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This is Doug Johnson. Today on Explorations in VOA SpecialEnglish we tell about some men and women who are members of theAviation Hall of Fame. They have been honored for what they did forflying.
The National Aviation Hall of Fameis in Dayton, Ohio. It opened in nineteen-sixty-two. Since thattime, the Hall of Fame has honored one-hundred-seventy-eight men andwomen for their work in aviation. Four more will be honored thisyear. Those honored will include Harriet Quimby, the first womanpilot in America.
The first two people chosen as members of the Aviation Hall ofFame were Orville and Wilbur Wright. They lived and worked inDayton. The Wright Brothers were the first humans to make and fly apowered aircraft.
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Their story is well known. Another early member of the AviationHall of Fame is Charles Lindbergh. His record-setting flight acrossthe Atlantic Ocean began on May twentieth, nineteen-twenty-seven.
Neil Armstrong is another memberof the Hall of Fame. He was the first human to walk on the moon. Thestory of the Apollo Eleven landing on the moon is also well known.
Today, Mary Tillotson and Steve Ember tell about other members ofthe Aviation Hall of Fame who are not as famous.
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VOICE TWO:
Have you ever heard the name Edwin Link? Probably not. Yet manypilots know him. Mister Link was a pioneer in flight training. Heinvented a machine that helped teach new pilots to fly.
Edwin Link was born in nineteen-oh-four and died innineteen-eighty-one. He became a member of the Aviation Hall of Famein nineteen seventy-six.
The device he invented is called the Link Trainer. Link Trainersdid not really fly. But they were designed to copy flight. Newpilots could use flight controls and instruments as if they wereinside a real plane. A new pilot learned how to fly in the air byflying a Link Trainer that never left the ground.
The Link Company improved their trainers over time. Moreexperienced pilots used them to learn to fly using only flightinstruments to find their way. Edwin Link made it possible for manypilots to learn difficult skills in complete safety.
VOICE ONE:
Just south of the city of San Diego, California is a small hillthat looks toward the Pacific Ocean. A huge airplane wing rises outof the ground there. It is a monument to John Montgomery, anothermember of the Aviation Hall of Fame.
Not many people remember John Montgomery now. Yet many aviationexperts believe he was the father of basic flying. He flew ingliders…aircraft that have no power.
John Montgomery built gliders for more than twenty years. He diedin a glider accident in nineteen-eleven. Mister Montgomery made mostof his flights before anyone understood how to control an aircraftin flight.
Montgomery’s study of flight and his attempts at flying led theway for the many others who followed. He became a member of theAviation Hall of Fame in nineteen-seventy-three.
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VOICE TWO:
Giuseppe Bellanca is another name you probably do not know. Hebecame a member of the Hall of Fame in nineteen-ninety-three. Hecame to the United States from Sicily before World War One. MisterBellanca designed and built airplanes for the Wright AircraftCompany in the eastern state of New Jersey.
Charles Lindbergh decided to flyacross the Atlantic Ocean in nineteen-twenty-seven. He wanted to usea Wright-Bellanca aircraft. Lindbergh met with Giuseppe Bellanca.Mister Bellanca said his airplane could make the flight. He was veryexcited about Lindbergh’s plan. The Wright company, however, did notapprove of him using one of the company’s planes. Company officialsthought Lindbergh might fail. Charles Lindbergh had to find adifferent airplane to make his famous flight.
Later, a Wright-Bellanca airplane was the first to fly theAtlantic Ocean in both directions. And, in nineteen-thirty-one,Giuseppe Bellanca designed and built an airplane that became thefirst to fly across the Pacific Ocean without stopping. It wascalled the Miss Veedol. It flew from Samishiro Beach, Japan, to thetown of Wenatchee in the western state of Washington. Clyde Pangbornwas the pilot of Miss Veedol. He is remembered more in Japan than heis in the United States. He became a member of the Aviation Hall ofFame in nineteen-ninety-five.
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VOICE ONE:
Only a few aviation experts can tell you about Charles E. Taylor.His friends called him “Charlie.” He became a member of the AviationHall of Fame in nineteen-sixty-five.
On December Seventeeth,nineteen-oh-three, Orville Wright became the first human to fly in apowered aircraft. Orville and his brother Wilber designed and builtthe aircraft. Charlie Taylor built the small gasoline engine theyused.
The three men designed the engine. They drew pictures on piecesof paper. Then Charlie Taylor built the needed part. He made thecomplete engine in only six weeks using almost no equipment. Today,you can see the Wright airplane when you visit the Smithsonian’s Airand Space Museum in Washington D-C. Just to the left of the controlsis Charlie Taylor’s very important engine!
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VOICE TWO:
In nineteen-ten, a newspaper publisher offered fifty-thousanddollars to the first pilot to fly an airplane across the UnitedStates. He said the trip must be made within thirty days. Manypilots tried. All failed.
No one was able to collect the prize. But one man did succeed inflying across the United States. His name was Calbraith PerryRodgers. He became a member of the Aviation Hall of Fame innineteen-sixty-four.
Calbraith Rodgers started his famous flight on Sunday, SeptemberSeventeenth, nineteen eleven. He took off from Sheepshead Bay, NewYork, on the eastern coast of the United States. Bad luck followedhim all the way. He crashed several times.
Each time the plane was rebuilt. The weather was often terribleand kept him on the ground for days. The thirty days he was supposedto fly to collect the prize passed, but Rodgers continued theflight.
His plane crashed nineteen kilometers short of the Pacific Ocean.He was badly hurt. Newspapers said he had successfully completed theflight. Rodgers did not agree. Four weeks later, he was helped intohis airplane and flew the remaining distance to the Pacific Ocean.He landed December Tenth on the beach, the tires of his airplane wetfrom the Pacific Ocean. The trip had taken eighty-four days tocomplete. Calbraith Rodgers had succeeded in becoming the firstpilot to fly across the United States.
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VOICE ONE:
Jacqueline Cochran was chosen as a member of the Aviation Hall ofFame for many reasons. She was the first women to pilot a jetairplane faster than the speed of sound. She won a top prize forflying racing planes.
She also won the highest award given to a pilot in America — notonce, but fourteen times. During World War Two, she helped organizea group of women pilots who flew military airplanes to help in theWar effort. For this work, she became the first civilian ever to begiven Americaąs Distinguished Service Medal.
In the early nineteen-sixties, Jackie Cochran was a test pilotfor the Lockheed Company. She flew a fighter planetwo-thousand-two-hundred-eighty-six kilometers an hour. That is morethan two times the speed of sound. It was at that time the fastestspeed ever reached by a female pilot.
Jackie Cochran died of a heart attack in nineteen-eighty. At thetime of her death, she held more flying records for speed, distanceand height than any other man or woman in aviation history.
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VOICE ONE:
Many of the men and women in the Aviation Hall of Fame designed,built and flew different kinds of airplanes. Some are honored fortheir service to the United States in time of war. Some are honoredfor the famous aircraft they designed. Others for the aviationcompanies they started.
Members of the Aviation Hall of Fame helped make flying safe forthe public. Some were killed in their efforts to improve aviation.And some of those honored have led the way to the exploration ofspace.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written and produced by PaulThompson. This is Mary Tillotson.
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And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program on the VOICE OF AMERICA.