Little bird floating on a hurricane [Joseph Duckworth]

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago yesterday] "• Major Joseph Duckworth and his navigator, Lieutenant Ralph O'Hair, both of the United States Army, become the first persons to deliberately fly an airplane into the eye of a hurricane. Duckworth pilots an AT-6 trainer to gather data on a storm approaching Houston. Unfortunately, the Army considers the data to be classified and refuses to release it to the Weather Bureau and advisories are issued too late. Although a weak storm, nineteen people are killed and $17 million in property damage is done. After this event, the Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) will be given primary responsibility for storm tracking and hurricane advisories will never be censored again."

 

From Wikipedia:

 

"In late 1940, Duckworth was called to active duty in the rank of a major and promoted to lieutenant colonel soon after the US joined World War II. He was shocked at the profound ignorance of instrument flying throughout the Air Corps, and appalled that the losses sustained from that type of ignorance were greater than losses due to actual combat. During the rest of the war, he introduced his knowledge of instrument flying at various flying schools, first at Columbus Army Flying School in Columbus, Mississippi, then at Bryan Air Base, and helped to standardize instrument flight instruction within the Air Corps."