William T. Johnson's First Plane Ride

About 1926 or 1927 I went to the fairgrounds with my parents where a barnstormer pilot was selling rides in what was probably a Curtiss Jenny airplane. As I remember the scene, when Mother and Daddy's time came, I was left with a young woman, either a friend or a cousin, in the crowd under the goal-posts on the football field. I visualize that my parents were in the front seat of the bi-plane and that I could not stand being left behind. Before the plane could taxi over to the runway I ran out from the crowd toward the plane, the plane stopped, and someone picked me up and put me in the front seat with my parents. I don't remember much about the takeoff or the landing, but I do remember distinctly looking down at the town as we flew over it. My sharpest memory is of the Episcopal Church of the Mediator with its white sides and green roof. I went there for a community service last Sunday and was reminded of this early plane ride. I must deny that we ever flew upside down as shown in this valuable postage stamp, which was printed erroneously.