The Aviation Pioneers of McCook Field: Candid Interviews with American Aeronautical Visionaries of the 1920s

by Jerry Koszyk

Overview

Unpublished, candid interviews with crucial figures in early American aviation, including Jimmy Doolittle, Alexander Seversky, George Kenney, Reuben Fleet, and many more.

McCook Field was a small air base in Dayton, Ohio, that was active only from 1917 to 1927. McCook was exceptional because it was designated by the US Signal Corps / Army Air Corps as an aeronautical research facility. As the center of prototype testing of new aircraft, McCook was a magnet for the leading aviators and engineers of the time.

• This work contains unpublished interviews with 20 of those aviation pioneers.
• WWII hero Jimmy Doolittle
• Test pilot Harold R. Harris (the first man to fly in a pressurized cockpit, first to bail out with a free fall parachute)
• WWII Tenth Air Force commander Howard Davidson
• Major General Franklin O. Carroll, who oversaw the development of the first American military jet aircraft
• Oakley Kelley, who made the first nonstop flight across the United States in 1923
• The first SAC (Strategic Air Command) commander, George C. Kenney
• Consolidated Aircraft Company founder Rueben Fleet
• Alexander Seversky, who created the Norden bombsight and founded the Republic Aviation Corporation.

The majority of the interviews were conducted by the author in-person, with the remainder being drawn from audio-recorded interviews by a personal friend, General George W. Goddard.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764363528
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	07/26/2022
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	817,095
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jerry Koszyk holds a degree in aeronautics and is a retired air traffic controller. He conducted the majority of this book’s interviews in person.

Table of Contents

Foreword Jonna Doolittle Hoppes James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle III 6

Preface 8

Acknowledgments 10

McCook Field Timeline 12

Chapter 1 George E. A. Hallett 15

Chapter 2 Albert Francis Hegenberger 22

Chapter 3 Thomas Harriman 27

Chapter 4 Harry Anton Johnson 31

Chapter 5 Leigh Wade 33

Chapter 6 J. Parker Van Zandt 40

Chapter 7 James H. Doolittle 44

Chapter 8 Harold R. Harris 55

Chapter 9 Howard Calhoun Davidson 67

Chapter 10 Hester Christiansen 72

Chapter 11 Alan Morse 75

Chapter 12 Darlene E. Gerhardt 77

Chapter 13 Louis Hagemeyer 84

Chapter 14 Franklin O. Carroll 89

Chapter 15 Oakley Kelly 93

Chapter 16 George C. Kenney 98

Chapter 17 Reuben H. Fleet 101

Chapter 18 John A. Macready 104

Chapter 19 Jean Alfred Roche 111

Chapter 20 Alexander N. P. de Seversky 118

Chapter 21 Albert William Stevens 123

Chapter 22 Insights from the Interviews 126

Chapter 23 The Planes and Parachutes of McCook Field 134

Chapter 24 Life at McCook Field 181

Epilogue 185

Bibliography 186

Index 188