To have a dream and then to achieve it, to learn to fly and shed the confines of earth, to fly on the winds’ currents and to experience the thrill inspirited. Henry Rodahaver
Henry H. Rodahaver has an ardent enthusiasm for aviation. His passion in both his career and his hobbies demonstrate that aviation has been his life-long commitment.
In 1925 at age 4, Henry saw a barnstormer at Elk Park, Pennsylvania. It was there that his dad picked up his young son to look into the cockpit of a Curtiss Jenny. The young boy marveled at the wooden stick with a knob and a curved rudder bar. The boy was amazed. The spark was ignited.
At age 5, Henry Rodahaver heard his grandmother say that she had just read that a young man named Charles Lindbergh had “made it”. Now the boy had a “hero”. Henry was inspired. Throughout his life, Henry would often share Charles Lindbergh anecdotes.
In 1933, a Ford Tri Motor landed in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania where Henry took his first airplane ride. That was it. He was “hooked” forever with his love for aviation. Henry had to be a pilot.
December 1940 at age 18, he started taking flying lessons in a yellow J 3 Cub. On Feb. 26, 1941 in a drizzling rain, Henry Rodahaver soloed at age 19. The flight was so important to him that he still remembers the plane’s number N32584.
His first aviation job was with Fairchild Aircraft Factory in Hagerstown, Maryland working with sheet metal to build the PT 19 airplanes. Shortly thereafter he joined Dick Henson’s War Training Service.
After writing a letter to his Congressman, Henry was accepted into the Civilian Pilot Training Program and in August of 1941 he received his Private Pilot Certificate #140,047.
After completing the program, Henry joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. He later decided that civilian aviation was the career path that he wanted to pursue.
Commercial Aviation was in its infancy when Henry Rodahaver first joined TWA. Later, Richard Dupont and others were starting a new airline, All American Airways. I was this airline which became his lifelong career commitment. May 2, 1949, Henry started working there. Later, the company changed its name to Allegheny Airlines, USAir and then USAirways. Henry Rodahaver worked there for thirty-one (31) years until his retirement in 1980. Over the duration of his career, Henry worked as Mechanic, Lead Mechanic and Inspector in various departments.
Even in retirement, his enthusiasm for aviation drew him back to accept a position with AeroSun International Airlines.
Throughout his career and throughout retirement, Henry’s hobbies included flying, instructing student pilots and restoring airplanes. Some of the most noteworthy restorations included a Fairchild PT 26, a Piper Stinson 108-3 and a Piper J 3 Clip-Wing Experimental Cub. Henry made adaptations to a J 3 Cub, which was later licensed as an Experimental Airplane. For this he received a plaque from the Alexandria, Virginia Chapter 186 of the EAA.
Henry Rodahaver is retired and lives in an aviation community, Love’s Landing in Florida. Even though in his eighties, he still enjoys flying and restoring planes.
Every facet of Henry H. Rodahaver’s life was impassioned by aviation. Just as Lindbergh, Yeager, Glenn and Earhart influenced aviation, so did Henry Rodahaver. If it were not for individuals who worked in aviation in supportive capacities, aviation would not have become what it is today. Henry H. Rodahaver is a spirited supporter of Modern Aviation. He has earned his place in history on the National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor.