Your Story Is Important To The Future of Aviation

By Maxine Scheer

It is the week of EAA AirVenture 2014. Thousands of people (and airplanes) are coming to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to celebrate aviation.  Those who attend or want to attend AirVenture, are likely to share something in common, the love of aviation, inspiration by aviation and for many, frustration with the underutilized potential of aviation.

After eight years of covering this event, I feel reasonably confident in saying there are many people who attend AirVenture who have done something extraordinary in aviation, but do not hold a press conference to talk about it.  In discussions with colleagues, many of our favorite pieces were the ones we discovered by asking someone to tell their story.

Storytelling is a hidden gem at AirVenture, and one example is an oral history program established in 2002 at the EAA Museum by museum expert and former museum director, Adam Smith, it is called Timeless Voices of Aviation.  The program coordinator is Mr. Zachary (Zack) Baughman, a historian, and with a tireless group of volunteers interviews AirVenture attendees and grows the museum’s collection of stories. Audio and video recordings of hundreds of pilots, engineers, mechanics, homebuilders, and general aviation aficionados of all ages, and from all over the world, are available on-line through the EAA Museum’s website.

Prior to arriving at AirVenture, I spent a few hours listening to a number of Timeless Voices stories. Some noted as the most popular, based on views, were of individuals who I have never heard of, so it peaked my curiosity of why they were popular.

I looked for aviation legends, and there was a 50-minute recording of Bob Hoover, amongst many others.  The next search was for women in aviation. Zack estimated 10% of EAA’s oral histories were of women, coincidentally tracking participation rates of women in the aviation industry. I found a number of women who achieved firsts, such as Suzanna Darcy Hennemann, transitioning from engineering to be Boeing’s first woman test pilot and Brigadier General Janet Therianos, who described the doors opening in 1976 for women in the US Air Force. Their stories confirmed what many of us know, it is often a family member’s support and encouragement that helps women persist in pursuing their aviation dreams.

My children and I recently met a neighbor, age 95, who had a distinguished career at North American Aviation.  He handed a business card that said ‘airplane designer’ with a long list of famous Warbirds.  EAA’s Timeless Voices contains stories of engineers and homebuilders who describe similar things we heard, e.g. how few aeronautical engineers there were in the 1940s and early 50s, and how different it was designing and building aircraft than it is today. I don’t believe my boys, ages 9 and 11, fully understood how they learned important history lessons that day. They need to hear that conversation again when they are older.
 
Social media experts relay how tools such as YouTube and Facebook tap into an individual’s need to tell their story, but as many parents know, searching out stories online, especially for children, poses challenges. EAA’s Timeless Voices allows everyone to have an AirVenture history lesson in a safe and meaningful way.

I’d like to suggest AirVenture 2014 participants consider making two gifts, contribute your stories to Timeless Voices and if you agree it's important, voice to EAA leadership that this program needs to be a priority for donor support, so the program can evolve into something bigger and better, and accompany the future aviation industry that is certain to change.

Sign up at the Wilson Timeless Voices Theater, located on the upper level of the EAA AirVenture Museum. Zack and his dedicated team of EAA volunteers are available from 9:00am to 5:00pm each day during AirVenture to schedule interviews. The interviews take place in the museum and last approximately forty-five minutes to an hour.

If you are not attending AirVenture 2014, please go to the Timeless Voices website and see if you are inspired by one of these stories.

FMI: www.timelessvoices.org