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The Night Class

tonight's board · Jamestown, NY

The Night Class

An evening class kept from the Lucile M. Wright Air Museum of Jamestown, New York: chalk talks on the aircraft, the aviatrix, and the programs that once taught Chautauqua County to fly.

beforea museum that taughtJamestown, Chautauqua Lake, a hangar full of trainers
sincethe lessons it leftthe aviatrix, the aircraft, the classroom, the honors
  • 15lessons
  • 5subjects
  • last chalk pass

the lessons on the board

8 / 15
  1. An open-cockpit biplane of the early 1920s on a grass field at dawn, two leather-helmeted figures beside it, prairie horizon and a low hangar behind.

    lesson 4The Aviatrix

    First Flight, 1922

    Reads the 1922 first flight with General Billy Mitchell, and what a personal connection to military aviation meant for a girl from Billings.

  2. A woman's gloved hands resting on the wooden stick of a vintage cockpit, leather jacket sleeve, soft evening light through the windscreen, instrument panel dark.

    lesson 3The Aviatrix

    The License That Took Thirteen Years

    Reads the thirteen years between Lucile Wright's first flight and her license, and what buying her own hours says about the era.

  3. The nose and polished propeller of a silver 1970s single-engine monoplane under a dim hangar light, aluminium skin reflecting a warm bulb, concrete floor.

    lesson 3The Aircraft

    The Navion at the Rail

    Reads the Navion on the museum's list of static displays, and what an all-metal tourer taught beside the fabric ships.

  4. A row of 1930s monoplanes parked on a grass airfield at golden hour, a leather flight helmet and goggles resting on the nearest wing, fuel drums in the distance.

    lesson 2The Aviatrix

    The Ninety-Nines and Amelia

    Reads Lucile Wright's friendship with Amelia Earhart and the chapter of the Ninety-Nines she founded in Jamestown.

  5. A cream and red fabric-covered high-wing taildragger aircraft of the 1950s parked inside a quiet hangar, soft window light on the wing, dope-and-fabric texture visible.

    lesson 2The Aircraft

    The Tri-Pacer, Fabric and Patience

    Reads the 1956 Tri-Pacer among the museum's static displays, and what a cloth-covered aeroplane teaches about how aircraft used to be built.

  6. A small single-seat kit helicopter parked beside the uncovered steel-tube frame of a biplane under restoration in a workshop corner, trestles and tools around.

    lesson 1The Aircraft

    The Mini 500 and the Biplane on the Bench

    Reads the Mini 500 helicopter and the Great Lakes rebuild, the museum's two proofs that aircraft are made by hands.

  7. A leather courier bag, a folded aeronautical chart and a compass on a wooden table beside a window, an airfield with a single runway visible through evening haze.

    lesson 1The Aviatrix

    The Only Woman on the Route

    Reads Lucile Wright's wartime service as a Civil Air Patrol courier pilot, and what a parts-and-personnel route actually was.

  8. Students' hands in work gloves around an open aircraft engine cowling on a workbench, wrenches laid out on a cloth, workshop light overhead.

    lesson 4The Classroom

    SEAM: Wrenches Before Diplomas

    Reads the SEAM mechanics course the museum ran with Jamestown Community College, and what 'old clothes and old shoes' tells you about it.

the five subjects

subject oneThe Aircraftthe airframes the museum kept in its hangar, from the Mini 500 to the Great Lakes rebuild
subject twoThe Aviatrixthe life of Lucile M. Wright, first lady of aviation in Jamestown
subject threeThe Classroomthe programs that turned a museum into a school: SEAM, Fly to Learn, the planetarium, the Mars Yard
subject fourThe Honorsthe scholarships, space camp winners and distinctions the museum pinned up
subject fiveThe Fieldthe field itself: 300 North Main Street, the county airport and the board that kept it

other readings kept open

A few neighbouring shelves hold pages of the same kind, kept on their own domains, in their own hand.