Pilot Jack Knight

Pilot Jack Knight

Thousands of Americans each year get their private pilot’s license and enjoy the wonder of creation from thousands of feet above the ground. But few people today understand the price that was paid by the flyers of earlier times to advance the science of aviation to where it is today. Among the early pioneers of flight were the intrepid men who flew the early air mail. Flying without instruments or closed cockpits, these pilots regularly risked their lives to get the mail through and prove the usefulness of moving it by air. Their runs were short compared to today. They flew all day until darkness grounded them and the mail had to be loaded onto trains for the next leg of the journey. Coast-to-coast air ­travel was only a dream then. Many brave men lost their lives in the years between the World Wars as aviation grew from its infancy to the industry that helped to defeat the forces of Germany and Japan. Pilot Jack Knight was one of the amazing men who faced the dangers and lived to tell the story. It is a story that is little known today, but an essential part of understanding our nation’s history.