Wandering gives you the chance to meet people and history you might never encounter otherwise—such as the story of Ben Epps, a hometown hero in Athens, Georgia and a man of apparent endless optimism of the if-you-don’t-succeed-try-again sort. I met him through his statue near the courthouse in Athens, and later found out the local airport is named for him.
Like the Wright Brothers, he was a mechanic, owned a bicycle shop, and was determined to build and fly airplanes.
After dropping out of Georgia Tech in 1904, he started on his first, seen above in a 1907 picture, shortly before, on its second attempt, it got off the ground—briefly. Then it crashed, setting a pattern for Epps. In 1909, his second plane was airborne—briefly, and then it crashed. A third, radically different plane met the same fate in 1910, as did one he built in 1912. Did I say endless optimism?
In 1919, he and a partner, using a plane built by others, established a local service for aerial photography and flying instruction. Eventually, by 1926, Epps built, flew and sold a successful aircraft—the Epps Light Monoplane, weighing just 340 pounds with a two-cylinder motorcycle engine taking it up to 60 mph and getting 25 miles per gallon.
A true aviation enthusiast, he taught his nine children to fly; eight of the nine went into aviation in some capacity or other. But sadly, no happy endings: Epps was critically injured in a crash in 1935, and died in yet another crash in 1937 from the airport that now bears his name.
Fascinating article. I love local history, too!