They Flew Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease
Our guest speaker at the Chestnut Ridge Historical Society was Mr. Barry Hauger who shared stories about his Grandfather Clyde Hauger. Clyde was an early local pilot that helped to establish commercial flights, airports, and airmail routes in the ridges of southwest Pennsylvania. These endeavors started when he was seventeen with a purchase of a biplane. On his return from flying cross-country to our area, he joined several other daring young men in establishing temporary landing strips and permanent airports.
Barry Hauger shared that his father, brother, sister and himself were pilots who flew biplanes as well. Biplanes were more difficult to land than today’s airplanes. The landing gears were much different. Today’s plans have the smaller wheel in the front which allows the pilot to keep the nose of the plane level, giving the pilot a clear view of where he/she is aiming the plane. The old biplanes had the smaller wheel in the back making landings more difficult. The plane would approach like a duck with the nose up and the butt down. The pilot wasn’t able to see exactly where the plane was while landing.
He shared stories about his Grandfather’s friends and other pilots. He explained where the local landing strips were located. Mr. Hauger brought two scrapbooks filled with photos, news articles, and documents of Clyde’s adventures. He brought four wooden keys that were “keys to the city” from several local towns celebrating the airmail pick-ups and deliveries.
Barry also brought an actual airmail cylinder and the mail-pouch that was nestled inside to share with us. He explained collecting air-mail was a difficult task, the pilot had to fly low and make a blind snatch for the container of letters suspended between two poles only thirty feet in the air with his target having a flag to designate the target. Often fog would cause the pilot to make several attempts.