MANAGEMENT IN AVIATION HISTORY BENCH MARKS HOSHKOSH’S HOME-TOWN AVIATOR ARRY W. POWERS (1884-1960) BY GIACINTA BRADLEY KOONTZ
FOR THE AVIATION COMMUNITY WORLDWIDE, IT IS TIME FOR THE ANNUAL EAA OSHKOSH AIRVENTURE IN WISCONSIN. BETWEEN JULY 22 AND 28, 2019, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WILL BRAVE THE CROWDS, FOR A DAY OR FOR A WEEK, ABSORBING EVENTS WHICH HONOR THE PAST AND REVEAL THE FUTURE OF
AVIATION.THE THRILL OF WATCHING AN AIRCRAFT FLY OVERHEAD, OR SPLASH-LANDING ON THE GREAT LAKES BEGAN OVER 100 YEARS AGO.
Although he exhibited his Curtiss, there is no news of Powers making a flight. From The Appleton Evening Crescent, July 19, 1912.
OVER THE LAKES Wisconsin’s Green Bay Press reported that on August 12, 1911, local aviator John Schwister fl ew three miles across Lake Wausau, WI, at the controls of the biplane he built and taught himself to fl
y.Schwister thereafter made exhibition fl ights and was inducted into the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame recorded as that state’s “fi rst successful home-builder.” Schwister died in 1927 and could not have imagined the EAA’s homage to home-built aircraft, much less the week-long spectacle of
AirVenture.However, local aviator, Harry W. Powers lived to see it all. Born in Oshkosh during 1884, Harry W. Powers grew up with the developing new business of aviation.If census records are accurate, he and his wife, Agnes, were married in
1905.In 1911, the air-minded Powers earned his license at the Curtiss school in New York, and purchased a 50hp Curtiss “military type” biplane.He soon headed for Chicago, IL, where a new fl ying fi eld was attracting those aspiring to become professional aviators. Aviation historian, Carroll Gray hosts a web site devoted to the history of Cicero Field [
www.lincolnbeachey. com/
cicart.html]. Gray notes that although the fi eld was not yet offi cially open, many aviators made use of it including Otto Brodie, Allan H. Loughead (later:Lockheed), Otto Timm, Harry Powers and Anthony “Tony”
Stadlman.Stadlman emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Chicago in 1905 and became an indispensable mechanic at Cicero Field.His expertise eventually led to designing hydroaeroplanes.His long-lasting business partnership with Lockheed began in 1910 in California. Stadlman is best known for his contributions to the design of the Lockheed Vega during the 1920s. Cicero Field’s offi cial Opening Day was held on the
Fourth of July,
1911.One reporter wrote that Powers fl ew, “a Curtiss-type biplane powered by a Roberts engine…(with) a high degree of fi nish and “when the sunlight fl ashed on the carefully dressed woodwork as he rounded the curves like a
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DOMmagazine.com | july 2019
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