Fitzgerald and Flight
A licensed pilot and early advocate of flying, Fitzgerald was acquainted with Wright brothers. Rep. Fitzgerald was called an "aerial daredevil" of Congress by The New York Times for flying the 500-odd miles from Dayton to Washington for the reconvening of the lame duck session of Congress in 1922 (though that flight was piloted by someone else). In Dayton, he secured the location of Wright Field (now part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base). His interest in flying led him, in 1927, to urge that the Air Force be reorganized as an independent department of the national defense. "The recent oceanic flights", he said at the time, "coupled with the preliminary tests of heavy bombing planes, have startled the world with the tremendous power of aviation. Aircraft have generally appeared to be the cheapest instruments of defense. Now they prove themselves to be one of the most powerful."
Read more about this topic: Roy G. Fitzgerald
Famous quotes containing the words fitzgerald and/or flight:
“Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create “one world.” Instead of one world, we have “star wars,” and a future in which dumb dented human toys will drift mindlessly about the cosmos long after our small planet’s dead.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)