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Pre-public
Free Flight Practice
April 21 to June 7, 1961
Youngstown NY Country Club & Niagara
Falls Municipal Airport
| Here's the situation: On 4/20/61 we performed the
first free flight [I.e., no safety line (tether)]. But we were hardly
ready for any public announcement - we were hardly ready for prime time.
As Wendell Moore made perfectly clear, we would practice, practice,
practice - and do different tasks, so that when we were reasonably sure
we had a reasonably reliable flying device and confidence in a
successful first public demonstration, there would be less chance for
'bad things to happen'. Problem: Where do we 'secretly' fly a device that booms out 130 db noise and required a 20 member support team. Answer: An airport and an upstate NY golf course during the off season. Six flights involving hills and streams were conducted between May 1st and May 3rd at the Country Club. Twenty one flights involving horizontal runs, lateral turns, and surmounting obstacles were performed at the airport between April 21st and May 25th. Thus, Hal had 36 safety line flights and 28 free flights before the first public demonstration on June 8, 1961 at Ft. Eustis, VA. Most of the photos below were packaged as part of a press release package issued at the time of the first public demonstration and appeared in numerous publications on June 9, 1961. |
