Canadian lads, eager for a brush with World War II glory

History of Flight

Ode on a Canadian Warbird

The author remembers childhood, with round engines.
January 2010 | By Bruce McCall

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<b><i>Why fly solo</b></i> when you can bring along a passenger? That’s probably what Bernard Pietenpol was thinking when he designed and built the Air Camper, a two-seat monoplane.<br><br> Pietenpol lived a simple life in rural Minnesota. When he wasn’t working in his television repair shop in Cherry Grove, he almost always had an airplane under construction: wood airframe, fabric covering, and an engine lifted from an automobile. And when the airplane was finished, it was put to use flying low and slow over acres of farmland. Pietenpol’s two sons, Kermit and Don, and his six grandchildren all grew up seeing their world from above. For the Pietenpol family, airplanes weren’t really a mode of transportation—a way to get from one point to another. Flying was a pleasure all its own, and getting aloft in an open-cockpit airplane was the best way to enjoy a long summer day. Generations of Pietenpol homebuilders agree.<br><br> Pictured above: Don often sat alongside his father, who resorted to strapping his son in with a men’s belt because the no-frills Air Campers had no safety harnesses.

A Family Affair

Bernard Pietenpol’s happiest moments came when he was flying one of his homebuilt airplanes—with a child or two in tow.

Wright brothers

In the Museum: A Wright Relic Surfaces

March 2010 | By Larry E. Tise

Man wearing a parachutes next to a plane during WWII.

Oldies and Oddities: Tinseltown’s Training Base

January 2010 | By Preston Lerner

Viewport: Leave the World Behind

March 2010 | By J.R. Dailey

Senator George Gunther with the Corsair, the state aircraft.

Restoration: Connecticut's State Warbird

What World War II fighter was a product of the Nutmeg State?
January 2010 | By James Wynbrandt

Cornelius Coffey was the first African-American to earn both pilot

The Other Harlem

In 1930s Chicago, at the corner of 87th Street and Harlem Avenue, Cornelius Coffey made aviation history.
March 2010 | By Giles Lambertson

<b><i>Visit the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum,</b></i> and you’re guaranteed to see historic aircraft and spacecraft, including the original Wright 1903 Flyer, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress <i>Enola Gay</i>, the SR-71 <i>Blackbird</i>, and the Space Shuttle <i>Enterprise</i>. The Museum also boasts a multitude of artifacts large and small: engines, propellers, aerial cameras, more than 2 million technical drawings—even popular culture items such as Charles Lindbergh-emblazoned underwear. <br><br>But what people may <i>not</i> know is that part of the Museum’s mission is to tell the story of aerospace through art; during the Museum’s creation, Congress mandated that one gallery be specifically dedicated to aerospace artwork. <br><br>Which brings us to an important donation. Michael and Maureen Harrigan, of Kendall, New York, recently gave the Museum 42 prints by renowned aviation artist Robert Taylor, a collection acquired over some 20 years. <br><br>When Mike Harrigan’s firm, the Harrigan Brady Paper Company, moved to its new location in 1988, Harrigan asked his (mostly female) staff for suggestions on how to fill the empty wall space. “They wanted paintings of daisies,” he said, somewhat mournfully. Because of the company’s proximity to the Greater Rochester International Airport, Harrigan suggested an alternative: pictures of airplanes. <br><br>As senior aeronautics curator Tom Crouch reported in our March 2010 issue, the first Robert Taylor print Harrigan acquired was titled <i>Home at Dusk</i>. (The print depicts four P-51 Mustangs crossing the East Anglican coast on their way back to base.) Harrigan’s interest in aviation art grew from there; he eventually collected so many Robert Taylor’s prints that his staff took to calling him “Imelda Marcos.” When he ran out of available wall space, Harrigan wasn’t deterred in the least—he hung the remaining prints in the men’s room. <br><br>Harrigan’s art collection began to gain a bit of fame in the Rochester area, with customers, postal carriers, and the random citizen showing up during work hours asking for a tour. Visitors were so frequent that “the girls suggested I start charging a fee, and we could have a party with the money,” joked Harrigan. <br><br>As Tom Crouch wrote, “Someone once asked Mike if he would ever part with the collection. His answer: ‘Well,’ he said, ‘if the Smithsonian walked in, I’d have to consider it.’ To make a long story short, we did, and he did.” <br><br>When the Smithsonian crew came to package the collection for transport, Harrigan had one request: to wrap up <i>Home at Dusk</i> first, and to box up the final print he acquired, last. “There was a tear in my eye,” Harrigan said, as he watched the crew package his collection, piece by piece. “All of the girls were crying. They knew how much those prints meant to me.” <br><br>The Harrigans’ generous donation can currently be seen, in part, on the lower level of the Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Once the new restoration wing is completed, in 2011, the collection will be displayed in its entirety. Click on the images at right to take a closer look at a few prints from the collection. <br><br>The painting shown here, <i>Morning Thunder</i>, includes a note from the artist, Robert Taylor: “Sunday, December 7, 1941 <br><br>Having taken six torpedo hits and two bomb strikes in the first-wave attack on Battleship Row, the <i>West Virginia</i> is ablaze, her bows already low in the water and decks awash. Ignoring the risk, crews push the Navy tug <i>Hoga</i> alongside with fire-fighting equipment and to pick up survivors. Overhead, Japanese Zeros swoop through the smoke, aiming the second-wave attack at installations on Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island, to complete one of history’s most devastating unprovoked declarations of war.”

The Gift of Art

A recent donation by Michael and Maureen Harrigan helps the Museum fulfill its mission.

Kelly Johnson

Head Skunk

Kelly Johnson was a giant in aircraft design. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, we find out how his legend grew.
March 2010 | By Peter Garrison

A&S Interview: Joe Chappell

Flight Engineer for Air Force One.
March 2010 | By Christopher Saccoccia

The Convair B-36A in flight.

B-36: Bomber at the Crossroads

It was the biggest warplane ever to wear an American star, and in the summer of '49 the Peacemaker found itself a war--in Washington.
April 1996 | By Daniel Ford

Musical Airs

Songs inspired by the early age of flight.

An all-volunteer crew works on the Museums Junior

In The Museum: The Thursday Regulars

January 2010 | By Rebecca Maksel

Earhart and navigator, Harry Manning, photographed by Albert Bresnik

Amelia's Astronaut Connection

The grandson of Amelia Earhart's photographer will carry her scarf higher than she ever did—into orbit.
October 2009 | By Jill Michaels

The Boeing X-48C blended wing-body, the last model tested in the full-scale tunnel, is shown on August 31, 2009. After its last day, September 4, engineers began dismantling the model, as NASA made plans to move forward with the demolition of the tunnel beginning in early 2010.

Last Breath

As NASA prepares to shut down a historic wind tunnel in Virginia, some hope for a stay of execution.
September 2009 | By Michael Klesius

John Magda (mounting his Blue Angel Panther in 1950)

Restoration: Kentucky Panther

Grumman's first jet honors a son of the Bluegrass State.
January 2010 | By Barrett Tillman

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Air & Space Interview

Joe Chappell

Former Flight Engineer for Air Force One.

New Worlds

Confidence Booster

This little known Apollo artifact caused astronauts to rest a little easier.