Profiles

Robert Griffin was born July 30,1924, on a farm near Saint John, Wash. He grew up on another farm near Pullman,Wash., took his first flight with his father and identical-twin brother in aBoeing Mailplane, and learned to fly during high school in a J-3 Cub. After hisfirst year of college, Bob attended a presentation by […]

When the rickety bus screeched to a stop behind thehangar, I didn’t even look up. My early morning attention was totally caught upin a careful preflight inspection of the Helio Courier before starting the day’sflying. It promised to be a busy day. The crunch of shoes on gravel and a cheery greeting broke my concentration.”Hola, […]

William Langewiesche was born June12, 1955 — 11 years after his father Wolfgang had published Stickand Rudder, the classic book on the art of flying. William grew up inairplanes, and learned to fly the gauges before he could see over theglareshield. He soloed at 14, flew air taxi and charters to put himself throughStanford, then […]

Gen. Robert L. Cardenas was bornMarch 10, 1920, in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. At age five, he moved to San Diego,Calif., with his parents. He built model airplanes and helped local gliderpilots with dope-and-fabric projects. Being the top student in math and physicsat his high school earned him a two-year pre-engineering scholarship to SanDiego State University. […]

Thomas W. Wathen was born October5, 1929, in Vincennes, Ind., across the Wabash River from O’Neal airport. Theairplane bug bit early. He built model airplanes, became a Civil Air PatrolCadet, and traded airplane rides for work around the airport. He graduated fromIndiana University in 1951 with a degree in Police Administration. He joined theAir Force, […]

Rick L. Cremer was born November12, 1945, in South Bend, Ind. His stepfather was a civil engineer for the stateof Michigan, so Rick moved from Alpena to Traverse City to Detroit while hisstepfather surveyed for the then-new interstate highway system. He took flyinglessons in high school, but didn’t finish his private certificate until midwaythrough his […]

Polly Vacher was born January 13,1944, in Paignton, England, and spent her childhood in the rolling hills andsunny beaches of Devonshire. She trained as a physiotherapist, then as a musicteacher, married, and raised three sons. Her attraction to flying began in 1989when she skydived to raise money for a charity, and she subsequently logged 245jumps. […]

Steven Hinton was born April 1,1952, in China Lake, California. When Steve was seven years old, his parents bought ahouse in Claremont, Calif., next to Ed Maloney. Ed’s son Jim became Steve’s bestfriend in second grade — they grew up together, became pilots together, andwork together in the museum Ed started, Planesof Fame Museum in […]

Dave Oglesbee was born August 15,1962, in Camanche, Iowa. His dad noted his interest in RC airplanes, gave him achance at the real thing, and Dave was hooked. He worked at the airport for payfor flying lessons and missed his high school senior group picture to take hisprivate checkride. He earned an ROTC scholarship to […]

A. Scott Crossfield was bornOctober 2, 1921, in Berkeley, Calif. He took his first flight at age six in anoil company airplane, a flight that hooked him on aviation for life. DuringWorld War II he was a fighter pilot and fighter gunnery instructor in the U.S.Navy. In 1950, he joined NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory […]