05-29-2009
10:32 AM
250 Loves
The descendants of Charles Taylor would like to thank Southwest Airlines for including them in the May ceremony in Dallas, when a bust of Charles Taylor and a portrait of Charles was painted on an airplane. Charles, like his employers Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton OH, was a bicycle mechanic, who built that first airplane engine in six weeks, with minimum tools, and even a bicycle sprocket and tomato soup can! But the engine powered that first flight at Kitty Hawk NC in 1903, and man entered the Space Age. Charles would be astounded at all the publicity, as he was quiet and unassuming, but a self-taught mechanical whiz. His work included building and repairing more engines, airport manager (the first one was a cow pasture), timing flights, and much more. Three cheers to all the airplane maintenance men who follow. They are striving for mechanical perfection for air safety. (My husband is the grandson of Charles Taylor.)
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