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Jean and Auguste Piccard with Dowmetal sphere in 1930s while working with Bay Cityan Henry Dora. (Photo Midland County Historical Society)

EGAD, IT'S HISTORIC! Bay City's Part in Space Travel, Library of Americana

May 17, 2015       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Who would imagine that Bay City played a part in opening the way to modern aviation and the conquest of space?

And, just as amazing, as the starting place of one of the nation's greatest libraries of Americana?

Bay City's James Clements Airport provided a genesis for the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and had a tiny part in the beginnings of space travel.

Bay City's incredible aviation history is documented in a book, "Aloft: History of Flying in Bay County," by Geraldine Higgs, available at the Bay County Historical Museum.

Retired Federal Magistrate Charles Binder, a pilot with Wings of Mercy, described the airport's history in a presentation to the Rotary Club of Bay City last Tuesday.

Some aspects of the start of James Clements Airport at the farm of the North American Chemical Company are contained in my latest book, "Mysteries of Skull Island and the Alkali," published by Historical Press, L.L.C.

One of the nation's early aircraft, purchased from the Wright Brothers, was flown here -- taking off from the farm of the North American Chemical Company by Lionel DeRemer in 1912;

--air mail service in the area began here in 1930;

--air passenger service advertised as "Fifty-five minutes to Cleveland," (the 55 minutes was actually from Detroit) also began here in 1928 with amphibian planes operated by a forerunner of American Airlines.

Amphibian planes (more commonly known as seaplanes today) still are accommodated at James Clements Airport. The planes land on the river and a ramp has been built so the seaplanes can be hauled onto the land near the runway.

In May 1936 as Hitler's troops were occupying the Rhineland, the U.S. began preparing for war.

Bay City native Oscar Westover started as a balloon pilot and earned his pilot's license in 1923. In 1934, as a Brigadier General, he took over the airmail service after scandals involving private airmail carriers. He was appointed the first Chief of the Air Corps in 1935.

In 1936 General Westover made the Bay City airport his headquarters for a two week preparedness training event for about 600 airmen. Tents for the encampment were set up on the airport grounds.

Planes took off every morning and fired at targets towed over Lake Huron. Mock activities included an air attack on Lansing and defending bombing of factories in Flint. Gawkers drove out from Bay City to watch aerial ?dog fights? from their cars.

Officers used Wenonah Hotel for 'recreation' and the two week encampment ended with an American Legion fish fry at the Armory.

Gen. Westover was killed in a plane crash in 1938 shortly after winning aviation's highest award, the Collier Trophy, for design and construction of the first high altitude pressurized aircraft.

Auguste and Jean Piccard, Swiss scientists and aeronautical pioneers, flew into Bay City's new James Clements Airport several times in the early 1930s enroute to Dow Chemical in Midland. They covered the last 20 miles by auto.

The Piccards collaborated with airport manager Henry Dora, an early Bay City pilot, who was experienced in working with Dowmetal, a magnesium product one-third lighter than aluminum and the strongest structural metal of its day.

Auguste Piccard was the first person to ascend to the stratosphere in a Dowmetal spherical gondola and to see the Earth's curvature from aloft, opening the way to modern aviation and the conquest of space. The model of the gondola was stored in a workroom next to the big greenhouse type hangar at James Clements Airport that still stands after 85 years.

Right now Bertrand Piccard, the grandson of Auguste Piccard, a Swiss psychiatrist and space explorer, is part of a team attempting a solar-powered flight around the world.

The Piccard's craft Solar Impulse is the only airplane of perpetual endurance, able to fly day and night on solar power without a drop of fuel. Piccard and his team launched the latest leg from China to Hawaii on May 5.

Besides the airport, the name Clements survives in the William Clements Library of American History at Ann Arbor. Another of Bay City's most amazing facts is that the collection of books and historically important papers started in Bay City by William Clements formed the basis for one of the nation's top three libraries of Americana. At one time Clements' home at Park and Center housed the personal papers of all the British generals in America during the Revolution.

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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