On a warm summer night, one of the most fun things for children to do outside is to lie on their backs in the cool grass, gaze at the night sky and wonder what it would be like to someday fly high and reach for the stars.
While many do not pursue a career in the skies, some of these kids take their interest to new heights and become well-known aviators. Many of them are from right here in Michigan. We honor their achievements on National Aviation Day, August 19. They include:
Col. Michael J. Bloomfield
A local household name for many years, Col. Michael J. Bloomfield is a 1977 graduate of Lake Fenton High School. In 1981, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from the U.S. Air Force Academy where he played Falcons football for coach Bill Parcells and was the team’s captain. In 1983, he completed Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma and was selected to fly the F-15. From 1983-1991, he served as a combat ready pilot and instructor pilot. In 1993, he earned a Masters in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University.
Selected by NASA in 1994, Bloomfield reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995, where he worked in several capacities. A veteran of three space flights, he has logged over 753 hours in space. He piloted STS-86 and flew on Space Shuttle Atlantis (September 25 – October 6, 1997). He served as pilot of STS-97, flew on Space Shuttle Endeavour (November 30 – December 11, 2000), was Commander of STS-110 and flew on Shuttle Atlantis (April 8-19, 2002.)
During trips home to visit family in the Lake Fenton area, Bloomfield generously spent much of his time talking about his space travels to classrooms in the Fenton, Lake Fenton and Linden schools. Many students went home with photos of Bloomfield on which he wrote, “Reach for the stars!”
We recently reached Bloomfield at his home near Houston, TX. He said pilot school became available to him when he graduated from the Air Force Academy.
“I went to the Academy to play college football, so piloting wasn’t part of the plan,” he shared. “Once I attended pilot training and started flying, however, I was hooked. What a great profession! Being a successful pilot requires many of the same attributes I had learned playing football – the ability to plan ahead, practice, real world consequences for your actions, etc. My love of flying Air Force planes is what led me to NASA. NASA was flying the ultimate flying machine, the Space Shuttle, and several of the astronauts I knew spoke highly of flying in space. I was fortunate to be asked to join NASA. In the end, I flew for the Air Force or NASA for over 27 years in 30 different aircraft and loved every minute.”
Bloomfield left NASA in August 2007. Today, in addition to enjoying time with his family, he is doing some leadership consulting, and is involved in a couple of non-profit organizations that promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).
“The first is Space Center Houston, where I’m the chairman of the board, and the second is the Endeavour Scholarship, which sends students from all over the world to a week-long Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama,” he said.
O.E. Williams
In addition to Bloomfield, the Fenton area has another claim to fame, being the one-time home of the O.E. (Osbert Edwin) Williams Aeroplane Co. It was located in the area of what is now the U.S. Post Office in Downtown Fenton.
In 1914, Williams, a barnstormer, earned the title of aviator performing stunts at state and county fairs. He first came to Fenton to repair a hydroplane for a wealthy Flint sportsman who had a summer cottage on Long Lake (Lake Fenton).
Williams liked it in Fenton, decided to stay and soon attracted a group of young men who shared his passion for flight and believed there was a future in aviation. He found a vacant building on LeRoy Street, where he started the O.E. Williams Aeroplane Co., and with a group of like-minded boys, began assembling what they called “aeroplanes.”
A flat piece of land at the north end of Lake Fenton was used as a landing strip. Soon, the young men decided they would like to fly the new aircraft on their own, and the Williams School of Aviation was formed.
Construction of the early aeroplanes was considered somewhat flimsy and they had a habit of “conking out” during flight. To the young would-be aviators, the fact that these contraptions made it off the ground and sometimes remained airborne, despite the techniques used to build them, was a marvel!
Word of the Williams school and the aeroplane reached beyond local borders, resulting in young boys from other cities leaving home to seek their wings in Fenton. About a dozen young men eventually left Fenton to display their flying talents elsewhere. Over the next several years, all of them, including Williams in 1917, lost their lives doing what they loved most.
Bernice Steadman
A pioneering American aviator and entrepreneur, Bernice (Trimble) Steadman was born in Rudyard, MI in 1925. She faced early tragedy when her father, sisters and brother perished in a home fire when she was just a year old. Despite the challenges, she graduated from Flint Central High School.
After graduation, Steadman worked at AC Spark Plug to fund her flight lessons. She obtained her pilot’s license before getting a driver’s license. Becoming a charter pilot, she eventually established her Flint-based flight school and charter company, Trimble Aviation. Her career included training more than 200 men who later became airline pilots. She achieved the distinction of being one of the first American women to obtain an Airline Transport Rating (ATR), the highest pilot rating.
In 2002, Steadman was inducted into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame and the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003.
In the early 1960s, she became one of the Mercury 13, a group of 13 women who underwent the same tests as the Mercury 7 astronauts. Despite their achievements, these women were denied the chance to become astronauts due to gender bias. Later in her life, Steadman co-founded the International Women’s Air & Space Museum in Ohio during the 1980s.
In 2001, she published her autobiography, Tethered Mercury: A Pilot’s Memoir: The Right Stuff – But the Wrong Sex. In the book, she recounted her career and experiences with the Mercury 13 program, and shed light on the gender discrimination the women faced.
In 2015, Steadman passed away at the age of 89 at her home in Traverse City, MI.
Harriet Quimby
Born in Arcadia Township, MI in 1875, Quimby was a pioneering American aviator, journalist and film screenwriter. In 1910, she undertook an assignment to cover the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament. Developing a friendship with John Moisant, she persuaded him to take her on as a student, defying the opposition of the Wright brothers, who staunchly opposed women in aviation.
In 1911, Quimby achieved the 37th aviation license in American history, marking the first for a woman. Within a month, she secured victory in her inaugural cross-country race. Departing from Dover, England on April 16, 1912 in an unfamiliar plane with no instruments except a recently mastered compass, Quimby landed near Hardelot, → France, just 59 minutes later. Unfortunately, her accomplishment went unnoticed by the world as it coincided with the sinking of the Titanic the day before.
In 1912, Quimby lost her life at the age of 37 in a flying accident. In 1993, she was enshrined in the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame and in 2013, was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.
Nancy Harkness Love
Nancy Harkness Love (born Hannah Lincoln Harkness) was the daughter of a wealthy Houghton, MI physician and developed a strong interest in aviation. In 1930 at age 16, she took her first flight and within a month, obtained her pilot’s license. Despite attending prestigious schools, Love’s restless and adventurous spirit led her to make headlines as the “Flying Freshman” in 1932 during her first year at Vassar College, where she earned extra income by taking students for rides in aircraft rented from a nearby airport. In 1936, Harkness married Air Corps Reserve Major Robert M. Love.
During World War II, Love persuaded Col. William H. Tunner of the U.S. Army Air Forces to establish a group of female pilots to ferry aircraft from factories to air bases. This proposal materialized as the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, and Love assumed command of the unit. She later commanded all ferrying operations in the newly formed Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). For her wartime contributions, she received the Air Medal and in 1948 was appointed lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
After the war, Love continued her leadership in the aviation industry and advocated for the military recognition of women. In 1976, Love passed away from cancer at the age of 62, three years before witnessing the WASP being officially accorded military recognition.
In 1996, Love was posthumously inducted into the Airlift/Tanker Association and the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1997. In 1989, she was enshrined in the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2005.
National Aviation Day History
On August 19, 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the first National Aviation Day through a proclamation, declaring Orville Wright’s birthday as an annual celebration of all things aviation. Wright and his brother Wilbur were, of course, the American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building and successfully flying the world’s first airplane.
