Some people ask how I got into the Air Corps. It all
happened when I was about 15 when I lived in Missouri.The year was 1927 and Calvin Coolidge was in office. I was a bright young man according to everyone that knew me. I was like any other fifteen year old, always seeking out adventure and being daring. But the day that changed the course of my life was when I read about a 2challenge that was created by a man, by the name of Raymond Orteig, a Frenchman, from New York.
3The challenge was to make a transatlantic flight
either from New York to France or from France to New York. This article started to put ideas in my head,
for I had an interest in planes and flight ever since
I had been very young. While reading the article this
idea popped up in my head, why don�t I try this out?
4After all there was a $25,000 reward to the first
person to finish and my family was pretty poor.
5A major influence on my life in 1926 was Charles A.
Lindbergh. After he had heard about the challenge set
by Ortieg he started on working to get a plane,
Richard E. Byrd was one who aided him. 6Byrd helped
him by giving him navigational training so he could
fly across the Atlantic.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
While riding home from school with my friends, on our bikes the next day, I brought up the article on the
challenge.
�It would be a great experience to build a plane and
to fly it over the Atlantic,� I pointed out.
�How are you, of all people going to get a plane,
Johnny?� questioned Michael.
�Yeah, not even all our families could afford such a
thing because a plane costs thousands of dollars,�
added Sam.
�Well, I thought that we could make a plane made of
stuff around the house or from the town dump.� I
replied.
�Well, if you say so. But I have some questions like,
who will make the designs for the plane? And when will we have time to make it? Will your father let you
build one? I mean we have absolutely no time because
of all the homework we have to help prepare us for
college (7back then college was thought to be only fit
for men) and your father is making you work so as to
earn money for the family.� Michael said this as
though he was trying to make me forget the whole thing but I had my heart set on it which goes to show how hard headed I was then.
�Johnny, do you remember the Wright brother�s flight? 12 seconds, 121 feet. The Atlantic is miles upon miles long. The Wright brothers had built their plane and looked at how they turned out. How are you supposed to fly across the Atlantic? Stop every 12 seconds. Where would you stop? There is no place to stop. At that rate it would take you a million years just to get half way. And..."
� I get your point, Sam.� I grunted angrily. You�re trying to tell me that I can�t do it.�
� I didn�t say that exactly.� Sam muttered.
�Well, you meant it and you�re probably right. Well, I�ll talk to you boys later.� As we came to my house I
strolled my bike to the dirt driveway on the right of
my small house. In the driveway sat one of my father�s
cherished possessions, his 8shiny black 1890 Ford
Model T. Black was the only color used on the Model Ts at the time. 9The Model Ts were small and could only fit a few people. It was one of the first made at the
time he had purchased it, some years before. 10The car
was inexpensive so many families could afford it and
It still looks new as when it was first bought. We
scarcely use it now. We mostly use it for those long
trips, trips into town or on special occasions. I
gently parked the bike next to the car being careful
as to not scratch the black paint.
I lived in a small two-bedroom house with my
mother, father, grandfather, and younger brother Alex.
11Mom mostly bobbed her hair and wore a knee length
skirt and a blouse. My mom was on of those people who loved to 12dance the Charleston, which hit the dance crave in 1925. 13As for Alex and myself we wore soft collared shirts and wide pants that we called oxford
bags.
After parking my bike I ran to the back of the house were I entered through the back door. When I entered, the aroma of my mother�s famous stew, well it was famous with my family, and the 14symbolic American
apple pie greeted me. No sooner had I set my
schoolbooks down on the study table in the 15family
room where 7-year-old Alex was singing along to the
blues on the radio, which was a favorite pastime in
the 1920�s, my father started to talk to me.
� Jonathan, you�re a going to have to work a few
extra hours at the general store from now on. I�ve
already had a chat with J.P. Morgan when I was in town earlier today when I purchased some things for your mother. J.P. said that he would love it if you worked a good hour and a half more each day. The family needs your help, it could use all of our help right now because my job isn�t doing so good and our wages have been cut some more, so some of the boys at the job are going on strike at the beginning of next week.�
I knew 16that the world financial depression still
had its effect on people since 1921. In 1921 the U.S.
tried to stay out of the world depression and we did
but the pay of the U.S. people had been cut severely,
so we were still trying to make up all the money we
lost. This is why I had started to work. But after
hearing this I felt a lead ball drop inside me. �Do I
have to work extra every day?� Having to work extra
would cut into my time to hang out with friends or
study. I wasn�t exactly jumping for joy when I heard
this.
�No. Only on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.�
That night as I laid in my bed listening to 17Louis
Armstrong�s band the Hot Five on the radio, I thought
about the events that led up to that night. On one
hand there was what I�ve always dreamed of doing,
flying a plane. On the other hand there was helping my
family out. I knew that family is number one, but
building a plane could eventually help me in the
future, it could be my future. Pa could understand
that, or could he? The more I thought about it the
more I thought that Sam was right and I couldn�t do
it. I decided to hold off on my dream and help the
family because my father wouldn�t let me waste my time on a silly dream when I could stay home and help with chores.
CONTINUE