Featured
Playing Ball with the Big Boys
I can’t remember all their names. And those I do, I’ll misspell some, but circumstances and humor of the events make this 88 year-old smile, even laugh, at what evolved. By 1943, the US Navy’s Pilot Training Program had reached perfection in training cadets to be the Best, “barring none.” A key ingredient was a [...]
4May2010 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
The Cleveland Air Races
I attended the 1947 Cleveland Air Races. My father met me on the excuse he had customers in Cleveland and vicinity. In truth, I felt he didn’t think I’d be around long, and he might get a chance to convince me to give up testing planes. Two F4U Corsairs would be racing and both were [...]
12Jan2010 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
Hills of Home & Flight Ozark
“Hills of Home” was crafted by Isabel France who lived in The Ozarks at Shepherd Springs near Mountainburg, Arkansas. Her articles appeared for many years on Sundays throughout several newspapers in the state. In one article during 1947, she tied Vought test pilots to the Ozarks, and this article, to me, was her best… ever. [...]
17Oct2009 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
Slide Rule Accuracy
Experimental projects at Vought Aircraft were exciting and involved great preparation. All engineers knew slide rules like front-line soldiers know their rifles. In early 1947, I was the pilot on a project that our customer (Navy/Marines) wanted: a F4U Corsair that would go 450 mph at heights up to 40,000 feet, continually for a minimum [...]
27Aug2009 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
A F4U Corsair, a P-39 Airacobra, and Sinclair Lewis
The summer of 1947, I was coming back on a Production flight mid-afternoon and was happy. I had a good bird with only a few minor problems. When I called Tower for clearance into the pattern, the controller said I had a guest, south of Milford off Pond Point, waiting to meet me. That was [...]
20Jul2009 | Wayne Harding | 1 comment | Continued
Author Meets Lindbergh
Mid-fall 1947, Mr. Taliaferro called me to his office for a non-scheduled meeting. I thought maybe his records were different than mine. I found out that they were not, and we were on target for quotas, but it hadn’t been easy. The large Corsair orders, mostly for the Korean War, had necessitated long hours of [...]
5Jul2009 | Wayne Harding | 3 comments | Continued
Ditching Planes in Long Island Sound
Ditching Planes in Long Island Sound Early summer through late fall of 1946, occasionally photographs were in the New York’s daily newspapers of Navy fighter aircraft having to ditch in the water off the south shore of Long Island due to engine trouble. The pilot always escaped unharmed by swimming or wading ashore [...]
11Jun2009 | Wayne Harding | 1 comment | Continued
Test Pilot Helmets
Everyone has a trademark of some kind. Mine is my homemade helmet from 1946 when I was a test pilot for Chance Vought Aircraft in Stratford, CT. At that time, much equipment for test pilots was primitive compared with today. One piece which was very inadequate was our helmets. The ones we used early on [...]
31May2009 | Wayne Harding | 5 comments | Continued
Camaraderie at Idlewild Airport
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 [...]
30May2009 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
Breaking the Sound Barrier
As I began my learning curve and duties of a test pilot, I became immersed in the challenge of being first to crack the sound barrier, especially since I worked in Aerodynamics much of my time at Chance Vought Aircraft. I had been hired as an engineering test pilot. The barrier in design of future [...]
25May2009 | Wayne Harding | 1 comment | Continued
