Honors Wright Flyer Mechanic
It's a well-known
milestone of history that on a windy day in December 1903 Orville
and Wilbur Wright became the first men to achieve sustained,
powered flight. It's less well-known that without the help of
aircraft mechanic and engine-builder Charles Taylor that famous
flight into history at Kitty Hawk, N.C., would not have
happened.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University plans to give Taylor, who
was born in 1868 and died in 1956, the recognition he deserves. The
school will celebrate Taylor's 137th birthday on May 24 by naming
one of its oldest and most-established units the Charles Taylor
Department of Aviation Maintenance Science (AMS).
"Charles Taylor is the
man who put the 'power' in powered flight," says AMS Chairman Fred
Mirgle. "When the carmakers of the day couldn't supply an engine,
the Wright brothers turned to Taylor, the manager of their bicycle
shop in Dayton, Ohio. In just six weeks he designed and built a
13-horsepower engine weighing 150 pounds. And he did it using only
hand tools, a lathe, and a drill press."
Embry-Riddle's events on May 24 will begin with a luncheon for
AMS students. At a dinner and dedication ceremony that evening, a
bronze bust of Charles Taylor by artist Virginia Hess will be
unveiled. Also on display will be three original pen-and-ink
drawings by Robert Score Sr., a Deltona, Fla., mechanic, depicting
Charles Taylor, the engine he built, and the Wright Flyer. The
after-dinner speaker will be Charles Taylor II, the great-grandson
and namesake of Charles Taylor. Howard DuFour, author of the 1997
book Charles E. Taylor: The Wright Brothers Mechanician, will make
brief remarks.
Charles Taylor II, who has held a private pilot license for 18
years, will fly to Daytona Beach in his Cessna 172 Skyhawk along
with passenger DuFour. Taylor owns Taylor Microcomputer Consulting
in Chicago.
"What I admire most about my great-grandfather," he says, "is
his superb engineering skills, his ability to figure out a problem
using the most basic equipment, his dedication to his job, and his
dedication to Orville and Wilbur Wright. He worked long, hard hours
for many years, for just a simple paycheck."
More than two decades ago, Charles Taylor II compiled
information on his great-grandfather for a high school report that
ended up at Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) headquarters in
Washington, D.C. DuFour found the report there many years later
while researching his book on Charles Taylor.
DuFour, a master machinist and the retired supervisor of the
engineering shop at Wright State University (WSU) in Dayton, says
Taylor's "life history was so close to mine that he felt like a
kindred spirit." With a $10,000 grant from WSU, DuFour not only
wrote a book on Taylor but also made a duplicate of Taylor's engine
on his original lathe at Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
Mich.
Artist Virginia Hess, a friend of DuFour and like him a resident
of the Dayton area, was inspired by DuFour's book to create a bust
of Taylor. "I studied the photos in Howard's book," she said.
"Charles Taylor was a down-to-earth man, not a flashy dresser at
all, so I gave him a natural look." Similar projects usually take
her about six months, but the Taylor bust was ready for the foundry
in only six weeks.
AMS Chairman Fred Mirgle says the bust and artifacts that
illustrate Taylor's contribution to the first powered flight will
be displayed in Embry-Riddle's AMS building. "We'd like to include
a mockup of the first engine or a running version donated or built
by our students and staff," he says. "And someday when we acquire a
new building, we plan to use the Taylor display as the centerpiece
in a circular lobby with a timeline of aviation maintenance history
on the walls."
To accompany the Taylor display, Mirgle wants to create a plaque
to list all the winners of the FAA's Charles Taylor Master Mechanic
Award. The award is presented annually to technicians who have 50
years of documented distinguished service in the aircraft
maintenance industry. Embry-Riddle professor emeritus Chandler
Titus won the award in 1995. The AMS Dept. will host the award
banquet in June and may become its permanent host in the
future.
Mirgle says the AMS Dept. plans to observe Taylor's birthday
every year, to hold FAA recertification classes and seminars on
campus, and to host a major conference on aviation maintenance
topics annually.
Currently more than 200 students are enrolled in Embry-Riddle
AMS courses. In the Bachelor of Science in Aviation Maintenance
Science degree program, students choose from one of four areas of
concentration -- Avionics, Flight, Information Technology, or
Maintenance Management -- and earn an FAA Airframe and Powerplant
Maintenance Certificate. The starting salary of an AMS graduate
working for an airline can range from $35,000 to $40,000.