The Flight Deck

Please Note: During his retelling, American fighter ace Besby F. Holmes uses an ethnic slur to describe his attackers. This oral history is presented unedited as a historical artifact of one veteran's experience.

In American fighter ace Besby F. Holmes’ oral history, recorded in the early 90’s, he recalls the scramble to get to a plane during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The night before, he had a few too many rum drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel while on a blind date, and he was nursing a hangover. He planned to go to the beach afterwards “to let the sun bake the poison out of [his] body.” But his plans were waylaid when the attack broke out. In the midst of the commotion in Honolulu, with military trucks roaring up and down the streets, Holmes commandeered a civilian’s red Studebaker and sped to Wheeler Base where he saw 70 P-40s already burning. He was first directed to fly a biplane that hadn’t been moved in a month, and told the sergeant, “Thank you very much, Sergeant, but I don’t want to fly that thing!” After arriving at another base location, a line chief gave him a helmet, a parachute, a .45-caliber pistol and ordered him into a P-36 Peashooter. He flew for 30 minutes and never saw a Japanese plane in the air. His hangover headache went away, too.

Want to check our more oral histories from American Fighter Aces? Check out our new digital database!

The American Fighter Aces Association also offers scholarships. Learn more here.

Host: Sean Mobley

Producer: Keny Dutton

Webmaster: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

Photo Credit: National Museum of the United States Air Force

Commercial pilot Kevin Gordon returns in this episode to answer listener questions about all things aviation: what it takes to become a pilot, the difference between Navy and Air Force pilots, and explains the infamous “blue juice” of plane bathrooms. Gordon explains the two routes to becoming a pilot—military and civilian—and shares his own story of flight, from getting a private pilot’s license to getting a helicopter license. Gordon also acknowledges some of the funnier moments he’s had teaching Navy pilots how to fly Cessnas, and the unique landing styles he’s had to help them correct.

If you are interested in becoming a pilot, check out our Aeronautical Science Pathway program!

Host: Sean Mobley

Producer: Keny Dutton

Web Master: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

Before there were flight attendants, there were stewardesses, and in this AMA episode we talk to Mary Hoy, who served as a stewardess aboard United Airlines from 1967-1973, who answers questions from our social media followers. Hoy describes the joys and struggles of being a stewardess during this Golden Age of Aviation and recalls experiencing rapid changes in aviation technology as she worked aboard a variety of planes from the Douglas DC-6 to the Boeing 747. And Hoy doesn’t shy away from detailing the sexism she encountered as well, like the time airlines started hiring men as flight attendants and she overheard the pilot declare, “I don’t know why a man would stoop so low to do a woman’s work.”

Want to check out one of the planes that Hoy served aboard? Come aboard the 747 next time you’re at the Museum. https://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/boeing-747-121

Host: Sean Mobley

Producer: Justin Braegelmann/Keny Dutton

Webmaster: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

Eighty years ago today, Orson Welles’ 1938 broadcast ‘War of the Worlds’ used cutting-edge audio technology to convince listeners that planet Earth was under attack by Martians. What was intended as a Halloween special actually caused listeners all over the country some real distress, and we talk to three experts—Ben Blacker, co-creator of the Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast and creator of the comic series Hex Wives; Valerie Stafford, President of the Concrete Chamber of Commerce; and CJ Smith, an educator at The Museum of Flight—to uncover how and why this broadcast so effectively brought to life a Martian invasion. Blacker observes that the episode’s found-footage, documentary style delivery “was a precursor to so much of the audio that’s popular now.” The global anxiety that preceded WWII provided a tense backdrop for War of the Worlds, and according to C.J. Smith, the fear of a Martian invasion could be traced back to a misunderstanding over Martian geography. But it was a strange set of social and meteorological circumstances that spun the small town of Concrete, WA into a panic.

Want to learn more about the pop culture inspirations for science and space exploration? Check out our Charles Simonyi Space Gallery and our APOLLO exhibit. And be sure to join us on November 2-3 for Space Expo 2018, where you can meet members of the Mars Society and ask them about their theories of life on the Red Planet.

Host: Sean Mobley

Producer: Keny Dutton

Web Master: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

Sometime between her third and fourth year of her PhD program, Yi’s research ground to a halt. Her experiments were failing, she wasn’t acquiring good data, and even her friends were asking whether or not she could, or should, continue. Amidst the confusion about her future in science, Yi heard that the Korean government was looking for astronaut candidates. “I’m an easily distracted person, so I turn my attention to whatever is new and exciting,” Yi says. Being an astronaut seemed like a new, shiny distraction from her research, so Yi immediately applied (along with over 30,000 other hopefuls). After a battery of medical and psychological tests, she made it to the last two finalists, primarily because of the physical strength that precludes her from being seen as a “traditional” Korean beauty: thin body, pale skin, passive demeanor. So, after struggling through grad school and paying bills with her part-time gig as a wedding singer, Yi was ready to take on a new challenge: becoming Korea’s first (woman) astronaut.

Love hearing great stories directly from the people who experienced aerospace history? Check out our Oral History archives or contact our Curator to get started.

Host: Sean Mobley

Interviewer: Geoff Nunn

Producer: Keny Dutton

Web Master: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

96-year-old Betty Dybbro was fortunate enough to spend one year as a WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilot) during World War Two, and in order to tell her story, we enlisted Katherine K. and Nithi B., two members of Amelia’s Aero Club who participate in aviation and aerospace activities at the Museum. They ask Betty about growing up in rural Indiana, her very first flight, and what she felt when she first heard the news about Pearl Harbor. Betty loved her time as a WASP and calls it “the most pleasant year of my life,” (even though she wasn’t a fan of all the rules WASPs had to follow). And as an experienced woman pilot, Betty gave the Amelia’s girls some advice on becoming a pilot: “Just go for it. Fly as much as you can, in different airplanes, too.”

If you want to learn more about WASPs, stop by our Personal Courage Wing to see photos and artifacts of the brave women who flew during WWII.

And if you know a middle school girl who loves all things STEM and aviation, check out Amelia’s Aero Club and attend the next event.

Host: Sean Mobley

Interviewers: Katherine K. and Nithi B.

Producer: Keny Dutton

Web Master: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

Did you have trouble figuring out your major when you were in college? If so, you already have one thing in common with the world’s first Korean astronaut, Soyeon Yi. After toying with the idea of becoming an industrial engineer—she always loved designing buildings and drawing—Soyeon Yi realized it wasn’t the right fit for her; then, through a process of elimination, she decided to pursue mechanical engineering all the way through graduate school. Soyeon Yi, who also happens to be a volunteer at the Museum, explains that throughout most of her life she didn’t like encountering difficulties, but realized she couldn’t continue the same pattern: “I stopped avoiding hurdles.” Eventually she became the only woman in her cohort accepted into the graduate program for mechanical engineering—an experience she didn’t yet realize would prepare her for a history-making stint as an astronaut.

Want to hear more personal stories about aerospace history? Check out our oral history archives on our Digital Collections page.

Producer: Keny Dutton

Host: Sean Mobley

Oral History Interviewer: Geoff Nunn

Webmaster: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

Did you know that 80% of the world’s blindness can be cured, and 90% of those cases occur in low to middle income countries? The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital works to decrease preventable and curable incidents of blindness with its mobile operating room and teaching facility.

The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital started in 1982 with a DC-8 plane that flew to locations around the globe that are in desperate need of basic eye treatment for preventable and curable conditions. Now, Orbis boasts an MD-10 outfitted with an operation room that can be set up and sterilized in 6-7 hours, and that can serve as a teaching hospital for doctors to learn procedures that they can implement in their own communities.

This week we interview Dr. Hunter Cherwek, who joined Orbis as soon as he completed medical school and hasn’t looked back since. He calls the plane “an engineering masterpiece both in healthcare and training and teaching.” And at the end of each day, Cherwek knows that his work with Orbis is making a difference.

Did you know that the Museum offers special tactile tours for individuals with vision impairments? Get more information here.

Producer: Keny Dutton

Host: Sean Mobley

Webmaster: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

As SpaceX and Blue Origin continue to make history by building rockets that will take future space vacationers to the Moon or Mars, the Museum is thinking about how to preserve the history of these private companies. Back in the 1960’s and up until now, it was easy for historians to access public records at NASA that documented the space race; and that’s not the case now. According to our Adjunct Curator for Space History, Geoff Nunn, “corporate archives are becoming ever more important, but private records don’t automatically make their way through the public record trail like NASA documents did.” Geoff and other space historians now have to ask themselves, “How do you archive a Slack thread?” and “What happens when YouTube goes under and we no longer have videos of launches?”

Did you know there’s a conference dedicated to answering these exact questions? Get more info at http://toboldlypreserve.space/

If you want to see the origins of the space race (and check out publicly accessibly NASA documents and photos!) stop by our APOLLO exhibit! And stay tuned for more great space experiences at the Museum with our upcoming Destination Moon exhibit!

Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission is an exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. This traveling exhibit comes to our Museum in 2019.

Producer: Sean Mobley

Host: Sean Mobley

Web Master: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

The American Fighter Aces Association preserves the memories of pilots who have sacrificed bravely for their country, and the Museum is home to its collection of artifacts and stories, including the oral histories of numerous pilots we’ve interviewed. In this edition of our Personal Courage series, we sit down with digitization specialist Ali Lane to listen to highlights from oral histories of three pilots—Gregory A. Daymond, Harold E. Comstock, and Louis William (Bill) Chick, Jr. We learn how a visit to Bavaria in 1939 inspired Gregory Daymond to join the RAF before the United States entered WWII, and we hear Bill Chick recount an awkward meeting with an enemy pilot years after the war, who told him: “Sir, I think you shot me down!”

Browse all of our American Fighter Aces oral histories on our archives website, and learn more about how AFAA works to preserve the legacies of pilots who sacrificed it all to protect our country:

Host: Sean Mobley

Producer: Sean Mobley

Webmaster: Layne Benofsky

Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla