Flying into family history.

The era of coast-to-coast passenger air service in the U.S. dawned on October 25, 1930, when the pilot of a Transcontinental & Western Air Ford Tri-Motor throttled up the plane’s three engines and lifted off from the runway in Newark, New Jersey. During the 36-hour trip, the plane stopped at Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri. After overnighting in Kansas City, the plane continued on to Wichita, Kansas; Amarillo, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Winslow, Arizona and then to its final destination, Los Angeles, California. Talk about layovers!

On the Columbus to Indianapolis leg of that inaugural journey, the passenger list included a forty-three-year-old salesman for the Holcombe & Hoke Manufacturing Company named William Morrissey.

Family Legacy Video provides custom personal video biography and legacy video production services.Exactly forty-five years later, on October 25, 1975, TWA (the successor to Transcontinental & Western Air) marked the anniversary of that flight with a celebration at Newark International Airport. On hand for the party were TWA officials, a vintage Ford Tri-Motor, former flight attendants sporting vintage uniforms, and my great-grandfather, William Morrissey, who was then living in Colonia, New Jersey.

My great-grandfather spoke about his experiences flying in the “Tin Goose” to the assembled media, which included the local New York television stations and a reporter from the Star-Ledger newspaper.

I knew about my great-grandfather’s travels during the early days of commercial air flight and always wondered what that experience had been like. So, when I opened my local Tucson paper one morning to see an ad for flights in a restored Ford Tri-Motor, I knew my wife and I would be taking part.

I purchased tickets, and on Valentine’s Day of this year, Halina and I headed for the airport. The flights were conducted as a part of the “Fly the Ford” tour, sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Against a backdrop of modern passenger jets, we climbed aboard the triple-engine, corrugated metal bird, and buckled ourselves in. One by one, the engines roared to life, sending their noise and vibrations through the cabin. With a practiced hand, the pilot guided the ten-passenger plane to the runway and then into the air for a fifteen-minute cruise over Tucson. It was an absolute thrill, and a chance to connect, in a small way, with what my great-grandfather experienced so many years ago.

If you’d like to see a short video documenting our flight, you’ll find it in the March 2015 e-Newsletter.

Question: What’s the most important step in any video biography project?

Answer: The first one, of course. Unless you take that first step, none of the other steps can follow. But what is that first step – and how do you take it?

Think about a decision you made recently. Maybe you decided to look for a new job, to sell or buy a house, to take a long overdue vacation – whatever the decision, you probably spent some time idly thinking or daydreaming about it. But then came a moment when the time was right and you decided, for whatever reason, to actually DO IT. Like the “big bang” that created our universe, your “big bang” decision set in motion all the steps that ultimately led you to create a particular reality and outcome.

The same process applies to creating video biographies. Have you been kicking around the idea of creating a family or personal history video? If so, that’s great. But idle thought does not a video make. Until you commit yourself and move from daydreaming to actually spearheading your legacy video project, your video will always remain a pipe dream. You need to decide, for whatever reason (a love of family history, the desire to preserve and celebrate yours or a loved one’s life stories), that the time is now and that you are the person for the job.

Once you make that decision, you’ll be amazed at how energized and focused you’ll become. You’ll also find that, according to the old maxim, “When the student is ready the teacher appears.” Once you’re truly ready, resources (like Family Legacy Video® products and services) will start to cross your path. Most likely, your enthusiasm for the project will also inspire other family members to help you.

So that’s the first step. Before you think about how you’d like your video to look, what pictures to include or the kind of music to use – decide to DO IT. Then jump into the project with enthusiasm and energy. You’ll be amazed at the results.