• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

didn't know Arthur Godfrey had anything to to with aviation

Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson

Charter Member
Flying With Arthur Godfrey 1953 in the Lockheed Super Constellation

Arthur Godfrey was born in New York City on August 31, 1903. Mr. Godfrey
was a radio and TV host and had his own television show The Arthur
Godfrey Show, (1948-1959). During his career, he discovered and show
cased many new talents including Pat Boone, Julius LaRosa, Marion Marlowe,
and many others. Known affectionately as "The Old Redhead," Arthur
piloted his own plane and was an early pioneer and promoter of civil
aviation.He was rated as a Naval Aviator in 1950 (his previous attempts to serve
during the war were thwarted by a leg injury). He was certified to fly
virtually every type of aircraft in existence during his lifetime
(rotor, jet, multiple engine, helicopter, holding FAA type ratings from
the DC-3 to the Constellation) and was an honorary pilot for Eastern
Airlines. He appeared in a 1953 Eastern Airlines film with famed pilot Dick Merrill at the helm of a Constellation. His friend Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker
gave him a customized DC-3 in 1947, which he more than returned in kind
through plugs for the airline along with his endorsements about flying
safety to his millions of flying-wary listeners during the 1940s.This gives an idea of what it was like flying in the early days of passenger aviation

Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ff7_1431901344#6cWyRpveAVJO6O7C.99

Video: http://guyora.tumblr.com/post/10648783086/flying-with-arthur-godfrey-1953-by-airboyd
 
Oh, I very much remember him and his show. He was a tremendous booster of the Air Force as well. One thing I remember about his show is his periodically driving up to begin the show in a little three-wheeled car (the pivoting wheel was in the rear) and whose entire front end opened up as the one and only door. Who could forget that smiling face and wavy red hair, and the made-for-radio voice as well. I could have only been 5 or 6 years of age when I saw that but I still remember it - in glorious black and white.
 
Who could forget "Steve (Did I do that?) Urkel" from Family Matters driving his trademark BMW Isetta? :encouragement:
 
He was one of the first owners of the Ryan Navion too. :applause:

attachment.php


attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • arthur-godfrey-and-navion-in-1950-with-border.jpg
    arthur-godfrey-and-navion-in-1950-with-border.jpg
    28.5 KB · Views: 0
  • 5685038482_cc318e29a3_b.jpg
    5685038482_cc318e29a3_b.jpg
    57 KB · Views: 0
deKoven said:
One phrase; Kids Say the Darndest Things !!! Yep, I 'members the big redhead.
Click to expand...

I think that quote came from Art Linkletter. I probably don't have the last name spelt correctly.
Didn't Arthur Godfrey do some flying with Will Rodgers?
 
Rudyjo said:
I think that quote came from Art Linkletter. I probably don't have the last name spelt correctly.
Didn't Arthur Godfrey do some flying with Will Rodgers?
Click to expand...

Would you possibly be thinking of the aviator Wiley Post? Both Rogers and Post died in Post's aircraft during a takeoff in Point Barrow, Alaska.....1935.
 
deKoven said:
One phrase; Kids Say the Darndest Things !!! Yep, I 'members the big redhead.
Click to expand...

Try again !!!

"Kids Say the Darndest Things"
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kids Say the Darndest Things is an American comedy series hosted by Bill Cosby that aired on CBS as a special on February 6, 1995, then as a full season from January 9, 1998 to June 23, 2000. It was based on a popular feature with the same name in Art Linkletter's radio show "House Party" and television series, "Art Linkletter's House Party", which together aired mostly five days a week from 1945 to 1969.
 
glh said:
Try again !!!

"Kids Say the Darndest Things"
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kids Say the Darndest Things is an American comedy series hosted by Bill Cosby that aired on CBS as a special on February 6, 1995, then as a full season from January 9, 1998 to June 23, 2000. It was based on a popular feature with the same name in Art Linkletter's radio show "House Party" and television series, "Art Linkletter's House Party", which together aired mostly five days a week from 1945 to 1969.
Click to expand...

Hmm, yep; senior moment there. The thing WAS funny as heck though.
 
There are some interesting/funny things in that video, too. In 1953, there were airlines in this country that actually served a full-service lunch to their passengers! And, wonder of wonders, Arthur Godfrey made his post-flight statements in the Connie in the small vestibule aft of the cockpit where, on either side, there were actually pillows and blankets for use in the airplane!

I'm no smoker, but smoking was allowed in the aircraft in flight, beginning with the Captain who did Chesterfields. He got a rather loud but polite "no, thanks" from the co-pilot and an equally polite acceptance from the FE. Nowadays you'd be looked at like you were offering dirty postcards to a bishop.

The co-pilot was obviously probably near-legally deaf from years of having radials shouting in his ears during his early career. It was politely accepted back then - probably would have received a shove-off and verbal dressing down nowadays about being rather loud.

Nice very-quick views of a Martin 2-0-2 or 4-0-4 in EAL colors in this video, too.

One of the real treats of this video was to see Eddie Rickenbacker piloting a SPAD replica and doing a pretty good job of it, too. He was a very interesting character, survived two near-death experiences in his life, one being adrift in a life raft in the Pacific for something like a month or so in WWII before being found. He also survived an EAL DC-3 crash and made some interesting comments about dying following that crash. He was and still is one of this country's great heroes and for WWII US fighter pilots was the guy with the score to beat (26 enemy aircraft).

We also got to see, for a few moments, Mr. P-38 himself - Tony LeVier. Interesting video of the F-94C, which I knew had an AB but had to be pushed into breaking the sound barrier.

All-in-all, a most enjoyable video. Thanks for including. It is interesting indeed to see aviation and personalities from the year I was born.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top