60-year Journey in Remembrance

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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 keen, [...]

4May2010 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
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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 flown [...]

12Jan2010 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
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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. 
Isabel [...]

17Oct2009 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
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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 of [...]

27Aug2009 | Wayne Harding | 0 comments | Continued
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A Fun Time Turned Smelly

At Chance Vought Aircraft in the Aeronautical Engineering Department, rookies were assigned to experienced engineers for the first year. My tutor, when I worked in the department at times I was not flying, was Al Borserine.
(Keep in mind Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine pilots were still flying propeller planes, not jets.)
Al and I were [...]

6Aug2009 | Wayne Harding | 2 comments | Continued
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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 odd.  [...]

20Jul2009 | Wayne Harding | 1 comment | Continued
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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
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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 to small [...]

11Jun2009 | Wayne Harding | 1 comment | Continued