Flying aboard the Lockheed Constellation 2

Aviation

Godfrey (left) with NACA pilot George Cooper and Ames Director Smith
DeFrance
Godfrey learned to fly in the 1930s while doing radio in the Washington, DC
area, starting out with gliders, then learning to fly airplanes. He was
badly injured on his way to a flying lesson one afternoon in 1931 when a
truck, coming the other way, lost its left front wheel and hit him head on.
Godfrey spent months recuperating, and the injury would keep him from flying
on active duty during WWII. He served as a reserve officer in the U.S. Navy
in a public affairs role during the war.

Godfrey used his pervasive fame to advocate a strong anti-Communist stance
and to pitch for enhanced strategic air power in the Cold War atmosphere. In
addition to his advocacy for civil rights, he became a strong promoter of
his middle-class fans vacationing in Hawaii and Miami Beach, Florida,
formerly enclaves for the wealthy. He made a TV movie in 1953 taking the
controls of an Eastern Airlines Lockheed Constellation airliner and flying
to Miami, thus showing how safe airline travel had become. As a reserve
officer, he used his public position to cajole the Navy into qualifying him
as a Naval Aviator, and played that against the Air Force, who successfully
recruited him into their reserve. At one time during the 1950's, Godfrey had
flown every active aircraft in the military inventory at one time or
another.

His continued unpaid shilling for Eastern Airlines earned him the undying
gratitude of good friend Eddie Rickenbacker, the WWI flying ace who was the
President of the airline. He was such a good friend of the airline that
Rickenbacker took a retiring DC-3, fitted it out with an executive interior
and DC-4 engines, and presented it to Godfrey, who then used it to commute
to the studios in New York City from his huge Leesburg, Virginia farm every
Sunday night. Such a quid pro quo would nowadays bring charges of conflict
of interest, but in the context of the early 1950s, nothing was said.

The new DC-3 was so powerful (and noisy) that the Town of Leesburg ended up
moving its airport. The original Leesburg airport, which Godfrey owned and
referred to affectionately as "The Old Cow Pasture" on his show, was less
than a mile from the center of town, and residents had come to expect
rattling windows and crashing dishes every Sunday evening and Friday
afternoon.

In 1960, Godfrey proposed building a new airport by selling the old field,
and donating a portion of the sale to a local group. Since Godfrey funded
the majority of the airport, it is now known as Leesburg Executive Airport
at Godfrey Field. He also was known for flying a Navion, a smaller
single-engined airplane, as well as a Lockheed Jetstar, and in later years a
Beech Baron and a Beech Duke, registration number N1M.

In January 1954, Godfrey buzzed the control tower of Teterboro Airport in
his Douglas DC-3. His license was suspended for six months. Godfrey claimed
the windy conditions that day required him to turn immediately after
takeoff, but in fact he was peeved with the tower because they wouldn't give
him the runway he asked for. A similar event occurred while he flew near
Chicago in 1956, though no sanctions were imposed. These incidents, in the
wake of the controversies that swirled around Godfrey after his firing of
Julius LaRosa, only further underscored the differences between his private
and public persona.

Godfrey had been in pain since the 1931 car crash that damaged his hip. In
1953, he underwent pioneering hip replacement surgery in Boston using an
early plastic artificial hip joint. The operation was successful and he
returned to the show to the delight of his vast audience. CBS was so
concerned about losing his audience that during his recovery, he broadcast
live from his Beacon Hill estate near Leesburg, the signal carried by
microwave towers built on the property.