2021年8月19日

The Vincennes University 航空 program has announced a new award for an outstanding 航空飞行或维修专业的一年级学生. 第一架弗兰克·奥尼尔飞机 Trailblazer Award  will be presented in Spring 2022 and include a scholarship award. Guest Contributor and 澳门足球博彩官方网址 alumnus 大卫Goodnow (澳门足球博彩官方网址 '59) shares the history of pioneer 弗兰克•奥尼尔. 

坦率的人.  奥尼尔航空开拓者奖
by
大卫Goodnow

弗兰克·J. O’Neal Award salutes a record of accomplishment by a Vincennes University 学生作为终身服务的前奏. 这一荣誉是为了纪念先驱者 Indiana pilot and educator who helped make aviation a reality for many young fliers 从20世纪30年代开始. 他的远见和精力对实现这一目标至关重要 of an aviation division that would one day be developed by Vincennes University.

The world of aviation has had many pioneers, those scientists and dreamers who knew there was a way to fly and fly well, thus making their names come down to us through 航空成就的编年史. 有些人符合"开拓者"的定义 飞行科学和艺术的先驱.

Recalling the name Frank O’Neal will make several generations of 飞行员 fondly remember the soft spoken man who helped make aviation grow and develop, not only in the Midwest 而且在澳门足球博彩官方网址的国防中.

The Vincennes University 航空 Division at O’Neal Airport became a reality in the 以弗兰克的成就和经验为基础. 他是一位经验丰富的飞行员 到V时.U. 准备好进入各种飞行项目了吗. 作为一名推销员， parachutist and wing-walker, performing before many crowds in the early years of aviation, O’Neal had a vision to help build interests in flying whenever and wherever possible. Along the way he saw aviation develop from the time it was looked upon with all the seriousness of a vaudeville act until it has become one of our nation’s great industries. 

Frank O’Neal began his lifelong romance with the sky by building a real airplane from 这是希思公司在1919年制造的一个工具箱. 而其他年轻人可能在建造 model planes, Frank had built the real thing but was still not a pilot. 他开始飞行 lessons from instructor and veteran World War One pilot Joe Walker in Oakland City in 1920. With less than three hours of instruction, O’Neal was flying solo and beginning 他的事业前途未卜.

Wanting a substantial aircraft, Frank and a friend named Ogle Weeks took the Dixie Beeline to Georgia in 1922 shopping for some war surplus airplanes. 南风领域 at Americus, Georgia, had been a wartime aviation training center, but was now deactivated and planes were available at bargain prices to anyone with the cash and the means 把它们带走. Frank had both, and his dreams of flight were continuing to unfold.

The Georgia trip took place about the same time Charles Lindbergh also went to Americus 去买他的第一架飞机. 林德伯格后来被称为著名的孤鹰 第一个独自飞越大西洋的人. 因此，弗兰克·奥尼尔和查尔斯·林德伯格 在早班航班上有转机吗.

Paying around $500 each for several Curtiss “Jennies,” the JN-4 biplanes, Frank and his friend Ogle Weeks disassembled them and hauled them north to Indiana where barnstorming and other aerial feats were soon to be part of the air show O’Neal would present to 震惊的公众. In assembling the planes, he would also repair damages early military 学生飞行员在战争期间对这些机器进行了操纵.

A tract of land came up for sale on South Sixth Street Road in 1923. 企业家弗兰克， bought it and it soon became home to the Sho Me Flying Circus which would feature Frank, the daredevil, doing wing walking stunts, parachute jumps and aerobatics. In between all these air shows, Frank, the engineer, continued rebuilding planes and 他们的发动机，获得了更全面的飞机知识.

In 1926, Frank had his eye on a parcel of land across the Wabash River from Vincennes. The Illinois location was soon to be the site of the two-plane wooden hanger that 从南六街搬走了吗. 这时，他的手术已经变得 a full-fledged airport and required his management skills, which were considerable.

By 1929, an air mail service was established between Louisville, Kentucky and Cleveland, 俄亥俄州. There was Frank O’Neal again, the pilot, flying many different types of early 最先进的飞机. 这条邮件路线是由环球航空公司建立的 后来成为了美国航空公司.

In that busy year, Frank’s first big hanger went up at the O’Neal Airport as he continued 培训飞行员和重建飞机. 许多早期的学生后来发现很重要 航空领域的职位.

第二次世界大战带来了对新飞行员的需求. 山姆大叔已经建立了 民用飞行员培训计划. 弗兰克知道对飞行员的需求是巨大的 到那时，美国.S. 1941年卷入了战争，他买下了希利亚德 印第安纳州埃文斯维尔的飞行学校. 他和埃文斯维尔一起经营 学院教学初级和高级飞行训练. 奥尼尔的行动 总共20架飞机和15名全职教官. 1943年，弗兰克卖掉了学校 他为以他的名字命名的原始机场所做的努力.

By war’s end, it was time to expand so the O’Neal 航空 Corporation was founded in 1946 with friends Earl Leach and Jim Beamon, both World War Two decorated combat 飞行员. The three men operated the pilot training program for veterans as long as 它是可用的. 迎接机场游客的是一个大牌子，上面写着“G.I.’s 自由的飞.” Frank and his partners were giving back to any returning veterans who wanted 学会飞翔.

By 1965, the O’Neal operation was a long established airport for flying of all sorts. It was then that Vincennes University began branching out again, building on Frank’s leadership and assuming operation of the airport to include aviation in the future 学生们知道天空不是他们梦想的极限. 弗兰克·奥尼尔会 smile when asked how all this came to be: young 飞行员 in training, student mechanics learning their art, an art that has become ever more important as aviation has grown. 奥尼尔的回答不足为奇. 他知道飞行以及与之相关的一切 随着时间的推移，它的需求将会增长. 他在教学中起了重要作用 fliers over many years and now its was time to be part of the continually growing 文森斯大学展望未来. 作为他对V星人承诺的一部分.U. 航空 弗兰克把他的私人飞机送给了V.U. 这就是 first aircraft in which students would receive instruction in retractable landing gear operation, moving along through their primary training phase.

Today, the 航空 技术 Center of Vincennes University in Indianapolis is a location for comprehensive programs that bring state-of-the-art equipment and excellent 在教室和驾驶舱内应遵守的指示. 这是一个证明 像弗兰克·奥尼尔这样的航空先驱的远见. 他标志性的咧嘴一笑是显而易见的 if he could tour the great aviation facility that has grown out of his imagination 很多年前.

弗兰克·J. 奥尼尔，企业家，先驱飞行员和教育家.