Historic Notes
Local pilot Laurie Yonge offered airplane rides from the beaches. Rates were $5 for short hops, $10 for long rides, and $25 for aerobatics. His transport pilot license was the first issued in Florida, and his National Aeronautics Association card was signed by Orville Wright. It was Yonge, flying in the Spirit of Jacksonville, who dropped an invitation from the air to the deck of a ship returning Charles Lindbergh and his Spirit of St. Louis. On May 20, 1929 Yonge set the world's light plane endurance record in a 90 hp. Curtiss Robin. He flew continuously for 25 hours and 10 minutes, a record that stood until 1939. No other aviator has brought such fame and success to Jacksonville as a visionary pioneer and instructor pilot. A hangar at the northwest end of Imeson near North Main Street displayed Laurie Yonge’s name until its demolition in the 1970s.
Read more about this topic: Imeson Field
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