Hello everyone, Vincent Iello here, founder and host of the fighter pilot

podcast. Now I recently finished reading a really good book I want to share

with you today. It's titled Harnessing the Sky. It chronicles the life and

career of aviation pioneer Frederick Trepnell and it was written by his son Fred Jr.

and granddaughter Dana Tibbets who joins us today via Zoom.

Hi Dana, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, you're quite welcome.

Well, this book was originally recommended

by our guest Becky Shaw, way back on episode 22 when we discussed the Navy's

test pilot school. Now at that time I'd never heard of your grandfather

despite being a naval aviator myself for almost a quarter of a century so I was

surprised to read in this very enjoyable book,

actually, just how influential he was

to enable aviation during some really pivotal times in history.

He has a very interesting story, and you're not alone because even though there's an airfield name for him at Patuxent River, very few people know who he is.

He was a man who never told his own story, but he came into flight test in development back in 1930

when they were trying to figure out how to do flight test. He also was part of the Navy's very first formal aerobatic team known as the three flying fish.

And then he was part of the short lived chapter with the airship

dirigibles and the little Sparrowhawk fighters that flew

off onto and off of trapezes.

And then they pulled him into flight test and development in 1940, which was absolutely a critical period for the U.S. Navy.

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