We need your stories

Calling on all aviation pioneers—the world needs your stories for

posterity!

First post.

A short time ago, I wrote a novel called China Diaries. It’s a saga about pioneering aviation in thirties China. Many of the people I was writing about had passed on. Worse, many had never recorded their incredible stories. In too many cases, these pioneers considered their amazing adventures as maybe unusual, but not for the times they lived in and certainly not worthy of putting down on paper. Our loss, and so it goes as more leave us every day.

At some point during the four years it took me to write China Diaries I became aware that the Library of Congress had put together the Veteran’s History Project whereby a protocol was established for collecting veterans' stories. Great as far as it goes, but then I began wondering: What about those thousands of civilian aviation pioneers, those pilots, navigators, flight engineers—those radio operators, loadmasters, the stewards and stewardesses, those station managers, mechanics and construction workers who manned and repaired the planes,turned desert, coral and jungles into airports spanning the globe. What about those civilians who were first to fly the oceans, the hump, the African desert? Was that program also for them? Even if it was, that is not clear and it is for them that this site is primarily for.

Here’s what I would like you to do:

Don’t wait another day. Write down your stories. It could be your story, a story of a relative, friend or someone else. It could be an anecdote about an aircraft you care to let others know about, a flight, a navigation or inflight incident—something that you feel significant: you be the judge. If you don’t type or use a computer, don’t let that keep you from letting the generations that follow you know what you did. Find someone that will help you; get that story down and when you do, post it to this site.

Here’s what I will do:

First, I will record all of these stories digitally and post them on this site for all to enjoy. If there is enough interest in this project, I will solicit your help and the help of other entities doing the same thing to petition the Library of Congress, the Air and Space Museum, or both, and have these stories included for their archives.

Lastly, not only would I like to see your stories for all to enjoy, but also hear your comments and suggestions on how to make this project work better. If you have pictures, send them along. I will post as many as space allows so that all can share in this heritage. Thanks, and start writing.