Airports
Epps family was there from Georgia’s aviation beginning
While this year’s NBAA Convention commemorates the association’s 60th anniversary, show planners are taking advantage of its Atlanta location to celebrate

While this year’s NBAA Convention commemorates the association’s 60th anniversary, show planners are taking advantage of its Atlanta location to celebrate another milestone–the centennial of powered flight in Georgia.

One local family was there at the beginning and has since become virtually synonymous with aviation in Georgia. In 1907, four years after the Wright brothers’ historic first flight, Athens, Ga. electrician, bicycle repairer and tinkerer Ben Epps designed and flew a homebuilt aircraft (see sidebar). That began the Epps family’s love affair with aviation, which thrives to this day. Of Ben’s 10 children, nine went on to earn their pilot certificates. Of his six sons, five served in the military.

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