My great-grandfather, Dr. Henry Walden was a first generation American of Eastern European roots.  Living and working in NYC as a dentist in the early 20th Century, he was surrounded by an America that did not know limitation or restriction on ambition and drive.  The Wright Brothers had flown just a few years before.  Radio was spreading news and entertainment across the world, bringing us all closer - for better or worse.  And living in one of the biggest and most dynamic cities in the world, he was inundated with the energy and opportunity to do great things.

He had always been a tinkerer and inventor, and through his life racked up an impressive list of patents ranging from radio guided missiles, to the instant coffee packet - no, really!  But when he turned his focus to aviation, he truly lead America and the world in a new direction.

Up until this time, most aircraft inventors had been following the model of the Wright Flyer - a large biplane arrangement with two engines mounted as pushers, and a forward canard to control pitch.  It was proven, so that seemed the safe route.

But that was not for Dr Walden.  He embarked upon an effort to create the first American monoplane.  After his first experiments with a traditional - if such a thing can be said for something that didn't exist 5 years before - biplane model of his own design in 1908-1909, he began work on the monoplane.

He worked through many iterations, and suffered the consequences of flying machines that he barely understood, crashing on many occasions, and nearly losing his life on several.  Recovering from often terrible injuries, he returned to the hangar to continue his work.  He had many novel ideas about aircraft control and stability - ailerons instead of wing warping, winglets, and an aft- mounted tail that controlled both pitch and yaw while in flight, as well as a single aft mounted pusher engine.

The Walden IX.  Notice the large ailerons and aft mounted control surfaces.

Culminating in his Walden IX model, Dr Walden finally found a successful combination of engineering and skill that he could show off to the world.  This was in 1911, just 2 short years after starting work on the concept, and only 8 years after the Wright Brother first flew at Kitty Hawk.  He took his machine to air meets all over Long Island, and the region.  Showing off its speed, agility, and the heights to which he could take it - over a mile at one point!  Being the only designer-manufacturer-pilot at these meets - and having the only flying monoplane - led him to have many opportunities to fly his machines all over the country in front of huge crowds.

Walden flying his first successful model, the Walden III in front of his hangar at Mineola, NY.  The picture in the upper left corner is of his destroyed plane after a wind storm.

His accomplishments drove him to start an aircraft manufacturing company on Long Island - Walden Aircraft of course.  However, the start of WWI and then the Great Depression put an end to all of that, so he returned to dentistry and actually never flew again.  He continued to invent and produce new and novel devices and procedures throughout his life.

He is enshrined at the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, OH.  http://www.nationalaviation.org/walden-henry/ 

Dr Walden in his later years as a distinguished dentist and inventor.

Another cool summary of his life and efforts was published several years ago by the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island: http://earlyaviators.com/ewalden.htm 

He's also a Member of the Early Birds of Aviation, a founding member actually.

The third meeting of the Early Birds, in 1930.  Dr Walden can be seen at table 35 wearing black round glasses.

This is a good article in Air and Space Magazine: 

And in his own words, the January 1958 issue of Flying Magazine: "I Built and flew America's First Monoplane"

And if you look carefully, there is a small display case in the Air and Space Museum in the Early Flight Gallery.

The Walden III - his first flyable model.  Notice the winglets - WAY ahead of his time!

I am very proud to have this heritage running in my veins.  The stories I heard from my grandfather about his dad were a huge influence on my decision to become a pilot and then an aviator - there is a distinction.  His pioneering spirit of adventure, invention, and perseverance are great inspirations to me in my current endeavors!

I hope to bring those qualities to the growth and success of Little Hawk Logistics in the coming years.

I'll start with my most memorable.  In July I was chartered by a family from Argentina.  The father and eldest son are pilots, and have done some amazing trips in light aircraft together.  They chose me to take them to Oshkosh for the EAA Airventure air show because they knew the TBM, and wanted to arrive at KOSH in this plane.  As it turns out, I'm the sole operator of a TBM-850 in the United States under charter, so I was their man!

I flew to Fort Lauderdale Executive to pick them up after their overnight flight into Miami.  From there we flew to Searcy, Arkansas for a night before proceeding to Oshkosh the following afternoon.

For any aviator, just attending Airventure is a great time, and something that we can do over and over again.  However, flying INTO the show is something extra special, and something I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do.  Let alone in my own TBM under hire!

The visual arrival into the airport - that week it is the busiest airport in the world! - is just awesome.  Dozens of aircraft in close proximity, all orchestrated by two control towers set up on the field just for the show.  Being a fast aircraft, we followed what is known as the 'Warbird' arrival, to set up to land on Runway 27.  I requested and received clearance to perform an overhead break approach to the runway.  This approach minimizes time by replacing a long slow final fully configured with a very fast pass down the landing runway and then the execution of a tight descending turn back around to the threshold all the while slowing and getting configured to land.  What a rush!

That's a LOT of airplanes!  Pilots from all over the world fly here for the week.  A true aviation pilgrimage!

The Arrival on Youtube - skip to the 8:00 mark for the actual break and landing, but the full video is pretty cool too.

What followed was three days of aviation saturation!  So many beautiful planes, great people - including Bob Hoover! - and so many stories of pilots and other aviators making history with their machines.

I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the representatives of Daher - the manufacturer of my plane - at their booth.  Many good conversations about my future with them in their aircraft arose, and the seeds set on that week will soon start to bear fruit over the next few months.  I'd also like to thank my friend and fellow aviator Eric Auxier for his support and enthusiasm, it was great to see you there sir!

I also had the amazing experience of flying in a B-17 Flying Fortress operated by the Experimental Aircraft Association.  Aluminum Overcast was built at the end of the war and spent most of her life flying cargo.  Found in poor repair and the revived by the many dedicated volunteers at the EAA, she's now flown all over the country giving us the chance to experience just a bit of what it was like to operate one of these magnificent machines.  The pilots and ground crew were just amazing, and the entire experience was spectacular and is something that I will always remember.

One of the coolest things I've ever had the opportunity to take part in!

This is the album of pictures I accumulated over those three days.  Google Album