Patty Loew:
Our next report is all about adventures in aviation. Ohio claims to be the birthplace of aviation, while North Carolina claims it was first in flight. America's Dairyland made significant contributions as well and this year marks a momentous milestone. "In Wisconsin" reporter Andy Soth shows you what aviation buffs are doing to celebrate a century of flight in Beloit.  

Andy Soth:
At the Beloit chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, many members have built and flown their own airplanes. What they're working on now is a model.

Al Draeger:
It sounded like an intriguing adventure for us. Maybe we bit off a little more than we thought, but I think we're going to get through it.

Andy Soth:
Some say a real plane would be easier. There wouldn't be all these tiny pieces to fuss over. But this model of a 1909 Curtis Pusher has special significance for flyers from Beloit.

Andy Soth:
In Beloit 100 years ago the first airplane flew in Wisconsin.

Andy Soth:
To celebrate the centennial, the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame invited the EAA to make this model. Michael Goc of the Hall of Fame told me more about the man who made that flight Arthur Warner.

Michael Goc:
He was a very successful entrepreneur. He had this intriguing ability to put things together, to design and build things really on the cutting edge of the technology of his day.

Andy Soth:
Warner made one of the first successful automobile speedometers. His interest in aviation was sparked when a New York card dealer advertised a Curtiss airplane for sale as a publicity stunt.

Michael Goc:
Way out in Beloit, Wisconsin, Arthur Warner saw this ad and he said, I'll buy it.

Andy Soth:
Glen Curtiss shipped a plane to Beloit.

Michael Goc:
There it was. It was a couple of big crates on a freight car.

Andy Soth:
The EAA at least has instructions from a later Curtiss model to guide them, but Warner was totally on his own to figure it out. He assembled the plane, but didn't intend to fly it immediately, just taxi along this field.            

Michael Goc:
That's what he was doing and he turned in the right direction and the wind caught the airplane and all of a sudden, as he said, all of a sudden I was flying. He was up in the air.

Andy Soth:
And with that, Arthur Warner flew. Something only ten other Americans had ever done. And he was the first to do it in Wisconsin.  

Michael Goc:
And this is actually the great thing he did. Not that he got in the air, but he actually landed without damaging himself or the airplane, that he survived.  

Andy Soth:
And aviation has survived and thrived in Wisconsin from that historic flight a century ago. Its early years as recreation and entertainment are documented in Goc’s book, which also tells the story of the state's pioneers of military aviation, like general Billy Mitchell, the premier aviation strategist of his years, and WWII fighter pilot Richard Baum.

Michael Goc:
Ace of aces.

Andy Soth:
Perhaps the greatest contributor is not from an individual, but an organization.
Michael Goc:
There are plenty of military heroes. There are plenty of extraordinary pilots and inventions. But overall the most significant historical event in Wisconsin aviation history is the organization of the EAA.

Andy Soth:
The experimental aircraft association started in Milwaukee and is now based in Oshkosh. Thousands come every year to its fly-in. It's fitting that it's an EAA chapter that completed this model of the first airplane flown in Wisconsin.

Patty Loew:
Arthur Warner's first flight took place on November 4, 1909. The model of his plane is on display at the state capitol in Madison through tomorrow. You'll have plenty of other chances to see the plane that brought Wisconsin into the aviation age as it tours the state this summer, including at the EAA fly-in in Oshkosh.