AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2018 - 35

HOW IS A STATE SYMBOL CREATED?

A state representative or senator would need to sponsor a bill, which would then need to pass the state congress and then the
state governor signs it into law, according to Erin McCoy, executive director of State Symbols USA.

in Columbus, Ohio. More than 500 were
built. Navy and Marine Corps aviators
could use it from first jet flight to aircraft
carrier qualifications.
-MC

trained on the B-25 Mitchell bomber
in Columbia, South Carolina, before
launching a one-way attack on the
Japanese islands from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in WWII.
-JSW

Jersey, to compete in the Miss America
pageant. Her platform encouraged women
to enter the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.
-JWT

SOUTH DAKOTA: DOUGLAS C-47

In 1801, William and Mary College student
J.S. Watson wrote a letter describing three
attempts to fly unmanned hot air balloons
from the Court House Green. The first two
were unsuccessful, but the third balloon-
decorated with 16 stars for 16 states, and
fueled with spirits of wine-flew.
-SD

OKLAHOMA: SPARTAN EXECUTIVE

It's the airplane that defined business aviation, and it did so with a class not yet
matched. The art-deco stylings of the 34
examples made still cause pilots everywhere
to stare in wonder. The all-metal fuselage,
spacious interior, speed, and range made
this Tulsa-born beauty the choice of kings
and industrialists.
-PH
OREGON: VAN'S RV

Some cool airplanes have come out of
Oregon, but none more iconic than the RV.
The Cessna of the Experimental world is
based in Aurora. With roughly 10,000 kits
completed, the RV is an icon of individual
craftsmanship and creativity.
-IJT
PENNSYLVANIA: PIPER CUB

Pennsylvania made the Piper J-3 Cub its
official aircraft in 2014 when then-state
Rep. Mike Hanna said: "Let the world
know that Lock Haven gave birth to the
plane whose popularity in peace and war
remains unparalleled."
-JSW

VIRGINIA: A WINE BALLOON

The Douglas C-47 Dakota military transport bears the name of one of the most
remembered Native American tribes of the
Midwest.
-JSW
TENNESSEE: 'MEMPHIS BELLE'

Tennessee designated the Boeing B-17
Flying Fortress Memphis Belle its state aircraft in 2017.
-JSW
TEXAS: P-51 MUSTANG

North American built and flew the first of
its pivotal P-51 Mustang fighters in 120
days, and it took an equally short amount of
time to build the company's sprawling factory near Dallas. All the history-changing
C-model Mustangs were built in Texas, as
well as more than 80 percent of the North
American T-6 Texan advanced trainers
manufactured during the war.
-DH

WASHINGTON: BOEING

Could there be any argument that Boeing
rules Washington? Yes, the company manufactures in other states now as well, but the
Seattle area remains Boeing country. -IJT
WEST VIRGINIA: BELL X-1

The Bell X-1 was designed in 1945. With
U.S. Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager at the
controls, it was the first aircraft to break
the sound barrier. Yeager was born in West
Virginia (as was I).
-Chris Rose
WISCONSIN: EXPERIMENTALS

UTAH: LOCKHEED-MARTIN F-35

On August 2, 2016, the U.S. Air Force's 34th
Fighter Squadron, part of the 388th Fighter
Wing based at Hill Air Force Base, Utah,
was the first Air Force unit to achieve initial operating capability with the F-35A
Lightning II. The squadron's history dates
to World War II.
-MC

The Acro Sport and Acro Sport II biplanes
are the handiwork of Experimental Aviation
Association founder Paul Poberezny, whose
organization popularized kit airplanes
and the spirit of innovation behind them.
EAA's annual convention in Oshkosh has
grown into the world's largest and possibly
the most influential aviation gathering on
the planet, and it draws all facets of flying
together for an event that must be experienced to be believed.
-DH

RHODE ISLAND: CESSNA 182

The Ocean State never manufactured
Cessnas, but North Central State Airport
was the launch point in 2016 for a Cessna
182 that made a transcontinental trip on
biofuel. The Bioflight's pilot Ross McCurdy
is a graduate of Rhode Island College and a
teacher at Ponaganset High School.-JWT
SOUTH CAROLINA: B-25 MITCHELL

Jimmy Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders

WYOMING: AVIAT HUSKY

If ever an airplane reflected its surroundings, Aviat's rugged Husky is the one. Made
for short, rough, high-altitude airstrips,
fabric-covered Huskys have been handbuilt in Afton since the late 1980s. -DH
VERMONT: PIPER ARROW

Miss Vermont 2017, Erin Connor, brought
GA into the spotlight last August when she
flew a Piper Arrow to Atlantic City, New
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 35

http://www.aopa.org/pilot

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2018