When you help guide a city through a depression and then, later, guide it through the civil rights era…when you are responsible for Atlanta’s becoming the aviation capital that it is…then it’s fair to say you’ve had an impact. William Hartsfield was mayor of Atlanta longer than any other person. He was born in Atlanta […]
Just four years after the Wright brothers, he was the first person to build and fly an airplane in Georgia. Ben Epps was born in Oconee County in 1888. The idea of flying fascinated the gifted mechanic. In 1907, at age 19, he opened the first car repair garage in Athens, where he built and […]
Eastern Airlines flew into the sunset in 1991, but it helped make Atlanta the transportation and commercial capital of the South. The airline began life as Pitcairn Aviation in 1927, carrying airmail for the government along an eastern route that connected New York to Florida via Atlanta. The company became Eastern Air Transport in 1930, […]
He made history when he flew solo across the Atlantic. On this day in 1927, just months after his historic flight, Charles Lindbergh arrived in Atlanta for Lindbergh Day. The “Lone Eagle” came to Atlanta thanks to city alderman and aviation enthusiast William Hartsfield. Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis – the same plane […]
Vocabulary – Ben Epps Fascinated Adjective To have your attention held by something. Obssessed Mechanic Noun Somebody who repairs machinery Monoplane Noun Airplane with a single set of wings Inducted verb To install somebody into a position Aviation Noun The design, manufacture, use or operation of aircraft
Vocabulary – William B. Hartsfield Guide Verb To show the way, to lead in the right direction Depression Noun a period in which an economy is greatly affected by unemployment, low output, and poverty Aviation Noun The development and use of aircraft Impact Verb To have effect on something or somebody Landing field Noun An […]
Vocabulary – Charles Lindbergh in Atlanta Alderman Aviation Enthusiast Commercial Potential Premiere Glossary Alderman: noun; a member of a municipal legislative body, especially of a municipal council. Aviation: noun; the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Enthusiast: noun; a person filled with enthusiasm: as a: one who is ardently attached […]
Learn More – Delta Begins Passenger Service to Atlanta R.E.G. Davies, Delta, an Airline and Its Aircraft: The Illustrated History of a Major U.S. Airline and the People Who Made It (Miami, Fla.: Paladwr Press, 1990). T. A. Heppenheimer, Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1995). W. David […]
Learn More – Ben Epps Dictionary of Georgia Biography, ed. Kenneth Coleman and Charles Stephen Gurr (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1983), s.v. “Epps, Benjamin Thomas.” Additional Resources Ben Epps: The Legacy of Georgia’s First Aviator, writ. and prod. William J. Evelyn, narr. Dick Mendenhall (Athens: University of Georgia, 2001), film. Museum of Aviation: http://www.museumofaviation.org/ […]
Learn More – Eastern Airlines Aaron Bernstein, Grounded: Frank Lorenzo and the Destruction of Eastern Airlines (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990). R.E.G. Davies, Airlines of the United States since 1914 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982). T. A. Heppenheimer, Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1995). Robert […]
