Local Knowledge: Middle Georgia’s ties to skies

November is National Aviation Month, and Middle Georgia has rich ties to the skies.

Macon was the cradle for a major U.S. airline and the hometown of the first woman pilot in Georgia.

Robins Air Force Base is the state’s largest industrial complex and the region’s largest employer. And one of history’s greatest aviators made his first solo flight over the cotton fields near  Americus.

See how far you can fly with this week’s aviation trivia quiz.

1. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Huff-Daland Dusters in Macon. It was the world’s first crop-dusting company and was the springboard for a commercial airline with what is now the third-largest fleet in the world. What is the name of it?

A. United

B. American

C. Southwest

D. Delta

2. Macon’s Hazel Raines was the first woman in the state to earn her pilot’s license. She was one of the South’s premier stunt pilots and one of the first female pilots in the Air Force. What is she most often referred to as?

A. “Georgia’s First Lady of Flight’’ 

B. “High Flying Hazel”

C. “Fearless Flygirl”

D. “The Red Baroness”

3. Which of the following is NOT true about the Museum of Aviation, located south of Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins?

A. It is the home of the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.

B. It is the second-largest aerospace museum in the U.S. Air Force.

C. It is the permanent home of Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II.

D. It attracts almost a half-million visitors annually, making it the fourth-most visited museum of the U.S. Department of Defense behind the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, and the National Museum of the U.S. Army in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

4. A new 15,000 square foot terminal at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport is expected to be completed in early 2027 and will be constructed in the shape of what?

A. Ping pong paddle

B. Football

C. Corvette

D. Guitar

5. What famous aviation event took place at Souther Field in Americus in 1923?

A. Amelia Earhart stopped and asked for directions.

B. Chuck Yeager became the first  pilot to break the sound barrier.

C. Charles Lindbergh made his first solo flight.

D. Flight attendants started serving Coke and peanuts.

6. Pilots from what foreign military branch trained at Cochran Field in Macon during World War II?

A. German Luftwaffe

B. Royal Air Force

C. Allied Air Command

D. Vichy French Air Force

7. A plane crash in downtown Macon on February 18, 1928, killed the pilot, co-pilot and a pedestrian and injured more than a dozen people. A plaque with an emblem of a propeller and the date is embedded in the sidewalk on the 500 block of Cherry Street in front of what downtown restaurant?

A. Dovetail

B. Fatty’s Pizza

C. Parish on Cherry

D. Cashman’s Pub

8. Macon native Gen. Robert L. Scott was a member of the famed Flying Tigers during World War II and the subject of the movie based on his autobiography. The movie had its world premiere at the Grand Theatre (Grand Opera House) in Macon on  Feb. 21, 1945. What was the name of it?

A. “Flyboys”

B. “God Is My Co-Pilot”

C. “Top Gun”

D. “Twelve O’Clock High”

9. Which of the following is NOT true about the USS Macon dirigible?

A. It was 785 feet long (two and a half football fields), 132 feet in diameter, with a 6.5 million square foot helium capacity and, at one time, was the largest flying object in the world.

B. It was the last “rigid” airship in the country and operated as a “flying aircraft carrier.”  It housed five Sparrowhawk fighter planes. 

C. When they were built in the early 1930s, the USS Macon and sister ship USS Akron were the largest helium-filled airships in existence and were once described as the “ninth and 10th wonders of the world.” 

D. It was acquired by Goodyear and spent the rest of its career circling football stadiums with television cameras.

10. Aviation pioneer Eugene Ely died on October 19, 1911,  two days shy of his 26th birthday, after his plane crashed near the grandstand during an exhibition at the Georgia State Fairgrounds at Central City Park. Which of the following is NOT true about Ely?
A. He was President Calvin Coolidge’s pilot on Air Force One.

B. He was one of the first racing car drivers in America.

C. He was credited with the first takeoff and landing on a naval ship.

D. In 1933, Congress posthumously awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Click here to view answers

(1) D. (2) A. (3) C. (4) D. (5) C. (6) B. (7) C. (8) B. (9) D. (10) A.

REPORT CARD: (9-10) Stealth bomber. (7-8) Airbus. (5-6) Concorde. (3-4)  Crop duster. (0–3) Paper airplane.