Question: What Texas pilot completed the first instrument-only transcontinental flight?
Answer: Ira Clarence Eaker, who achieved the feat in 1936. Born in Field Creek in 1896, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army in 1917 and attended flight school at Kelly Field in San Antonio. In 1926, Eaker was awarded the newly created Distinguished Flying Cross after completing the 23,000-mile Pan American Goodwill Flight, which included stops in 23 countries.
After rising through the ranks, Eaker was appointed deputy chief of the army air force, in which role he transmitted President Truman’s order to General Carl A. “Tooey” Spaatz to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. After retiring from the Army, Eaker worked for Hughes Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company, co-authored three books on military aviation, and became a syndicated columnist.
