During my two years at Chance Vought Aircraft, construction of a new mammoth airport for New York City was in progress. One runway was so long and wide that many aircraft companies in New England requested and obtained permission to use this runway for emergency and initial flight landings. The airport was called Idlewild until 1963; then it changed to JFK in honor of President Kennedy.

In New England at that time, there were numerous aircraft companies: two plane manufacturers of fighter aircrafts, Grumman and Republic, and one instrument company were on Long Island; two companies, Pratt and Whitney and Hamilton Standard were in Hartford, CT; one company, Sikorsky, was in Bridgeport, CT; and Chance Vought was in Stratford, CT. Normally, new experimental prototypes of fighter aircraft in these New England cities were taken to the Mojave Desert for initial flights; but with Idlewild available, some initial flights were made there. Most of us test pilots in New England had camaraderie with each other via a little-used radio band. I remember the day when Corky Meyer, chief test pilot for Grumman Aircraft, was flying an initial and landing at Idlewild. At that time, there were three of us circling above, wishing him luck.

Later in my life, in other industries, I have found "an edge" exhilarating and important. If reading His Edge leads you to develop "an edge," you will have captured the esprit of the esprit de corps found in the successful people around you.
~Wayne Harding _______________________________________________________________