thanks BD for the "Jolt" story

I expect and hope we at Gen Av Informal will hear more from BD. We are all hoping to go to a fly-in this weekend called "Horn Point" near Cambridge, Md. We expect to see BD there with his biplane. College Park airport in College Park, Md. is the country's oldest continually operated airport. When the Wright Brothers set up their operation there in 1909 with the Wright "Military Flyer", the airport was already there and had an operator. A few "Firsts" took place around that time: First radio transmission from a plane to the ground. First woman to go up in a powered ship. First Military flight. First Military solo. First Military aircraft fatality. First bomb drop. The first telegraph message "What hath God wrought" that went from Washington to Baltimore went alongside College Park's field and the railroad tracks are still there. The U.S. Airmail pioneers had College Park as an all important base in the 1920's and one of the original Airmail hangars is still there. The airport was active between the wars with airshows and open house events which drew thousands of people from the Washington D.C. area to see exhibition flying by famous barnstormers such as George Brinkerhoff. During WWII Army Cadets were trained at College Park in the Taylor/Piper Cub, and the Cubs were stored in the hangars by standing them on their noses as there were so many. In the post war era Engineering Research Corporation or "ERCO" was founded and operated by Henry Berliner who built the first Gyro Copter and paved the way for the modern helicopter, all at College Park. "ERCO" also built 6000 "Ercoupes" at their factory next to College Park The Ercoupe was an innovative low wing modern nose wheel airplane which needed no rudder pedals and was unspinable. Descriptions of College Park in the 1970's and beyond are for another day and another Post. But today one may still visit College Park Airport and see the Wright Monument and the museum, and if the Park guards don't mind, maybe a glimpse of the hangar and the foundations of the Airmail hangars. This place is holy ground to me. I will probably tell many stories of College Park in this blog about the times and adventures I had while flying there. And about others like BD who were there. We were pioneers too, but our adventures pale by comparison to the rich history of the oldest airport in the world. G.A. Informal.