaut Joe Engle puts it best: “Without the brothers,
we wouldn’t have a job.”
Eight RAAF families live in Dayton and were privileged to take
part in three weeks of celebrations and activities in July to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first powered, controlled
flight.
The celebration, called “Inventing Flight”, aimed to
reinvigorate the sense of excitement and wonder about aviation
that existed at the time of Wilbur and Orville and to inspire
the next 100 years of innovation.
The hometown of the Wright Brothers takes their role in history
very seriously and is keen to remind the world that the work on
inventing the first aircraft was all accomplished in Dayton. Local
story has it that the only reason the first flight was not in
Dayton was that there was not enough wind!
I was fortunate to participate in the 2003 Pioneers of Flight
Homecoming – A Centennial tribute to America’s Air and
Space Pioneers.
Harrison Ford, a private pilot better known for piloting the Millennium
Falcon in Star Wars, was Master of Ceremonies for the gala. He
told the story of 22 of the living legends from the last century
of air and space. They were in the one place and it was the photograph
and autograph opportunity of a lifetime!
We heard of the stories behind famous and not-so-famous names
such as Aldrin, Armstrong, Cernan, Glenn, Kittinger, Crossfield,
Schirra, Lovell and Tibetts. Some had gone to the moon, others
to Mach 6.7.
Given their advancing ages, it is unlikely that such an event
will happen again, and it was fascinating to listen to them talking
to each other about old times at the edge of the envelope.
The morning after, on July 20, we gathered at the final resting
place of the Wright Brothers as a replica of a 1908 Wright “B”
flyer circled slowly overhead. In one of those strange historic
coincidences, two other aviation pioneers (astronauts Neil Armstrong
and John Glenn) are also from this small part of Ohio.
They joined with the Wright family to remember their Ohio predecessors
and role models. Some of the family members had grown up with
their Uncle Orville and were able to tell firsthand stories of
their famous ancestors.
This reminded us, once again, that the Wright Brothers achievements
are still so recent.
Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, finished his tribute
from the speaker’s podium and introduced Armstrong to the
crowd. “Today we are gathered to pay tribute to the Wright
Brothers. But if you look at your watch at a little after 4pm
today it will be 34 years since the man here beside me landed
on the moon”.
Until now, Armstrong has been an intensely private man, but the
“Inventing Flight” celebrations served to reintroduce
him to public life. The crowd of nearly 1000 gave him a resounding
and heartfelt “welcome back”.
The moon was clearly visible that day and, needless to say, we
all looked at our watches that afternoon and wondered what the
Wright Brothers might have thought.
No matter how many times it happens, watching an aircraft overcome
gravity and take to the sky always seems miraculous every time
you see it. The recent experience in Dayton has reminded those
of us who love aircraft that our curiosity and wonder about the
magic of flight was shared by a couple of brothers 100 years ago.
Small
presence but big impact
By
SQNLDR Rosemary Johnson
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US
Air Force Institute of Technology Commandant Colonel David
Eidsaune congratulates Flight Lieutenant Jason Williams
for achieving the two top honours at the 2003 AFIT graduation.
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Colonel
Gregory Postulka, the USAF’s C-130 System Program Director,
presents Squadron Leader Mark Masini with the Patricia Terrill
Memorial Safety Award.
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DESCRIBED
by US President George W. Bush as the “birthplace, home and
future of aerospace”, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is
also home to eight Royal Australian Air Force families.
Although few in number, Australians have made a sizable impression
among the 22,000 people who work at the historic base at Dayton,
Ohio.
At a recent graduation from the Air Force Institute of Technology
(AFIT) – the US Air Force’s postgraduate engineering,
business and logistics institution – Flight Lieutenant Jason
Williams received the Commandant’s Award for demonstrating
the most exceptional individual master’s thesis research.
FLTLT Williams also earned the Mervin E. Gross award, named in
honour of the institute’s first commandant.
Squadron Leader Mark Masini, now at DGTA in Melbourne, during
his time at Wright-Patterson won the Patricia Terrill Memorial
System Safety Award.
The award, drawn from 88,000 personnel in Air Force Materiel Command,
recognised SQNLDR Masini’s significant contributions to the
overall safety of the C-130J. SQNLDR Masini was also awarded a
Meritorious Service Medal by the USAF for his work in Dayton.
The logistics flag flies high at the Australian supply liaison
office at Wright-Patterson.
The team is responsible to Aerospace Systems Division (ASD) of
the DMO for managing Australian Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases
with the US Air Force.
Wing Commander Clive Wells, a logistics officer, also oversees
other ASD supply liaison officers located with other US services.
Sergeant Kathy Rosengren is a Clerk Supply and is a wealth of
knowledge on the details of the FMS cases.
Four RAAF engineers are completing Masters degrees in various
disciplines at AFIT. Flight Lieutenant Matthew Colbert is studying
space operations, Flight Lieutenant Wendell Fox computer engineering
and Flight Lieutenants Tony Dearinger and Malcolm Gould electrical
engineering.
Finally, two exchange officers work at Wright-Patterson in the
Global Reach Mobility Systems Program Office.
Squadron Leader Michael Thorne, an electrical engineer, works
on the C-130 Avionics Modernisation Program. He will return to
Australia at the end of the year and his replacement has not yet
been announced.
SQNLDR Murray Johnson, also an electrical engineer, occupies a
DGTA-sponsored exchange and works in the Aeronautical Systems
Center’s Engineering Directorate. He has taken over from
SQNLDR Masini.
If
you are interested in a posting to Wright-Patterson speak to your
career managers or email SQNLDR Murray Johnson at Murray.Johnson@wpafb.af.mil.
