This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust belt and even the Northeast. The Appalachian Regional Commission defined the boundaries for Appalachia in 1965 with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commision, a part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. It was legislation that sought to expand social welfare, and some localities were eager for the money, while others resisted the designation. The boundaries and definition of Appalachia can now only be changed by an act of Congress.
Many of us are dreaming about the things we want to do when this pandemic is over — like traveling someplace far away. If you have wanderlust, or the itch to fly, these are not ideal circumstances. But being grounded does give us time to reflect and dream about flights in our future and those in our past.
This week on Inside Appalachia, we are listening to an encore episode of a show that aired over the summer that looks some of the unique stories that comprise the Mountain State’s history of aviation.
Southern West Virginia used to be home to approximately 40 airfields and landing strips. Today there are 28, but some are dormant. Our southern coalfields reporter Caitlin Tan looked into what happened to all those runways.
WWI Flying Ace
Louis Bennett was a flying ace in World War I. He grew up and learned to fly, then built an airplane factory in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia before enlisting with Canada to fight in World War I. Bennett shot down 12 enemy aircraft but was then shot down and died in France in August 1918. His great nephew, U.S. Rep. David McKinley, says Bennett’s story continues to inspire him to grow the aviation industry here in the Mountain State. West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s assistant news director Glynis Board brings us this story.
Airplane Parts
West Virginia exports more than $150 million in airplane parts every year and it is the state’s fifth-largest export, according to the US Census.
Even now, as the global pandemic means less travel, West Virginia’s role in the aviation economy may actually stand to be more resilient. Our associate producer Eric Douglas reports.
Since this story aired, Marshall University has broken ground for its new flight school at Yeager Airport and recently received the first plane that will be used in training students.
Breaking Barriers — Chuck Yeager
Chuck Yeager is one of Appalachia’s, and the world’s, most famous aviators. A West Virginia native, in 1947 he was the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Yeager recently posted on
Back in 2007, Yeager agreed to fly with Washington Post Aviation reporter Del Wilber, in the Sierra Mountains of California. We’ll hear that story, which originally aired on NPR’s program “Day to Day.”
Chuck Yeager was flying the Bell X – 1 when he broke the sound barrier, but it’s worth noting that a less astute pilot might have died trying. Other iterations and subsequent X-planes have since taken to the skies, breaking barriers and pushing technological limits. Today NASA and other organizations are working on the X59, with the assistance of a West Virginia company — Touchstone Research Laboratories. The Wheeling-based lab creates the molds used to cast the carbon fiber parts for the airplane. And, fun fact: one of the key ingredients in the molds is Appalachian coal.
Pot Plane Crash
On June 6 1979, a Douglas DC 6 cargo plane asked for permission to land at the Kanawha Airport, now Yeager Airport, in Charleston, West Virginia. It crashed, in part because they were drug smugglers from South America who had never flown into the airport and they were carrying approximately 20,000 pounds of marijuana.
For a different perspective, storyteller Bil Lepp tells a tall tale about the plane crash, which he recorded in 2008 at the St. Albans Public Library. That recording is featured on his album “Fire Fire! Pants on Liar.” Bil Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, and five-time winner of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest.
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps, Anna and Elizabeth, Josh Woodward, Luiz Bonfa and Marisa Anderson.
Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Glynis Board hosted this episode. Our executive producer is Andrea Billups. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode. And special thanks to Johannes Faust who also contributed to one of the stories in this episode.
Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust belt and even the Northeast. The Appalachian Regional Commission defined the boundaries for Appalachia in 1965 with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commision, a part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. It was legislation that sought to expand social welfare, and some localities were eager for the money, while others resisted the designation. The boundaries and definition of Appalachia can now only be changed by an act of Congress.
Another year's legislative session is now behind us, but news of a special session this spring means the West Virginia Legislature won’t be gone for long. In the meantime, we’ll dive into stories on education, including stories on a new study on special education and a group of West Virginia principals visiting the United States Capitol.
On this West Virginia Morning, Erika Howsare is the author of The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with Our Wild Neighbors, a book that takes some of the mystery out of the white tail deer that have lived on the edge of humanity for a very long time.
On this West Virginia Morning, it was a shock when author, musician and West Virginia University professor Travis Stimeling died abruptly in November. They were 43. Folkways Reporter Zack Harold collected remembrances from colleagues, former students and friends. He shared them recently on Inside Appalachia.